The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation issued a press release on Wednesday announcing that it plans to seek further judicial review of a federal district court decision that dismissed portions of the Tribe’s lawsuit against the United States, the State of Utah, and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, and transferred the Tribe’s remaining claims to the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. That decision was issued on September 15th, 2021. …“To date, the Tribe has never been compensated for the theft of its water,” states the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, the governing body of the Ute Indian Tribe. “The Tribe has a vested property interest in its Indian reserved water rights. Yet, the Federal Government’s failure to recognize the Tribe’s reserved water rights leads to abundant tribal water flowing downstream for junior-priority water users to appropriate for free. These are tribal property rights being stolen from underneath us,” claims the Business Committee. The Tribe says it will continue to vigorously litigate its claims through the appeals process.
