The Water Rights Protection Act, HR 2939, supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week would bar federal agencies from taking the water rights of ranchers on public range lands.
The bill stops federal agencies from taking the water rights of land-use permit holders when the users are renewing their use permit. Those water rights, said AFBF’s Director of Congressional Relations Ryan Yates in an interview with Newsline, are a property right and should be protected by the Constitution.
“We were seeing new language inserted into these permit renewals that would require a permittee, be it a rancher or other federal land permittee, to transfer over water rights to the federal government as a condition of that permit renewal,” Yates said. “Obviously, that has a profound effect on the western economy, the ranching economy, and I would argue would violate the 5th Amendment of the Constitution as a taking.”
The legislation passed the U.S. House in a previous session of Congress and also addresses future attempts to take water rights from western ranchers. Yates said addressing the issue ranchers are facing is a priority of the Trump administration.
“The Trump administration has also weighed in on this issue, and in an executive order a couple of months ago, directed federal land management agencies to cease in these types of actions that would require the transfer of a water right as the condition of a permit,” Yates said.
America’s ranchers play a critical role in caring for public lands. AFBF said the government’s treatment of these rancher is not only unfair, but unconstitutional.
“It’s time to put a stop to federal strong-arming of ranchers by a government that owns the majority of the land for grazing west of the Mississippi,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “Water is the most valuable resource for every farmer and rancher. Unfortunately, the federal tactics we’ve seen in recent years have little to do with conversation and everything to do with big government and control.”
If passed, the Water Rights Protection Act would bar the federal government from seizing state-granted water rights from ranchers and restore basic property rights to them.
The legislations would also:
1. Prohibit agencies from demanding transfer of privately held water rights to the federal government in exchange for federal land use permits or other things;
2. Maintain federal deference to state water law;
3. Maintain environmental safeguards already in place.
Yates said farmers and ranchers need to support the bill by reaching out to their elected officials.
“The bill should be getting marked-up this week, so that really puts it on a path for floor consideration in the House of Representative,” Yates said. “And we’re calling on farmers and ranchers across the country, not just the West, to stand up for property rights and encourage their members of Congress to support HR 2939.”