April 12, 2008--Kansas seeks to recoup more from Colo. in Arkansas River dispute (Denver Post)
Kansas is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to increase what Colorado must pay it for legal costs stemming from a lawsuit over use of the Arkansas River. In documents filed Thursday, Kansas asked for $9.2 million in legal costs related to the case it filed in 1985 over claims that upstream wells in Colorado were pumping water that legally belonged to Kansas under the 60-year-old Arkansas River Compact. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Kansas in 1995. Since then, the two states have worked to specify how depletions of river water and repayment of shortfalls on deliveries to Kansas will be accounted for. Colorado paid Kansas $34.6 million in 2005 for overpumping. In 2006, Colorado paid Kansas $1.1 million in court costs, based on a formula that allowed $40 per day for expert witnesses, plus some additional costs related to the case. However, Kansas says the federal rule on which the $40 per day fee is based does not apply to Supreme Court cases. It also argues that Kansas never would have incurred the legal costs if Colorado had followed the compact.
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