On Wednesday, an attorney for the Grand River Dam Authority sent another letter to federal regulators saying that the state agency would turn over flood study records, while calling the request “unreasonable and oblivious” in light of the Trump Administration’s deregulatory bent.
A Grand River Dam Authority’s report found it shouldn’t have to buy out landowners affected by chronic flooding. But the agency won’t hand over records showing how the study was performed.
State lawmakers are trying for a second year to require commercial users to more accurately track water usage. Farmers have opposed previous efforts to create stricter water monitoring.
A ruling in a 20-year-old lawsuit could have far-reaching environmental consequences for the river and surrounding region.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he was troubled by the governor’s abrupt dismissal of Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment Ken McQueen. “Water doesn’t make political donations. Poultry does,” he said.
Oklahoma’s oil industry pays into a voluntary fund to clean up oil wells, but many drillers opt out. The money that has been refunded to these companies in recent years could have restored an estimated 1,500 orphan well sites.
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin argues that the cost of land buyouts could be passed on to many Native American, rural and poor Grand River Dam Authority ratepayers and that the federal government should pay instead.
Town leaders say it’s a win in a decades-long battle with state officials over floods that have repeatedly ravaged the area.
