WaterClaim on LB 701
A lot of people assume that the new water bill is something that WaterClaim supports or caused to happen because we supported Mark Christensen in his election bid and because Mark Christensen was an employee of WaterClaim.
WaterClaim did support Mark Christensen in his successful election bid. We did pay Mark a salary, both before and after the election. We did draft the first two versions of the water bill, LB 701.
However, Mark Christensen is no longer an employee of WaterClaim. He resigned from WaterClaim on April 1st.
The third version of the bill and the one that the Legislature heard and passed was a bill drafted by the NRDs and was very different from what Senator Christensen campaigned for and what WaterClaim supported. The NRD version, which Senator Christensen ended up adopting and supporting, is much more expensive and moves water out of the Basin instead of bringing it in.
The good news is that the NRD version of LB 701 has a chance of resolving the problem. WaterClaim has long said it is important for Nebraska to take action to avoid letting a Federal judge decide our fate. However, WaterClaim strongly preferred a different way of resolving the problem than what the NRDs and Senator Mark Christensen ended up choosing.
The public elected the NRDs. Our elected representatives asked for the authority to dramatically raise taxes, to spend the money, and to choose how to keep Kansas happy. The Legislature agreed to give them that authority.
WaterClaim respects the authority of our elected representatives to make the decisions. That doesn’t mean we like how or what they are doing. But we, like everyone else, have only one practical way to change what is happening, and that is through the ballot box.
WaterClaim will do what we can to help the NRDs successfully implement the policies they have chosen. The job the NRDs now have will not be easy. Buying surface water alone may not be enough. How much money they pay for the surface water may determine if they have enough money to do the other things that must also be done.