Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court on January 25 killed the lawsuit pursued by the state of Mississippi against Memphis and its main utility, alleging improper use of ground water.

A statement from Memphis Light, Gas & Water:

The United States Supreme Court this morning denied the State of Mississippi’s petition to appeal its lawsuit brought against the City of Memphis and MLGW, and also denied Mississippi’s request to file an original complaint against the City of Memphis, MLGW and the State of Tennessee in the Supreme Court. The Court’s ruling ends the five year-long suit over the water contained in the underground aquifer that runs beneath both states.

In its suit, the State of Mississippi claimed that the City of Memphis and MLGW were taking more than their share of water from the underground interstate aquifer. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Tennessee had to be included in any lawsuit regarding the use of the interstate water source and that the lawsuit could be heard only by the Supreme Court. In today’s rulings, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of MLGW, the City of Memphis and the State of Tennessee by rejecting both Mississippi’s attempt to appeal the Fifth Circuit’s decision and also Mississippi’s request to file a new lawsuit against MLGW, the City and the State of Tennessee.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton responded to the news: “This is huge not just because of the court case itself, but also because of the tangential economic implications. Frankly speaking, this lawsuit cast a cloud over our community given the invaluable role that water plays in economic development and industrial decisions. Having it dismissed ensures that this issue doesn’t block progress in a number of significant ways.” Wharton continued, “If there is a message to be remembered in this, it’s the way we went about bringing resolution to it all. With the input of stakeholders like MLGW and local government, we commissioned a study that showed how we use and conserve water. Ultimately this win vindicates our process.”

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 5 threw out a challenge by the state of Mississippi to aquifer water use by the city of Memphis and the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division – but not on the merits of the challenge, but because Mississippi had not added the state of Tennessee to the lawsuit.

Because the case stretches across state lines, the state governments need to be included, the court said.

In a summary in the case of Jim Hood et al v. City of memphis et al, the court said, “In this lawsuit, the state of Mississippi seeks damages from the City of Memphis and Memphis Light, Gas and Water, for the alleged conversion of groundwater in the Memphis Sands Aquifer. The district court dismissed Mississippi’s lawsuit without prejudice, holding that Tennessee is an indispensable party to the suit and that the court was without power to join Tennessee. We AFFIRM.”

The underlying situation, as the court describe it: “The Aquifer is located beneath portions of Tennessee, Mississippi, and
Arkansas. There is no interstate compact governing use of the Aquifer’s water, and thus no specific volumes of groundwater from the Aquifer have been apportioned to Mississippi, Tennessee, or Arkansas. The Aquifer is the primary water source for both DeSoto County, Mississippi, and the city of Memphis, Tennessee, which lies just across the state line from DeSoto County. Mississippi seeks past and future damages, as well as equitable relief, related to Memphis’s allegedly wrongful appropriation of groundwater from the Aquifer. Mississippi alleges that part of the groundwater that Memphis pumps from the Aquifer is Mississippi’s sovereign property and that the state must therefore be compensated.”

An independent view on the case has been posted at Waterwired.