{"id":33103,"date":"2023-01-26T16:32:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T22:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33103"},"modified":"2023-01-26T16:32:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T22:32:44","slug":"ban-on-certain-out-of-state-groundwater-transfers-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33103","title":{"rendered":"Ban on certain out-of-state groundwater transfers considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Natural Resources Committee heard testimony Jan. 26 on a bill intended to protect Nebraska\u2019s groundwater resources.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Tom Briese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Currently, any entity that intends to withdraw groundwater from a well located in Nebraska and transport it for use in another state must apply to the state Department of Natural Resources for a permit.<\/p>\n

LB241, introduced by Albion Sen. Tom Briese, would prohibit the department\u2019s director from granting a permit that would allow groundwater to be transported more than 10 miles outside of Nebraska unless it is necessary to comply with an interstate compact or decree.<\/p>\n

Briese said he introduced the bill in light of the current megadrought in southwestern states and population growth along Colorado\u2019s Front Range.<\/p>\n

As the value of water in western states increases, he said, it might someday be financially feasible to pipe water from the Ogallala Aquifer to those places. Briese said LB241 would prevent that from happening without future action by the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health, safety and welfare of future Nebraskans truly hinges on the preservation of our water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eric Hansen testified in support of the bill on behalf of the Nebraska Cattlemen, saying Nebraska\u2019s groundwater supplies are vital to agricultural operations across the state.<\/p>\n

Bruce Rieker testified in opposition to LB241 on behalf of the Nebraska Farm Bureau. He said the organization opposes any transfer of Nebraska\u2019s groundwater to other states \u201cwhether it\u2019s 10 feet or 10 miles,\u201d in order to protect Nebraska\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Natural Resources Committee heard testimony Jan. 26 on a bill intended to protect Nebraska\u2019s groundwater resources. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[185],"class_list":["post-33103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-resources","tag-sen-tom-briese"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33105,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33103\/revisions\/33105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}