{"id":22851,"date":"2015-02-12T11:38:59","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T17:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=22851"},"modified":"2015-02-25T20:55:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T02:55:21","slug":"2015-water-legislation-divides-oklahoma-politicians-by-geography-not-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/02\/12\/2015-water-legislation-divides-oklahoma-politicians-by-geography-not-party\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Water Legislation Divides Oklahoma Politicians by Geography, Not Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_22856\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-22856\" alt=\"State Senator Eddie Fields' bill would create water planning districts that mirror the OWRB's membership districts. \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/water-regions-map-300x189.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">State of Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Senator Eddie Fields&#39; bill would create water planning districts that mirror the OWRB&#39;s membership districts.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>After 5 years of drought, Oklahoma\u2019s dwindling water resources have the attention of state lawmakers. There are competing bills to <a title=\"BillInfoLink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB760\" target=\"_blank\">study moving water<\/a> from southeast Oklahoma to the Altus area, and to encourage self-sufficient, <a title=\"BillInfoLink\" href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2015-16%20INT\/SB\/SB354%20INT.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">regionally based plans<\/a> to meet future water needs.<\/p><p>Balancing the interests of Oklahomans who have plenty of water with those who desperately need it is a political fight, but not between Republicans and Democrats.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/190786128&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><!--more-->Local Concerns<\/h3><p>In southeast Oklahoma, it\u2019s easy to find people who are passionate about water, like Chuck Hutchinson with <a title=\"ORWPlink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.orwp.net\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy<\/a>.<\/p><p>\u201cThe town of Clayton lost their economic base [when Sardis Lake was built],\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cNow they\u2019ve converted over the years to a tourism base because of the lake. Now if they take the water out, they\u2019re going to lose twice.\u201d<\/p><p>And then there are the curious, like the women of the Wilburton 20<sup>th<\/sup> Century Club, where Hutchinson was speaking after being interviewed by StateImpact.<\/p><p>\u201cWhy can they not dam up some of their own land in western Oklahoma and provide their own water?\u201d One woman asked. \u201cWell, they don\u2019t have any rain out there is one reason,\u201d was the response from another club remember across the room.<\/p><p>Those in the know and those who <i>want<\/i> <i>to know more<\/i> seem to agree: regional panning \u2014 local water solutions using local water \u2014 is the best way to ensure there\u2019s enough for everyone. That\u2019s what the <a title=\"OWRBlink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owrb.ok.gov\/supply\/ocwp\/pdf_ocwp\/OCWPImplementationYearOneReview-June2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahoma Water Resources Board\u2019s Comprehensive Water Plan called for<b> <\/b>in 2012<\/a>: breaking the state into eight regions that would set water-planning priorities. The agency\u2019s Executive Director J.D. Strong:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22862\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22862\" alt=\"Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy board member Chuck Hutchinson speaking to the Wilburton, Okla. 20th Century Club Feb. 10. \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/HutchinsonPic2.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/HutchinsonPic2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/HutchinsonPic2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/HutchinsonPic2-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/02\/HutchinsonPic2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy board member Chuck Hutchinson speaking to the Wilburton, Okla. 20th Century Club Feb. 10.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThis was the most popular recommendation that came from the public that engaged in the comprehensive water planning process,\u201d Strong says. \u201cThey wanted to make sure that they had a voice in what happens going forward. So, once the plan is final and we get down to brass tax and start talking about priorities in developing water projects in the various regions of the state, they want to have a voice in that as well, not just have it dictated to them from Oklahoma City from the state capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>So popular, so what?<\/h3><p>Politicians generally like regional planning, too.<\/p><p>Four lawmakers, all Republicans, have <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/tag\/2015-legislative-session\/\" target=\"_blank\">regional planning-related bills<\/a>, but just have different ideas about how regional planning should be done. Senator Eddie Fields, from Osage County in the northeast,<b> <\/b>has <a title=\"BillInfoLink\" href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2015-16%20INT\/SB\/SB354%20INT.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">a bill<\/a> that would do nearly everything the water board recommended. Senators Larry Boggs and Josh Brecheen, both from southeast Oklahoma,<b> <\/b>have bills to encourage the use of regional water over cross-state water transfers. Even <i>supporters<\/i> of moving water across the state see the merit in region-based planning, like Altus Senator Mike Shulz:<\/p><p>\u201cIf you\u2019re not doing it, you should be doing it. Don\u2019t wait for us to tell you to do it,\u201d Schulz says.<\/p><p>The question is: Why hasn\u2019t it happened <i>yet<\/i>? The water board\u2019s J.D. Strong:<\/p><p>\u201cThe several attempts \u2014 including during the 2012 session there were at least eight bills filed to try to institute some sort of regional planning group process \u2014 all of them failed, I think out of an unfounded fear that this will set up water fiefdoms all over the state, and these will become quasi-regulatory bodies that will prevent water from being moved from where it is to where it\u2019s needed,\u201d Strong says.<\/p><p>This isn\u2019t a partisan conflict, but a geographic one.<\/p><p>\u201cUnfortunately, this has turned into an east versus west debate in our state,\u201d Senator Brecheen says.<\/p><p>But that could be changing. Each of the state senators who authored regional water planning bills this session, including Eddie Fields, say their plans would not completely close the door on water transfers among different regions. They\u2019re just worried too much water could be taken, ruining the livelihoods of their constituents. They point to <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/11\/07\/canton-businessowners-on-the-brink-months-after-oklahoma-city-water-withdrawl\/\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahoma City\u2019s transfer <\/a>of massive amounts of water from Canton Lake in 2013 and the damage it did to the tourism-based economy of the small town nearby, where boating and fishing are the community\u2019s lifeblood.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing water transfers for 75 years. That\u2019s not going to change,\u201d Fields says. \u201cIt\u2019s more about getting everyone to work together. Water is a lot like politics. It\u2019s local. And who know best about what the local needs are than those people in those particular areas of the state?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>No mandate, no problem<\/h3><p>It might not matter whether the legislature officially sanctions or encourages regional water planning at all. It\u2019s already happening. The panhandle, southwest and northwest Oklahoma all already have grassroots regional plans in the works.\u00a0 Brent Kisling, who\u2019s helping develop the Northwest Oklahoma Water Action Plan, actually opposes making regional planning law.<\/p><p>\u201cI haven\u2019t read his specific bill, but I do know that mandating water planning is probably not our best way to do it,\u201d Kisling says. \u201cYou can encourage regional planning by tying funding for projects to projects that come through a regional planning effort.\u201d<\/p><p>But developing those regional water plans is expensive. And without some kind of regional planning bill, there won\u2019t be any state funding to help poorer parts of the state put their plans together.<\/p><p>You can track all the bills StateImpact Oklahoma is following by <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/tag\/2015-legislative-session\/\" target=\"_blank\">clicking here<\/a> to visit StateImpact&#8217;s guide to the 2015 session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Balancing the interests of Oklahomans who have plenty of water with those who desperately need it is a political fight, but not between Republicans and Democrats.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":22856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[630,423,444,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22851"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22889,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851\/revisions\/22889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}