OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a southwest Nebraska irrigation district that pushed for the state Department of Natural Resources to declare portions
of the Republican River basin as over-appropriated.  The Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District had argued that the river basin’s current designation as fully appropriated isn’t sustainable. A change to over-appropriated would put stricter limits on how much water in the river basin can be used.  The Natural Resources department has held that it doesn’t have the authority to upgrade the basin’s appropriation status under
revisions made in 2004 to a state water law.  In an opinion released Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court said the irrigation district failed to state an injury suffered because of the Natural Resources department’s decision, and dismissed the appeal.