On Friday, November 12, 1999, the United States Justice Department filed a "recoupment plan" with the Federal District Court in Reno. It was filed in the lawsuit brought by the Federal government and joined in by the Pyramid Lake Tribe. The lawsuit was brought by the United States and the Tribe to claim that one million acre feet of water was illegally diverted from the Truckee River to the Project through the Truckee Canal from 1973 through 1987. 

They claim that the water diverted was restricted by the 1973 operating criteria. However, the United States and the Pyramid Tribe agreed not to implement the 1973 operating criteria when the Nevada Wildlife Federation, the City of Fallon, and others sued the United States to stop the implementation of the 1973 operating criteria until an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was completed. The United States and the Pyramid Lake Tribe know that they agreed not to implement the 1973 operating criteria, but they brought the lawsuit anyway.

The newspaper report, especially the Reno Gazette Journal, made one believe that the recoupment plan was or would be approved by the Court. This plan was just the governments idea of how they would recoup water if they won the lawsuit. They represented they could develop a plan without taking water from individuals. Obviously, the plan didn’t accomplish the result they thought.

Don’t be too concerned with the newspaper article in the Reno Gazette Journal. The Reno paper is biased and they do not report news but instead write opinions as news. Will Rogers once said, "Don’t believe anything you read in the newspaper and only half of what you see." He did not mean that everything you read is false. He only was pointing out that you should review what you read with caution and apply your own experience and judgment to what you read and see. In this case, however, there is plenty of opinion in the article rather than reporting the news. It should have been on the opinion page.

The lawsuit continues with the discovery phase. You should also know that the United States has destroyed documents that the District has asked to see. Also, the government refuses to let us see their file on the EIS case that the Nevada Wildlife Federation and the City of Fallon brought in which the government agreed not to implement the criteria they are now claiming, 25 years later, was violated. Because of this, folks who might have been able to testify have died or can’t be found. Have faith that the truth will prevail.

This article was written by TCID, and reflects its opinion of the recoupment lawsuit.