Today, the Texas Supreme Court denied the TCEQ’s petition for review in TCEQ v. Texas Farm Bureau, et al. — ending four years of litigation in the defense of senior irrigation and agricultural water rights holders in Texas. The Supreme Court’s decision upholds the ruling from the 13th Court of Appeals that invalidated TCEQ’s recently adopted Drought Rules (30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 36) because they violate the prior appropriation doctrine by allowing certain junior water rights to be exempted from a priority call while suspending senior agricultural water rights. The prior appropriation doctrine, which says that with regard to water rights, “first in time is first in right,” is the bedrock principle of surface water rights administration in Texas.
The Supreme Court’s decision protects the livelihoods of senior water rights holders by ensuring that they can rely on their own investment in their water rights during times of drought. TCEQ suspension or adjustment orders must respect the priority of water rights, as the Texas Legislature requires.
To read more about the case, follow the link below to an Austin American-Statesman article (featuring Attorney Josh Katz) that breaks down the series of events leading up to the ruling: