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Water Law
The firm advises and represents a wide variety of clients and has experience dealing with Wyoming Water Law issues as well as interstate water issues involving other Western States. Mr. Shuck has experience with all types of water matters, including those involving water rights, hydroelectric facility permitting, interstate compact negotiations, reserved water rights, and endangered species issues. The firm practices in state court and in non-contested and contested administrative proceedings before the Wyoming Board of Control. The firm has experience negotiating with the federal government concerning water issues that affect its clients.
The firm handles permitting and adjudication issues, changes in point of diversion, and place and purpose of use. The firm works with federal agencies and state water officials in water-related approval and permitting processes.
The firm’s counsel have represented clients in water matters before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Wyoming District Court, and the Wyoming Board of Control. The firm works closely with the appropriate technical consultants and state agency staff members to work out problems and find solutions.
The firm’s counsel have also represented state agencies in interstate disputes, federal reserved rights litigation, Endangered Species Act cases, and other water matters. The firm also represents water users of all kinds--whether agricultural or industrial.
Mr. Shuck has represented the State of Wyoming in a handful of high profile water cases and legal disputes. Much of his work has been representing the State of Wyoming’s interests, and other Western States’ interests, including the following:
1. Big Horn River Adjudication. As a member of the three-attorney team representing the State of Wyoming in the Big Horn River General Stream Adjudication, Mr. Shuck represented the State before the Special Master, the District Court, and the Wyoming Supreme Court. Mr. Shuck also participated in settlement negotiations between the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes, the State of Wyoming, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice. The parties were successful before the Wyoming Supreme Court in the Big Horn 6 case and were successful in negotiating a settlement of the litigation involving the appurtenancy of Walton rights on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
2. Final Report on the Endangered Species Act and Indian Water Rights. On behalf of nine Western States, Mr. Shuck acted as the primary draftsman in a joint effort to oppose the Final Report of the Working Group on the Endangered Species Act and Indian Water Rights. The Working Group was created by Interior in 1997 and charged with recommending ways to implement the Endangered Species Act so as to benefit,or at least not act to the detriment of, Indian Tribes. To date, Interior has not implemented any of the recommendations outlined in the Working Group’s final report.
3. Montana-Crow Tribe Compact Negotiations and the Yellowstone River Compact. Mr. Shuck participated in a number of negotiating sessions between the State of Wyoming, the State of Montana, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the Crow Tribe during the winter and spring of 1999. Although the State of Wyoming was not a party to the proposed compact, Mr. Shuck attended those meetings as counsel to the Wyoming State Engineer. The goal was to monitor those negotiations and assure Wyoming water users that any proposed settlement would not bargain away water allocated to Wyoming under the Yellowstone River Compact. Those negotiating sessions eventually lead to a proposed water rights settlement that is currently awaiting Congressional approval.
4. Expansion of FERC Jurisdiction for ESA Purposes. Mr. Shuck represented the State of Wyoming in its effort to oppose the Department of the Interior’s efforts to expand FERC jurisdiction over Bear Lake incident to re-licensing three downstream hydropower facilities. In cooperation with the States of Idaho and Utah, Wyoming opposed Interior’s August, 2000 Motion to Intervene in proceedings to establish FERC jurisdiction over Bear Lake. The Portland Regional Solicitor’s Office had sought to overturn a 1997 order holding that FERC lacks jurisdiction over Bear Lake. The Department conceded that it was attempting to intervene for the purpose of protecting the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout -- a species that the FWS has recently decided is neither threatened nor endangered. The three States’ efforts were successful in convincing FERC to reaffirm its order holding that it does not have jurisdiction over Bear Lake. Further, on appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, agreeing with the 3 States’ position.
5. Bear River Compact Issues. On behalf of the State of Wyoming, Mr. Shuck has worked extensively with the States of Utah and Idaho, as well as PacifiCorp and ScottishPower, on issues of concern to the three signatories to the Bear River Compact, as well as the water users and recreational interests in the three States. Mr. Shuck participated on behalf of the Stat of Wyoming in the FERC re-licensing process for three (3) hydroelectric projects on the Bear River. Such efforts require diplomacy, an understanding of the current status of the law and the various interests that must be balanced, and knowledge of how the river system works.
6. Forest Service Conditions on FERC Hydropower Project Licenses. Mr. Shuck has participated in and monitored efforts to oppose the Forest Service’s request to add by-pass flow conditions during FERC hydropower project re-licensing proceedings. In one such instance, the Forest Service recommended that water be denied to water users for the benefit of recovering trout species that had not been listed as a threatened or endangered species. The Forest Service ignored recommendations from State water administrators advising that, under the circumstances, the bypass flows would not be successful in recovering the trout species and would cause a severe water shortage for downstream irrigators. Instead, the Forest Service continued to exert its influence over the FERC re-licensing process. The Forest Service retracted its recommendation after it became obvious that the bypass plan was ill-conceived.
7. Other Negotiations Involving Federal and State Agencies. Mr. Shuck has also been involved in negotiations involving the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, the Regional Solicitor’s Office, irrigators, the mining industry, and other Western States. Mr. Shuck has seen what works in these negotiations and what does not and has gained an understanding of the various concerns and relative positions of these agencies and States with respect to various water, environmental, and tribal issues.
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