Patterson

This appeal involves a basic contract issue: whether the Klamath Water Users Protective Association and other irrigators in the Klamath Basin (collectively, the “Ir-rigators”) are third-party beneficiaries to a 1956 contract (the “Contract”) between the United States Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation” or “United States”) and the California Oregon Power Company (“Copco”) that governs the management of the Link River Dam (the “Dam”) in the Klamath Basin (the “Project”). We hold that they are not. The district court concluded that the Irrigators do not have third-party beneficiary water rights under the Contract. It granted a declaratory judgment to Reclamation and PacifiCorp, Copco’s successor in interest that now operates and maintains the Dam under the Contract, holding that PacifiCorp is not hable to the Irrigators for implementing Reclamation’s water allocation decisions for the Project. See Klamath Water Users Ass’n v. Patterson, 15 F.Supp.2d 990, 997 (D.Or.1998) (“Klamath”). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I. Background

The Project, located within the Upper Klamath and Lost River Basins in Oregon and California, was authorized by Congress in…