The Wall Street Journal Quotes Attorney Adam Van Grack on River Rights Dispute
The Litigation and Appeals Practice Group at Longman & Van Grack has addressed a number of legal disputes involving property rights, river rights, and river access. Consequently, the Wall Street Journal looked to one of our attorneys, Adam Van Grack, in an article published today to explain a recent river rights legal dispute involving the Potomac River, Maryland, West Virginia, and Procter & Gamble. The Wall Street Journal article, titled “P&G Caught in a 400-Year-Old Feud Over Potomac River Rights” describes the escalation of the river rights dispute between Maryland and West Virginia related to water retrieval from the Potomac River and a new plant being build by Procter & Gamble.
As highlighted by an article written by Adam Van Grack earlier this month, this latest Potomac River rights dispute between West Virginia and Maryland emanates from increased water requirements in the eastern United States as well as centuries of legal disputes and Supreme Court cases that relate to the borders of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia as defined by the Potomac River. There has even recently been private civil lawsuits decided in Maryland related to the legal interpretation of the borders of and property rights related to the Potomac River.
If this water rights disagreement is not resolved between the two states, this Potomac River rights dispute between West Virginia and Maryland could be headed to the Supreme Court through the Court’s original jurisdiction just like other Potomac River rights dispute such as Maryland v. Virginia in 2003, Maryland v. West Virginia in 1910, and Virginia v. Maryland in 1957. As states in the eastern United States face increased needs for their use of rivers, disputes regarding the river rights between states and property owners continue to increase. This potential legal dispute between Maryland and West Virginia is just the latest example of riparian rights being disputed on the east coast and a legal dispute between neighboring states regarding access and river rights to the Potomac River. While there is Supreme Court precedent regarding Virginia’s rights to withdraw water from the Potomac River without Maryland’s approval, West Virginia has not yet received such rights from any court.
Adam Van Grack told the Wall Street Journal that since the Maryland v. Virginia Supreme Court ruling thirteen years ago which granted Virginia access to the river, Mr. Van Grack believes that “West Virginia has been waiting for a time to raise this issue . . . This plant is the straw that broke the camel’s back, and now they are asserting their muscle over rights to the Potomac River.”
As described in the article, West Virginia has given Maryland until today to agree to negotiate a water-sharing deal. If Maryland refuses to agree to a water-rights agreement with West Virginia, the West Virginia Attorney General has said that he will likely seek an original-jurisdiction action the United States Supreme Court to challenge Maryland’s permitting rights over the Potomac River.
Adam Van Grack and other attorneys at Longman & Van Grack have represented many parties on appeals, property/river disputes, litigation, and recreation law matters in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. Call our Firm at (301) 291-5027 if you would like a consultation with Adam Van Grack or one of our other property, litigation, or appeals attorneys at our Firm’s Maryland (Bethesda and Rockville), Virginia, or Washington, DC offices.
