Abstract
Indian water rights settlements have been the primary mechanism to resolve water conflicts between tribal governments and state, municipal, and non-governmental parties. Although scholars have for decades roundly criticized settlements for their many shortcomings, this paper suggests that a combination of forces has altered the conditions for Indian water rights settlements. Settlement remains a difficult process, but a new moment for Indian water rights settlement may have arrived. This paper explains how political conditions have changed and makes a novel legal argument to supply a strategy for tribal governments to advance their bargaining position in settlement discussions.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Max Clayton,
A New Moment for Indian Water Rights Settlements,
64
Nat. Res. J.
33
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol64/iss1/3
