In the final battle of a protracted water dispute between Oklahoma and Texas, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), a Texas water entity, cannot cross into Oklahoma to take water.
In the June 13 unanimous decision, which upholds the rulings of two lower federal courts, the Supreme Court held for Oklahoma on each of the main issues of law: (1) that the Red River Compact does not pre-empt the Oklahoma water statutes or give TRWD the right to cross state boundaries; and (2) that Oklahoma’s water laws do not violate the Commerce Clause.
“This is a great day for all Oklahomans,” said Charlette Hearne, President of Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy (ORWP), a grassroots citizens’ organization created to protect Oklahoma’s water resources, environment and way of life. That group, said Hearne, was originally started when Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board contracted for the transfer of almost 90% of the water from Sardis Lake to Oklahoma City.
But ORWP and the citizens of Southeast Oklahoma stood shoulder to shoulder with the state in this battle against Texas, said Hearne. “Earlier this year, ORWP submitted a friend of the court brief, called an AmicusCuriae Brief, in the Supreme Court. In the brief, ORWP addressed water issues common to Oklahomans whose voices are usually muffled by the money and influence of large cities and bordering states.”
Hearne, who attended the oral arguments for the case in Washington, DC this spring, believes the ORWP Amicus brief, which argued water as community rather than commodity, was an important part of the information that helped the Supreme Court justices make their decision.
“It was obvious the judges had read our brief. We want to thank our attorneys for showing the human aspect of this problem, a problem that often is painted as all about money rather than people. Our attorneys helped ORWP and the state protect a way of life here in Southeast Oklahoma.”
At the heart of the suit was the interpretation of the Red River Compact, a 30-year-old, congressionally ratified agreement between Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Part of that compact allowed each state 25% of water from a certain segment of the Red River under specific flow conditions. Tarrant asserted it did not have to take its own share from the Red River, but could cross into Oklahoma and draw fresh waters from the state before those waters flowed into the Red River.
It was a water battle that was being closely watched around the country, and today’s decision will influence interstate water compacts common to Western states.