Kremer Memorial Lecture: Jay Stein, Stein & Brockmann, Santa Fe, NM; "Parallel Lawsuits: New Mexico and the Pecos River-A Glimpse into Nebraska's Future in the Republican River Watershed; Host: J. Michael Jess, SNR. The saga of water resources development in the Pecos River basin is similar to that in the Republican River basin. To avoid hostility and promote further irrigation development, Texas and New Mexico (1948 Pecos River Compact) and Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado (1943 Republican Compact) negotiated interstate agreements. Each Compact was initially viewed as a mechanism intended for allocation of surface water resources. Importantly, because they lacked the benefit of contemporary knowledge, original drafters of the Compacts did not appropriately account for future impacts of large-capacity irrigation wells pumping from inter-connected ground water sources. Existence of their Compact agreement notwithstanding, claims of excessive upstream consumption prompted Texas to sue New Mexico in 1974. Similarly, Kansas sued Nebraska in 1998. After 14 years in trial, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Texas v New Mexico case. An out-of-court settlement ended Kansas v Nebraska in 2002. Following conclusion of the litigation, both New Mexico and Nebraska incurred a variety of new obligations. Compliance activities in the Pecos River basin have been ongoing for the past 19 years. Given the extent of that experience, Jay Stein's presentation will be instructive. After outlining issues litigated in Texas v New Mexico, he will describe New Mexico's obligations to Texas and its ongoing program to retire irrigation near Roswell and Carlsbad. Nebraskan's should compare those efforts with activities recently initiated in The Republican River basin. Mr. Stein is a principal in the law firm of Stein & Brockman, P.A. Firm members practice water law throughout the western states and in Mexico. From 1986-2002 firm members served as counsel to Nebraska in Nebraska v Wyoming, an equitable apportionment dispute involving the North Platte River. Presently, one of Mr. Stein's clients is the New Mexico Interstate Streams Commission, an agency charged with Pecos River compliance responsibilities stemming from the decree in Texas v Mexico. Mr. Stein is a Council Member of the Environment, Energy and Resources Section of the American Bar Association and is a frequent presenter at Bar Association conferences and at other meetings. In 2004 he was a speaker at the first annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference sponsored by the UNL Water Center.