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News Release City of Fernley Leslieann Hayden Voice (775) 784-9851 Fax (775) 784-9869 [EMAIL REDACTED] 9/16/09 www.cityoffernley.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FERNLEY PREVAILS IN FEDERAL COURT ON WATER EXCHANGE AGREEMENT Fernley, NV – September 16, 2009 – On July 1, 2009, the City of Fernley entered into a one-year Water Exchange Agreement with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Under the Agreement, in 2009, Fernley will allow 6,088 acre-feet of its surface water rights to flow to the lower Truckee River and Pyramid Lake. In exchange, Fernley will receive a water storage credit of up to 1,826 acre feet for use in the future for service to Fernley customers. Fernley will also be reimbursed by the Western Regional Water Commission for its Operations and Maintenance Fees payable to the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID) in an amount up to $71,000 because of the water quality benefits to the lower Truckee River resulting from the Water Exchange Agreement. Despite the facts that Fernley will receive significant benefits from the Water Exchange Agreement and that TCID recently announced an increase for 2009 water deliveries from 90% to 100%, TCID attempted to block Fernley’s temporary transfers of water to the lower Truckee River pursuant to the Water Exchange Agreement. TCID filed a Motion for Stay in the Federal Orr Ditch Court alleging that water users in the Truckee Division would suffer irreparable harm because of Fernley’s temporary transfers and that Fernley would suffer no injury if a stay was granted. Fernley, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Nevada State Engineer all opposed TCID’s Motion for Stay. Fernley’s opposition focused on the harm that Fernley, the Tribe, and members of the public would suffer if a stay was granted, the City’s belief that water users in the Truckee Division will not suffer harm as a result of the water exchange agreement, and the likelihood that Fernley would ultimately prevail on the merits of TCID’s Petition for Judicial Review of Fernley’s temporary transfers. Judge Lloyd D. George, presiding over the Federal Orr Ditch Court, heard oral arguments on TCID’s Motion for Stay on August 10, 2009. Judge George then issued a written Order on September 2, 2009, agreeing with Fernley and denying TCID’s Motion for Stay. The Order found that “staying the State Engineer’s decision will harm Fernley by depriving it of significant benefits it will receive from its changed use of its water rights,” and that “TCID has not shown that it (or the water users to whom it delivers water) will be irreparably harmed by Fernley’s changed use of its water rights . . . Furthermore, the Court found that “TCID has also failed to show that it is likely to succeed on any of those alleged errors” by the State Engineer, and that precluding Fernley from exercising its changed use of its water rights is likely to reduce water quality and should “be considered as a harm suffered by the public.” Significantly, the Court stated that “other than requiring Fernley to shoulder its share of shortage, the farmers (and TCID) do not have a right to require Fernley to not use its water rights.” As such, Fernley has prevailed in TCID’s attempt to stay the transfer of Fernley’s water rights pursuant to the Water Exchange Agreement, and Fernley will continue to receive the significant benefits of the Agreement. TCID has not reduced its declaration of a 100% water year, and the Orr Ditch Court’s Order serves as further vindication that Fernley is finally reaping the benefits of directing the use of its water rights without injuring other water users in the Truckee Division. -End-