Jerry Ellis Blasts Texas Water District Request
State Rep. Jerry Ellis, southeastern Oklahoma Democrat, today ripped Texans representing the Tarrant Regional Water District; he said the group "came to Oklahoma with a hostile attitude last week." The water district serves 1.6 million people in north central Texas. In 50 years, their population could triple.
On Thursday, January 11, the Texas group requested three water permits to take 460,000 acre-feet from three water basins in Oklahoma, Ellis said, and they also filed suit to break the five-year water-sale moratorium approved by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2004. The law stopping the sale of water to out-of-state interests expires in 2009.
The three water basins targeted by Texas are Kiamichi (which could lose 310,000 acre-feet, or 15 billion gallons per year, if the Texas lawsuit succeeds), Cache Creek (125,000 acre-feet per year) and Beaver Creek (25,000 acre-feet per year), Ellis said in a news release. The total amount of water sought by the Texans is more than Oklahoma City and Tulsa use combined.
Any out-of-state water sale should require approval of the Oklahoma Legislature, not action by a board or a U.S. District Judge who are appointed and never face the voters.
Ellis said that to allow this issue to be decided by the courts would gut democracy and the result would be communism without a firing squad.
On Thursday, January 11, the Texas group requested three water permits to take 460,000 acre-feet from three water basins in Oklahoma, Ellis said, and they also filed suit to break the five-year water-sale moratorium approved by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2004. The law stopping the sale of water to out-of-state interests expires in 2009.
The three water basins targeted by Texas are Kiamichi (which could lose 310,000 acre-feet, or 15 billion gallons per year, if the Texas lawsuit succeeds), Cache Creek (125,000 acre-feet per year) and Beaver Creek (25,000 acre-feet per year), Ellis said in a news release. The total amount of water sought by the Texans is more than Oklahoma City and Tulsa use combined.
Any out-of-state water sale should require approval of the Oklahoma Legislature, not action by a board or a U.S. District Judge who are appointed and never face the voters.
Ellis said that to allow this issue to be decided by the courts would gut democracy and the result would be communism without a firing squad.
Labels: Jerry Ellis, Oklahoma Water, Texas
posted by Mike McCarville @ 2:22 PM
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