A Twelve-Year Water War Ends in Victory for Valley Farmers

When the Supreme Court of the United States on Monday of this week denied both the petition for appeal and writ of certiorari in the case of Black Rock Power Irrigation Company against the Hanford water right owners, it terminated litigation that has been in the courts in one form or another between these parties for the past twelve years. The Circuit Court held that the land and water were inseparable; that the entire assets of the old Hanford Irrigation Power company were behind the guarantee for the performance of the water contracts and that the project is a trusteeship and should be administered as such. The decision is sweeping in its scope and settles once and for all most of the important legal points that have been in dispute. It makes null and void all the steps taken by the successors of the old Hanford Irrigation Power company from the Federal Court receivership down to date, including the dividing of the property into three separate companies in an effort to separate the water obligations from the power interests. The water users now face the question of how to move forward—whether the power company will accept the ruling on a 'live and let live' basis or continue to resist.