Steven E. Clyde
Steven E. Clyde
Clyde Snow & Sessions, P.C.
Vice President, Shareholder and Director, and Management Committee Member
Mr. Clyde has been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America for over ten consecutive years for his work in environmental and natural resources law. For thirty-four years, he has represented clients in the buying, selling, and conversion of water rights; litigated water rights appeals in the district and federal courts and Supreme Court of the State of Utah; represented parties in the negotiations of a Lease of Power Privilege on Bureau of Reclamation Facilities for the Central Utah Project; and represented many individuals and entities before the State Engineer of the State of Utah, both as applicants and as protestants to water rights applications. Mr. Clyde has also been involved in the realm of local government law, representing many clients in planning and zoning activities before city and county authorities. Part of these activities included drafting a water concurrency ordinance for Summit County, Utah, and creating local special districts to provide water and sewer service within and without incorporated municipalities.
Mr. Clyde has served on a variety of water law committees and boards including the general counsel to the Central Utah Water Conservancy District; the Utah Legislature’s Water Task Force and the Executive’s Water Task Force (2007 to 2009); the governing Council of the ABA Section on Natural Resources and the Water Resources Committee of that section (former Chair); and the Utah State Bar Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law and Water Law Committee (former Chair).
A University of Utah College of Law alumnus, Mr. Clyde has been involved in the education of other lawyers in various capacities. He is a current member and former Chairman of the University of Utah College of Law Alumni Association; former Chair, Vice-Chair, and Board Member of Utah Open Lands Conservation Association (a state-wide Land Trust); and a previous member on the Board of Trustees of the Utah Water Conservation Forum. He is a contributing editor to Western Water Law & Policy Reporter, a nationally published water law periodical as well as a contributing author to the water law treatise Water and Water Rights.
Abstract: Legal and Institutional Barriers To Changing Our Water Allocation System To Address Changing Societal Values
Utah adopted the prior appropriation doctrine as its method of water allocation during its early territorial days. It was codified in 1903and remains the law governing the use of water in the State. Under the doctrine, water is allocated based on whoever is first, without regard to the utility or social value of the use being made or those that might be precluded. The principle limitation on the appropriation or the change of use of established water rights is that the intended use must not harm other water users although other limitations do exist in the doctrine.
Agricultural was the primary occupation at the time of settlement, and the majority of the readily accessible water was appropriated for agricultural use. These early appropriators acquired vested, protected property rights in the right to use a fixed quantity of water for their intended beneficial use. The basic tenet of the doctrine, “first in time is first in right,” provided security for investment enabling the West to develop in the 19th century. However many stake holders were left out of the water allocation process and are now seeking a seat at the table. As a common law doctrine, the prior appropriation doctrine is inherently flexible. The doctrine has evolved over time in response to changing societal values, but those changes occur very slowly. The water itself remains the property of the State who holds title for the benefit of all of its citizens. Appropriated rights are clearly limited by the public interest, and this reality creates avenues for change to occur really without significant modification of the doctrine itself. Unfortunately, there is significant institutional resistance to change; not the least of which is the Utah Legislature where water allocation policies are best addressed.
This paper will discuss the institutional framework of the prior appropriation doctrine and explore the tools existing within the doctrine to address changing social value including the ability to reallocate currently appropriated water to protecting the unique ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake.
Pond, Bear River National Bird Refuge, Utah, 2009 Platinum/Palladium Print 16"x39" - Michael Slade
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