Mississippi v. Tennessee
Issues
Can the state of Mississippi obtain damages or injunctive relief without an equitable apportionment of groundwater from the Middle Claiborne Aquifer, which Mississippi claims was stolen by the state of Tennessee through Tennessee’s pumping operations in Shelby County?
This case asks the Supreme Court to determine if groundwater should be classified as an interstate resource and fall within federal common law equitable apportionment jurisprudence. The Special Master determined that the Middle Claiborne Aquifer is an interstate resource and that the Supreme Court should allow Mississippi to amend its complaint to include an equitable apportionment claim. Mississippi disputes the Special Master’s conclusions and argues that groundwater naturally flows from its territorial boundaries. Mississippi asserts that Tennessee's underground pumping violates Mississippi’s territorial sovereignty by disrupting the groundwater’s natural flow within Mississippi’s borders. Tennessee argues that the Special Master is correct in identifying the aquifer as an interstate resource, but that the Supreme Court should not allow Mississippi to amend its complaint because any amendment would create additional costly and time-consuming litigation. The outcome of this case has serious implications for interstate water rights and the apportionment of belowground natural resources.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
(1) Whether the Court will grant Mississippi leave to file an original action to seek relief from respondents’ use of a pumping operation to take approximately 252 billion gallons of high-quality groundwater; (2) whether Mississippi has sole sovereign authority over and control of groundwater naturally stored within its borders, including in sandstone within Mississippi’s borders; and (3) whether Mississippi is entitled to damages, injunctive, and other equitable relief for the Mississippi intrastate groundwater intentionally and forcibly taken by respondents.
The Middle Claiborne Aquifer is a “hydrogeological unit” that extends through Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and consists of the “Sparta Sand” in the South and the “Memphis Sand” in the North. Report of the Special Master, Eugene E. Siler, Jr.
Additional Resources
- K&L Gates, Interstate Water Rights Before the Supreme Court-Mississippi v. Tennessee, The National Law Review, (Nov. 20, 2020).
- Catherine Janasie, Mississippi v. Tennessee: Special Masters Finds Aquifer is an Interstate Resource, The National Sea Grant Law Center, (Nov. 13, 2020).
- Jamie Huffman, Mississippi v. Tennessee: Analysis and Implications, NYU Environmental Law Journal, (2020).
- Peter G. Berris, Mississippi v. Tennessee: Resolving an Interstate Groundwater Dispute, Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar, (2016).