LINCOLN, Neb.—About 300 farmers in the Republican River basin could get checks totaling $9 million from the state, but Nebraskans are still staring down the possibility of paying millions in damages to Kansas.
The Legislature gave first-round approval on Wednesday to borrowing $9 million from the state’s cash reserve fund to pay farmers who, because of a pending lawsuit, haven’t been paid for sending water to Kansas last year instead of irrigating their crops.
On the same day, water officials from Kansas and Nebraska meeting in Kansas City, Mo., failed to resolve their dispute over water use in the Republican River.
Kansas water officials have said they would seek tens of millions of dollars for Nebraska’s overuse of water from the river, in addition to a shutdown of wells that irrigate nearly half the 1.2 million acres in the basin.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, Nebraska’s top water official sounded optimistic that the dispute could be resolved so that legal proceedings would be avoided.
“If we can’t resolve the dispute in the Republican River Compact Administration,” said Ann Bleed, director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, “and we all the time go to court, that will mean the administration is not working very well.
“I’m still hopeful we can resolve the dispute.”
If there isn’t a resolution over the next month or so, Kansas could demand nonbinding arbitration. And if arbitration doesn’t end in a deal, Kansas officials have said they would take the issue back to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kansas’ top water official didn’t echo Bleed’s optimism that a resolution to the dispute could be reached, though he isn’t ruling out the possibility.
“I can’t say Nebraska can’t satisfy us. We need to see if we’re as far apart as we thought,” said David Barfield, chief engineer for the Kansas Division of Water Resources.
He and other Kansas officials will review information submitted by Nebraska officials during the meeting to see if the state is on track to adequately curtail water use.
Are the plans Kansas officials have seen thus far enough to satisfy Kansas?
“We need to study the material, but my first blush answer is no,” Barfield said.
Use of the river is governed under terms of a 2003 decree from the U.S. Supreme Court, which approved a settlement among Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado of a lawsuit filed by Kansas in 1998.
Kansas alleges that Nebraska’s water use exceeded what was allowed for 2005-06 by about 27 billion gallons—or enough to supply a city of 100,000 for 10 years. Nebraska officials say that figure is too high.
A resolution to the two states’ dispute over the extent of Nebraska’s overuse and how water is accounted for, especially in dry years, was considered possible but not expected during the two-day meeting in Kansas City.
The states are expected to continue working on a resolution until mid-May. If the two sides are still at odds at that time, Kansas is expected to start the arbitration process.
That process could be started even earlier, as soon as April 11, if no progress is made by that date.
The information Kansas received from Nebraska officials during the meeting includes so-called integrated management plans developed by the state and natural resources districts in the basin. Those plans include reductions in irrigation pumping in the basin, but still appear to lack certainty that Nebraska will cut water use.
“We’ve been getting promises for years,” Barfield said.
Fulfilling a promise made to Republican River farmers last year was the reason many Nebraska lawmakers gave Wednesday when supporting the bill (LB1094) to pay them $9 million. Farmers haven’t been paid the money because of a lawsuit, filed by some residents of the basin, that alleges a new state law that allows property taxes to be collected for the purchase of water is unconstitutional.
Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln said the need to pay the money farmers expected last year is a matter of honor. “The question is whether this Legislature will keep its word,” he said.
Gov. Dave Heineman said he is “generally supportive” of the bill.
If the state loses the lawsuit and the property taxes are ruled unconstitutional, the $9 million could be paid back to the state through a current tax on irrigated acres or through some mechanism approved by the Legislature.
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