Republican Water Issues Difficult to Resolve

In 2002 Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado settled the 1998 lawsuit over alleged violations of the Republican River Compact by Nebraska and Colorado. Nebraska was over its water allocation under the settlement for 2005, and likely was also over for 2006. The July 25, 2007 Cornhusker Economics newsletter discussed how new legislation would help the state of Nebraska and Republican Basin Natural Resource Districts (NRDs) deal with Republican River Compact settlement compliance issues. However, there was one incorrect statement in last week’s newsletter that accidentally understated the difficulty of settlement compliance. This week’s newsletter will examine the incorrect statement, and explore what more complicated options may be available to bring Nebraska into settlement compliance