A. Gregory Grimsal has been appointed by the US Supreme Court as the Special Master in State of Texas v. State of New Mexico et al., Case No. 220141 ORG. Special Master Grimsal, a commercial litigation attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana, will now manage the proceedings in the case going forward and eventually recommend a decision to the Court. As we reported previously, the case involves a dispute between Texas and New Mexico over whether New Mexico is permitted under the 1938 Rio Grande Compact to continue to withdraw and divert water in the region of New Mexico south of Elephant Butte in the Rio Grande Basin. The 1938 Compact requires New Mexico to deliver a certain volume to Elephant Butte, a reservoir in the U.S. Department of Reclamation’s Rio Grande Project, every year. Texas believes that New Mexico’s pumping of groundwater below Elephant Butte violate’s the Compact by diminishing Rio Grande Project water supplies that Texas is entitled to.
Parties are currently awaiting a decision on New Mexico’s April 30, 2014 motion to dismiss.
