Originally published in PlainsDaily.com on March 22, 2011
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By Kate Bommarito
The Senate passed HCR 3019 today, a resolution urging the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) “to immediately cease wrongful denial of access and wrongful requirement of payment for the natural flows of the Missouri River,” and demands that the COE “forgo any attempt to charge water users in North Dakota a fee to use water from Lake Sakakawea or Lake Oahe.”
Both the Governor and the Attorney General had testified at the resolution’s committee hearing. At the House hearing, Dalrymple called the US Army Corps of Engineers’ new policies both “unjustifiable” and “utterly inappropriate for the state of North Dakota.”
The Corps has had a long and contentious history when it comes to their management of the Missouri River water. Most recently, the COE has been attempting to charge North Dakota water “storage fees,” for water held in Lake Sakakwea and Lake Oahe.
State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem stated “It is not just nor I think legal to demand that we get permission to use water that naturally flows through our state, and it borders on insult to demand that we pay for it,” when he addressed the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
At the same time the Senate was voting on HCR 3019, the House was voting on a related resolution, SCR 4002, urging Congress “to provide a legal process to return to the state of North Dakota land controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers which is not necessary for authorized purposes.”
SCR 4002 specifies that the COE “has acquired certain lands around the Missouri River water system, including Lake Oahe and Lake Sakakawea,” and demands that the land be returned, giving the state of North Dakota full control over the land, including access to the river’s water.
The Corps’ plan to charge the state for its water has been met with public outcry in the state and has far reaching implications, especially considering the current water pipeline projects and the oil industry’s increased need for access to water.
Both resolutions passed their respective chambers unanimously
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