Pittman Underground Water Act

Pittman Underground Water Act
Long title	An Act To encourage the reclamation of certain arid lands in the State of Nevada, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 66th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 66–60
Statutes at Large	41 Stat. 293–295, ch. 77
Legislative history
	Introduced in the Senate as S. 9; Passed the Senate on July 9, 1919 ; Passed the House on October 6, 1919 ;
United States Supreme Court cases
	BedRoc Limited, LLC v. United States, 541 U.S. 176 (2004);

The Pittman Underground Water Act (Pub. L. 66–60) was an Act of Congress, that was approved on October 22, 1919 and was repealed on August 11, 1964. The public law gave the Secretary of the Interior the power to hand out permits to American citizens and associations to drill for and look for groundwater on public lands in Nevada. In addition, the law gave the Secretary the power to give patents to permittees who found enough groundwater to sustain a farm.^[1] The law was supposed to stimulate agriculture in Nevada by supporting the development of artesian waters, since it was thought that the absence of surface water undermined the growth of the agricultural sector in Nevada.^[2]

The Pittman Underground Water Act was applied in BedRoc Limited, LLC v. United States, a 2004 decision by the United States Supreme Court. The majority of the Court argued that sand and gravel were no "valuable minerals" that were reserved to the government of the United States under the Pittman Underground Water Act and reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit.^[2]

^ Cite error: The named reference act was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Wagner, Frank D. (2006). United States Reports, volume 541: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court at October Term, 2003. Washington DC. pp. 176, 179, and 180. ISBN 9780160876028. Retrieved 3 July 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[act-1] Cite error: The named reference act was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[book-2] Wagner, Frank D. (2006). United States Reports, volume 541: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court at October Term, 2003. Washington DC. pp. 176, 179, and 180. ISBN 9780160876028. Retrieved 3 July 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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