Oregon Water Allocation Dispute Will Remain in Federal Court

An Oregon irrigation project won’t be able to take its water allotment lawsuit against the US Bureau of Reclamation back to state court after a Ninth Circuit majority called the petition “forum shopping.”

Klamath Irrigation District sued the Bureau of Reclamation in state court in 2021, the Ninth Circuit said. The lawsuit sought to stop the Bureau from releasing water from Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake to the Klamath River—where it supports Native American tribes and endangered species of fish that live in the lake.

Due to a drought, Klamath Irrigation expressed concern that it wouldn’t get its allotment of water ...