Bill Text: TX HCR92 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to enact legislation authorizing Texas and other states to enter into interstate compacts concerning groundwater.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-10 - Referred to Natural Resources [HCR92 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR92-Introduced.html
| 82R8806 BPG-D | ||
| By: Martinez Fischer | H.C.R. No. 92 | |
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| WHEREAS, Serious problems in managing the High Plains Aquifer | ||
| illustrate the pressing need for interstate compacts concerning | ||
| groundwater; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The High Plains Aquifer is the largest aquifer in | ||
| the continental United States, spanning Texas, Colorado, Kansas, | ||
| Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming; with | ||
| more water currently being drawn from the aquifer than is being | ||
| recharged, it is in jeopardy of depletion in the near future; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Most of the law governing groundwater is state law, | ||
| as states have generally assumed responsibility for managing this | ||
| resource; since eight states overlie the High Plains Aquifer, there | ||
| are eight different, sometimes conflicting, groundwater doctrines | ||
| governing portions of the aquifer; this fractured governance scheme | ||
| is inequitable and inefficient and promotes unsustainable use; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Interstate conflicts over water resources can now | ||
| lead to litigation before the United States Supreme Court, which | ||
| addresses issues on a case-by-case basis, but they could be | ||
| addressed more quickly and comprehensively by an interstate compact | ||
| in which the parties can reach an agreement themselves that will | ||
| hopefully also resolve future disputes over the interstate water | ||
| resource in question; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The United States Constitution permits states to | ||
| enter into binding agreements with one another that are approved by | ||
| Congress and thereby become federal law, which can preempt | ||
| contradictory state law; such interstate compacts are most commonly | ||
| used to create an intermediate, regional level of regulation to | ||
| resolve problems that extend beyond a single state but do not merit | ||
| national attention, and they have been used to manage forest fire | ||
| fighting, sanitation, transportation, and other issues when they | ||
| cross state boundaries; most notably, there are already numerous | ||
| interstate compacts for the allocation of such surface water | ||
| resources as rivers, reservoirs, and river basins; and | ||
| WHEREAS, An interstate compact for groundwater would create a | ||
| more equitable and administratively efficient governance regime, | ||
| allowing states to work together to safeguard the supply and to | ||
| determine a fair distribution of this increasingly precious | ||
| resource; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby urge the United States Congress to enact legislation | ||
| authorizing states to enter into interstate compacts concerning | ||
| groundwater; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
