The Supreme Court wants to know where the Trump administration stands in a battle between Colorado and Nebraska over water from a river that flows between the two states.
In a long list of orders issued Monday, the justices requested the solicitor general’s views on Nebraska’s plea for help from the high court in a challenge against Colorado for hampering the Cornhusker State’s effort to build a cross-border canal along the South Platte River.
Nebraska sued Colorado in July, arguing that its neighbor is in violation of a 1923 compact that allows Nebraska to take nearly 65 million gallons of water per day during the irrigation season between April and mid-October, and larger volumes during the rest of the year.
In its motion to the Supreme Court, Nebraska contends that Colorado, where about 70 percent of the state’s population lives in the South Platte River Basin, is overusing the waterway. Nebraska also claims its neighbor has frustrated its plans to claim Colorado lands to build a canal that would protect Nebraska’s share of the river’s flows.
