Yesterday’s Senate Ag & Natural Resources Committee vote on HB 1028, which would severely curtail the standing of citizens to intervene in permit proceedings to protect their water, was a 4-3 split–sending this bad bill to a final vote on the Senate floor TODAY.
The waters of South Dakota belong to the people of this state. In virtually every Western state, any member of the public can intervene to provide evidence and ask questions of an applicant for a water rights permit–because it’s their water, it’s their RIGHT.
Very few permits are contested in this way, but it’s an important process to maintain for the protection of our public water–and the Water Rights Program wants to do away with it. Especially for large-scale and potentially hazardous developments, such as mines, pipelines, and CAFOs, intervenors from the public have functioned as partners in the process–presenting evidence leading to additional permit conditions and greater protection for OUR water.
That’s how the process is SUPPOSED to work; that’s how it DOES work, and that’s why we need to MAINTAIN this process.
Additionally, testimony in hearings on this bill revealed that the proposed changes in HB 1028 could undermine hunting and fishing rights, as well as water rights vested with tribes under federal law, sparking potential litigation against the state.
Senators Need to Hear From You NOW! Contact them to vote NO on HB 1028!
2021 WEST RIVER SENATE: (Districts 26-35)
david.johnson@sdlegislature.gov, gary.cammack@sdlegislature.gov, helene.duhamel@sdlegislature.gov, jessica.castleberry@sdlegislature.gov, julie.fryemueller@sdlegislature.gov, mike.diedrich@sdlegislature.gov, reddawn.foster@sdlegislature.gov, ryan.maher@sdlegislature.gov, timothy.johns@sdlegislature.gov, troy.heinert@sdlegislature.gov
2021 EAST RIVER SENATE: (Districts 1-25)
al.novstrup@sdlegislature.gov, arthur.rusch@sdlegislature.gov, blake.curd@sdlegislature.gov, brock.greenfield@sdlegislature.gov, bryan.breitling@sdlegislature.gov, casey.crabtree@sdlegislature.gov, david.wheeler@sdlegislature.gov, erin.tobin@sdlegislature.gov, herman.otten@sdlegislature.gov, jack.kolbeck@sdlegislature.gov, jean.hunhoff@sdlegislature.gov, jim.bolin@sdlegislature.gov, jim.stalzer@sdlegislature.gov, john.wiik@sdlegislature.gov, joshua.klumb@sdlegislature.gov, kyle.schoenfish@sdlegislature.gov, larry.zikmund@sdlegislature.gov, lee.schoenbeck@sdlegislature.gov, margaret.sutton@sdlegislature.gov, marsha.symens@sdlegislature.gov, mary.duvall@sdlegislature.gov, michael.rohl@sdlegislature.gov, reynold.nesiba@sdlegislature.gov, wayne.steinhauer@sdlegislature.gov
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