Houston Chronicle by Bill Lambrecht 9/19/2019
In a battle over water, Texas is leading an uprising against an Army Corps of Engineers proposal to give the federal government more authority over supplies at reservoirs across the country. The new federal rule jeopardizes the state-issued water rights of Texas property owners and farmers, the state’s environmental agency has concluded.
Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and allies in the Senate this week asked the Trump administration to intervene, arguing that Army engineers have ignored complaints that new regulations intrude on states’ rights.
At the center of the latest dispute is a fundamental disagreement over who controls water. The corps contends in documents that the changes do not have “federalism implications.†States disagree.
The corps water supply rule “ignores both precedent and statute that the natural flows of the river remain squarely under the state’s jurisdiction, despite construction of corps dams and reservoirs,†reads the letter to the Office of Management and Budget, authored by Cruz and Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, both Republicans.
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/politics/article/Texas-leads-nine-states-in-battle-over-new-Army-14452702.php
