State of Nevada v. Burgum

Nevada and the other Lower Basin States submitted an alternative to the proposed action for inclusion in the NEPA analysis that Plaintiffs maintain fully complies with the Law of the River and better satisfies the purpose and need of the proposed action than the preferred alternative in the Final EIS. Federal Defendants failed to consider and carry forward the Lower Basin States’ alternative. Instead, the Final EIS and ROD authorize the Secretary of the Interior to impose on Nevada an annual reduction of 213,556 acre-feet at a 3.6 maf shortage, which constitutes approximately 71% of Nevada’s Colorado River entitlement.

Furthermore, the federal defendants failed to analyze critical components of the Law of the River that would lessen the shortage burden of the entire Lower Basin. The magnitude of such shortages will cause acute environmental, socioeconomic, and health and human safety impacts to southern Nevada. Federal Defendants failed to consider such impacts in any meaningful way in the Final EIS.