The Ute Tribe has filed two more federal lawsuit against the United States of America, this time alleging mismanagement of the Tribe’s water rights. According to a Ute Tribe press release dated March 9th, the Tribe has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims requesting monetary relief to compensate for what the Tribe calls “past harms” as well as a second lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for, quote, “equitable relief to hold the United States accountable to the Tribe now and into the future.” The release states that the “Tribe’s claims against the United States focus, in large part, on the Uintah Indian Irrigation Project, a Congressionally-authorized Indian irrigation project designed to irrigate nearly 88,000 acres of Reservation land…Today, the Uintah Indian Irrigation Project is only delivering irrigation water to about 61,000 acres. The Tribe alleges that this disparity is the result of various breaches of the United States’ fiduciary obligations.” The Ute Tribe also announced last week the filing of other complaints in federal court on what they consider theft of reservation lands.
