Since the County did not fall within that definition, the court ruled that the County had no standing to file an objection, and ADWR was correct in rejecting its participation. The court held that in this context, the phrase “interested person” should mean a person who has an interest protected by § 45-172, i.e., an owner of a vested water right that could be affected by the transfer. The term is not defined in the statute, so the court looked to the purpose of objections. The Supreme Court used the factors to be considered by ADWR as the basis for interpreting who may be an “interested person” that can file objections against a water transfer. That is consistent with the concept that water rights, once formed, are property rights that can be used or transferred by the owner without ongoing oversight from ADWR, as long as the use does not infringe on the rights of other water users. Arizona Revised Statutes § 45-153 allows ADWR to reject a proposed appropriation if the use would be “against the interests and welfare of the public.” The Supreme Court held, however, that the public interest test only applies to new appropriations of water and not to water transfers, since that language appears nowhere in § 45-172. Mohave County argued that a water transfer should be subject to a discretionary public interest test, like that imposed on new appropriations of water.
Therefore, the court held that the County had not raised any arguments that needed to be considered by ADWR, and the agency did not need to allow the County to participate in the proceeding. Mohave County did not allege any violation of those standards by the proposed transfer from Planet Ranch, and did not hold any vested water rights itself. The statute requires that the water rights proposed for transfer “shall have been lawfully perfected … and shall not have thereafter been forfeited or abandoned,” and “vested or existing rights to the use of water shall not be affected, infringed upon, nor interfered with” by the transfer. The court held that § 45-172 allows ADWR to consider a limited set of factors when determining whether to approve a transfer of surface water rights. The County appealed that ruling, which led to last week’s decision by the Supreme Court. Mohave County filed objections with ADWR, alleging that the transfer might negatively affect residents of the County and would be against the public interest.ĪDWR rejected the County’s objections, concluding that Mohave County had no standing to participate in the proceeding since it did not hold any water rights or other interest that is protected under the water transfers statute, found in Arizona Revised Statutes § 45-172. A portion of the water rights would also be used within Mohave County to support the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program. In 2010, Freeport filed applications with ADWR to transfer surface water rights that had historically been used on Planet Ranch in Mohave County for use at the Bagdad Mining Complex in Yavapai County, which is adjacent to Mohave County on the east. That ranch has been the subject of multiple water transfer proposals since the 1980s, and for a time was owned by the City of Scottsdale for that purpose, before it was sold to Freeport in 2008.
CV-15-0223-SA, which is a dispute between Freeport Minerals Corporation and officials within Mohave County over water on Planet Ranch. The decision was issued on Novemin the case of Arizona Department of Water Resources v. The Arizona Supreme Court has issued an important decision regarding water transfers and who may participate as an “interested party” in administrative proceedings before the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).
0 kommentar(er)
