Colorado state officials on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit from Nebraska over its share of flows from the South Platte River, describing the legal action as a “meritless escalation.”
Nebraska officials in July asked the nation’s highest court to review whether Colorado is overusing its share of the waterway as well as hindering its efforts to build a canal that would funnel more flows across state lines.
The South Platte is shared under a 1923 compact that grants Nebraska 120 cubic feet per second of water during the irrigation season between April and mid-October, or nearly 65 million gallons of water per day. During the rest of the year, the state is entitled to larger flows.
But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, both Democrats, pushed back Wednesday against Nebraska’s claims at a news conference.
