Tipton defends water rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Scott Tipton (CO-03) and U.S. Sen. John Barraso (R-WY) urged U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to implement policy changes that will require federal agencies to recognize state authority for permitting water use when deciding permits, leases, licenses, and any other land use agreements.

In April of 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order creating the Intergovernmental Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity. The taskforce, led by Secretary Perdue, is charged with identifying obstacles hindering economic prosperity in rural communities across the United States and solutions on how to overcome them, so rural families, farms and businesses can thrive. The Executive Order identified water rights as an area of focus, requesting that the taskforce “ensure water users’ private property rights are not encumbered when they attempt to secure permits to operate on public lands.”

The letter to Secretary Perdue signed by Barraso, Tipton and 18 of their colleagues reads, in part:

“As co-sponsors of the Water Rights Protection Act, we urge you to consider policy changes that ‘ensure water users’ private property rights are not encumbered when they attempt to secure permits to operate on public lands.’ We were encouraged that these policy provisions were proposed in the President’s Executive Order. For more than a century, Congress and the courts have recognized that water is sovereign to the states and belongs to those who have secured rights under state law. Despite this, there have been numerous attempts by federal land management agencies to limit, or take, privately held water rights from ranchers, farmers, and others with rural businesses. Specifically, we have seen attempts by the U.S. Forest Service to use their federal permitting authority to require the owners of water supplies to limit, reduce, or change their water use or relinquish part of their water supply for federal use and benefit.”

The letter echoes the intent of Tipton’s Water Rights Protections Act, which was first introduced in the 113th Congress in response to the U.S. Forest Service’s 2011 and 2012 Ski Area Permit Clause, under which the agency attempted to require the transfer of privately-held water rights to the federal government as a permit condition for ski areas operating on federal land. The Water Rights Protection Act would prohibit federal land management agencies from requiring the transfer of privately-held water rights as a permit condition.

The Water Rights Protection Act passed out of the House of Representatives with bipartisan support in both the 113th and 114th Congresses. In the 115th Congress, language from the bill passed the House in the Gaining Responsibility on Water Act of 2017 (H.R. 23).

Of President Trump’s Executive Order and the Water Rights Protection Act, Congressman Tipton said, “I’m encouraged to see that the Administration has recognized the importance of preserving state water rights, however, we must pass the Water Rights Protection Act into law in order to effectively solve this issue.”
Congressman Scott R. Tipton represents Colorado’s Third District. He serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Natural Resources. He is Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Tipton is the Executive Vice Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and Co-chairman of the Congressional Small Business Caucus.