Turtle Talk

Katie John Which Waters Order

An excerpt:

These consolidated cases involve challenges to regulations that were promulgated by the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture on January 8, 1999 (herein “the 1999 final rule”). The regulations primarily implemented a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that the definition of “public lands” for purposes of Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act includes navigable waters in which the United States has an interest by virtue of the reserved water rights doctrine. See Alaska v. Babbitt, 72 F.3d 698, 703-04 (9th Cir. 1995). This decision addresses legal issues flowing from the Secretaries’ application of the reserved water rights doctrine to broad categories of Alaskan waters.