The Norman Transcript

Opinion

Discussion

May 9, 2012

Water task force brings heavy hitters

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — If the task force charged with coming up with a workable solution to the state water rights fuss fails, it won’t be for lack of effort or member horsepower. The federal court hearing the tribes’ lawsuit on water rights brought together a lineup of the state’s heavyweight hitters.

The task force, among others, includes the governor, the chiefs of the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, the leaders of Devon, Continental and Chesapeake energy companies, the president of Oklahoma City University, the head of OG&E and Oklahoma City’s city manager.

That’s not a group known for procrastination, shyness or irrational behavior. Their deliberations will be secret, as so ordered by the court. Mediator Francis E. McGovern will report the task force’s proceedings to the federal court.

The proceedings follow nine months of posturing by the tribes and the state after the federal lawsuit filing by the Chickasaws and Choctaws. The two tribes are asserting they own the water rights in a 22-county watershed of southeastern Oklahoma.

The fuss started a few years back when thirsty north Texas started looking for water to serve their growing suburbs. It became cheaper to try and buy Oklahoma water than to build their own reservoirs. The courts turned Texas down, and the state asked for time to come up with a comprehensive plan before any sale is approved.

The court in March granted a 60-day delay in the proceedings so all sides could cool off and try and work together. That ends in late May, and we expect any progress by the task force could give the judge cause to extend the stay.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Opinion
  • Johnson analyzed issue well

    Editor, The Transcript: I would like to thank Jim Johnson for his thoughtful, thorough and sensible analysis of the gun situation in our country.  He has made a meaningful contribution to what one hopes will become a civilized ...

    May 24, 2013

  • New faces on the bench

    Cleveland County is one step closer to getting another district judge. House members overwhelmingly approved the legislation moving a vacant seat from Seminole County in eastern Oklahoma to Cleveland County....

    May 24, 2013

  • The randomness of it all

    A drive through the fringe streets of the damaged areas in Moore and south Oklahoma City this week shows the randomness of Monday’s tornado. Homes that appear to have little or no damage stand next to ones that are ready to be pushed over....

    May 24, 2013

  • Diana Frost letter correction

    Letter correction: A letter to the editor from Diana Frost, originally published in March 2012, was inadvertently published again in Sunday’s paper. The Transcript apologizes for the error....

    May 23, 2013

  • Teachers should be proud

    Editor, The Transcript: He walked by the camera in his red OU T-shirt, splattered with dirt, hair disheveled, and cuts on his face. He told the reporter about helping rescue people from the rubble of the tornado. He spoke of his experience ...

    May 23, 2013

  • Misinformation clouds global warming

    Next spring I will again have to update my lecture on global warming. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is now rising above the 400 ppm level for the first time in perhaps 5 million years — a scenario humans have never experienced. In my Geology ...

    May 23, 2013

  • The Oklahoma standard

    The sight of hundreds of young student volunteers walking across Moore’s Fourth Street interstate overpass had to be uplifting to the city’s tornado victims. They carried rakes, brooms and trash bags. A few had children’s red wagons. There ...

    May 23, 2013

  • Roman Catholic Church too busy to respond with hate

    Editor, The Transcript: Diana Frost’s letter of May 19 concerning the Roman Catholic Church was so unreasonable that it almost defies response. Still, one of her many accusations must be addressed....

    May 22, 2013

  • There’s no answer for ‘Why?’

    Just hours before, there was breakfast and laughter. Pictures were on the walls and memories were in every room. But in seconds, those joys of life were reduced to a concrete slab by a rage of nature that man will never fully understand....

    May 22, 2013

  • Moore’s amazing resilience

    Our hearts, already heavy from Sunday’s deadly tornado in far eastern Cleveland County, sunk even further Monday afternoon as we watched the tornado rip through Moore. The monster storm that hit Monday followed nearly the same path as the ...

    May 22, 2013