Transcript

Albert Barker: Off-reservation water rights claims are not indisputable

I would like to make a couple of observations. One [is] on a comment that Mr. Getches made about the Indian water rights claims being indisputable. In fact, I think that there is a significant dispute both into the right itself and the scope of that right and the quantity of the water that would be reserved to it. And in fact, I do not want to leave the impression that the claims for off-reservation rights in particular are indisputable. Because what the Winter's doctrine did in 1908 was acknowledge on-reservation claims for a particular Indian tribe. And now what we are seeing is the Winter's doctrine attempted to be expanded beyond that into off-reservation claims and reaching out off the reservation to make water right claims. And so I think it is important for the audience to understand that there is that difference. The other thing that I would like to comment on is that there is a lot of talk about reallocation, and there's been no discussion of the impact of the economic dislocation on rural communities from this reallocation. I would like the comment, particularly from Reclamation and the city of Las Vegas, on what effects those reallocations would have on those communities.

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