Prepared Remarks of Assistant Attorney General Ronald J. Tenpas at Historic Water Rights Signing Ceremony

RENO, NEVADA

Thank you Mayor Cashell.

I would like to begin by thanking you and Senator Reid for hosting this event, as well as the other TROA (Truckee River Operating Agreement) signatories: Secretary Chrisman, Director Biaggi, Chairman Wright, Secretary Kempthorne and Chairman Carrigan. It is a great pleasure to be here today to sign this agreement on behalf of the United States Department of Justice. It is because of TROA's role as a settlement of litigation that the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Justice Department has been actively involved throughout the negotiations. I commend the Department of Justice's team, led by Fred Disheroon, for all their hard work on behalf ofthe United States in helping to make this day happen.

As we gather today along the Truckee River to sign this historic agreement, I also want to congratulate all of the parties to TROA who have worked so long and hard to bring us to this place. This agreement is historic because it will bring to a close the often-contentious litigation that has long divided these waters, and those ofLake Tahoe, and will promote future cooperation in the use of this precious natural resource.

We need only look back to the 1970s and 1980s to see just how momentous this agreement truly is. During those decades,the United States and many-if not most-of the parties who are gathered here today were embroiled in numerous lawsuits over the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake, the Newlands Project, and the use of federal reservoirs for protection of endangered species and against drought. The settlement act makes the signing and implementation of TROA the key to final resolution of this litigation, as well as a path forward. Because of TROA, lawsuits over Truckee River Water that have persisted for so many years will now-finally-be dismissed.

But signing this agreement does much more than simply bring past litigation to a close. The Water Rights Settlement Act puts the implementation of TROA squarely on the path to Congress's approval of the interstate allocation of the waters of the Truckee and Carson Rivers, and of Lake Tahoe. As you know,California andNevada negotiated a proposed interstate compact in the 1960s, but were unable to secure the needed approval from Congress until the enactment of the Settlement Act in 1990. The Settlement Act provides that long-awaited approval when TROA enters into effect.

I am pleased to say that TROA addresses longstanding concerns of the Departments of Justice and Interior over that interstate allocation by providing both protections to Pyramid Lake and benefits to all who use the Truckee River. This agreement also provides the means to avoid costly and protracted future litigation that could ensue in the absence of an approved allocation.

Securing that approval, therefore, is of great public importance to the states ofNevada andCalifornia, tothe United States, and to all the communities that rely on and enjoy these waters.

So where do we go from here? In the coming months,the United States will join the two states, the tribe, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, and other TROA parties, in taking the necessary next steps to ensure that the agreement we sign today enters into effect. We look forward to working with all the parties toward a successful conclusion of that process.

Thank you again.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

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