United States v. Board of Directors of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District

We deal in this appeal with what essentially amounts to a footnote to the long-running litigation over how much water from the Truckee and Carson Rivers should be diverted to irrigation and how much should flow into Pyramid Lake for the benefit of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Tribe (“the Tribe”). See Nevada v. United States, 463 U.S. 110 , 103 S.Ct. 2906 , 77 L.Ed.2d 509 (1983); United States v. Bell, 602 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir.2010); Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364 (9th Cir.1989); Truckee-Carson Irrigation Dist. v. Sec’y of Dep’t of Interior, 742 F.2d 527 (9th Cir.1984) (“TCID v. Secretary ”); United States v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., 697 F.2d 851 (9th Cir.1983); Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Morton, 354 F.Supp. 252 (D.D.C.1973) (“Tribe v. Morton”). The federal government and the Tribe now ask us to reconsider one aspect of our most recent opinion. See Bell, 602 F.3d at 1085,1087 .

Bell concerned water that the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (“TCID”) diverted for irrigation between 1973 and 1988 and that the government claimed was in excess of the amount allowed by applicable regulation. We held, among other things, that in…