High Court Takes Up Red River Showdown

Caption – The Red River forms most of the border between Oklahoma and Texas

In a legal battle that may have far-reaching affects on some interstate water wars, The United States Supreme Court on April 23rd heard the arguments in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Rudolf John Herrmann, et al.

At the heart of the case is whether the water district can purchase about 150 billion gallons of water from southeastern Oklahoma tributaries of the Red River that separates Oklahoma and Texas.

The case stems from a federal lawsuit in 2007 that the Tarrant Regional Water District, which serves an 11-county area in north central Texas including Fort Worth, filed against Herrmann and his fellow members on the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

The water district had applied to the OWRB for permits to appropriate water at three locations in Oklahoma for use in Texas but their plans were blocked by Oklahoma laws that govern the use of water within its borders, including a moratorium on out-of-state water sales.

Key to each side's case is the Red River Compact, which allows Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana to share water in the Red River Basin.

The district claims that the compact gives them access to water from creeks, rivers, and other tributaries that feed into the Red River, even if they fall within Oklahoma' borders, as part of their equal rights to runoff water. Oklahoma argues that the compact only refers to resources within each state's borders.

The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in July 2010. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision last year finding that the compact protects Oklahoma's water statutes from the legal challenge.

In the brief to the Supreme Court filed by the water district, they "sought a declaratory judgment to invalidate certain Oklahoma statutes that govern the appropriation and use of water and an injunction preventing OWRB from enforcing them," alleging that "the Oklahoma statutes restrict interstate commerce in water."

A decision is expected in June.