Stock watering issue reaches state Supreme Court

The Washington State Supreme Court will rule in the coming months on whether livestock operations can withdraw unlimited amounts of groundwater. "The fate of the industry rests on this case," Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, said. The issue revolves around the 30,000-head Easterday feedlot in Eastern Washington. The court heard oral arguments in the case June 16. A lawsuit was filed in 2009 by several Franklin County dryland farmers and two environmental groups -- the Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Sierra Club -- that want to stop the feedlot from going forward without first obtaining a groundwater permit for the full amount of drinking water the cows will need. The defendants -- Easterday Ranches, Washington state and the Ecology Department -- say they have the necessary water rights and permits. Attorney General Rob McKenna issued an opinion in 2005 that Ecology cannot reduce exempt withdrawals of groundwater below those specified under the law. Under current law, all groundwater withdrawals require an application and permit from Ecology. Exemptions from this permit requirement include any withdrawals of public groundwater for stock watering purposes...more