Supreme Court rejects Rio Grande water deal between Texas and New Mexico in 5-4 ruling, citing unresolved federal concerns over NM's water use.
FILE - Low water levels are pictured July 10, 2021, at Elephant Butte Reservoir near Truth or Consequences, N.M. The Supreme Court on Friday, June 21, 2024, has rejected a settlement between Western states over the management of one of North America's longest rivers. The 5-4 decision rebuffs an agreement that had come recommended by a federal judge overseeing the case over how New Mexico , Texas and Colorado must share water from the Rio Grande .
"Having acknowledged those interests, and having allowed the United States to intervene to assert them, we cannot now allow Texas and New Mexico to leave the United States up the river without a paddle," said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, reading the majority opinion, which crossed ideological lines as it was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts.
"We need to keep working to make the aquifers in the Lower Rio Grande region sustainable, and lasting solutions are more likely to come from parties working together than from continued litigation," said Mike Hamman, whose office is responsible for administering the state's water resources.
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