We need your help to protect OUR public water and OUR public process. House Bill 1028 is headed toward the House floor–and could be voted on as soon as WEDNESDAY afternoon (1/27).
Contact your House members NOW to tell them to vote NO on House Bill 1028!
THE MORE YOU KNOW…ABOUT PUBLIC WATER, WATER RIGHTS, & HB 1028:
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South Dakota’s water belongs to the people of South Dakota. The Water Rights Program is supposed to protect that resource for We, The People. Water Rights gets about 100 water permit applications per year–for business, industry, irrigation, etc.
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ONLY A TINY NUMBER of those applications are ever opposed–and South Dakota’s current process, which allows any person to request to intervene (oppose or contest) is the standard in virtually ALL other Western states.
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Most contested permits are about a narrow issue–like with neighbor’s wells–BUT a few are about large-scale industrial projects (mines, large CAFOs, pipelines) where water use is heavy, and impacts could be SERIOUS, WIDESPREAD, AND LASTING.
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HB 1028 would set the bar to contest a permit impossibly high–a “unique injury” to a specific person–and block everyone else from presenting evidence or asking questions as a party to the proceedings
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HB 1028 blocks people from bringing evidence that an applicant’s use of the water (like with a large scale industrial project) could threaten water QUALITY–it would ONLY allow a focus on quantity. We believe if a project stands to diminish the quality of water for other users, those people should have a right to participate in the process.
- In fact, intervenors under the current process have brought evidence resulting in permit conditions that have made our public water safer. That’s the whole point, and that’s what HB 1028 could jeopardize.
This is OUR water. WE have a RIGHT to participate in the process.
Contact House Members to ask them to VOTE NO on HB 1028. Make your message brief, to the point (No on HB 1028), and personal.
Thank YOU for Taking ACTION!