Laramie joins Albany County in Lake Hattie case stance

City of Laramie officials have joined Albany County on the same side of the Lake Hattie case, signaling a united local position as the dispute moves before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. City attorney Bob Southard and Albany County Attorney Peggy Trent filed an amicus curiae brief asking the court to reconsider a December decision that threatened the Pioneer Canal-Lake Hattie Irrigation District’s authority to fill Lake Hattie.

That alignment matters because the district serves 47 water-users, and the reservoir sits at the center of a long-running water fight that reaches beyond one agency’s paperwork. If the court reconsiders the earlier ruling, the district could regain a stronger legal footing to store water in Lake Hattie. If the decision stands, the district’s ability to fill the reservoir would remain in doubt, with direct consequences for irrigation deliveries tied to local land and water use.

A prior court ruling would not let Laramie and Albany County join the lawsuit, but the city’s decision to stand with the county now gives local officials a single position as they press the appeals court. That unified stance can matter in a case involving water rights, because it shows the city and county view the dispute as affecting more than one narrow jurisdiction. It also strengthens the message being sent to the court and to anyone else with a stake in the reservoir’s management.

Lake Hattie is not an abstract legal target. The reservoir was built in 1908-1909 as an irrigation reservoir to supply water to 50,000 acres on the Laramie Plains. It is the largest and deepest of the Laramie Plains Lakes and sits about 30 miles west of Laramie near the foot of Sheep Mountain. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department also manages a public access area there, which makes the reservoir part of both the area’s irrigation system and its recreation landscape.

A separate water dispute has been simmering over Lake Hattie Reservoir’s level, underscoring how closely the case is tied to day-to-day use of the basin. For Albany County landowners, water users, and residents who rely on local decision-making, the city and county now appear to be pushing the same legal outcome: preserve local control over how Lake Hattie is filled, stored, and managed.