Western states' sovereignty in danger?

...Nick Dranias of the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute says the fight has now expanded. "The Federal Bureau of Land Management has filed an objection to a certificate of adequate water supply for a development in southeastern Arizona, claiming that they have superior water rights over the San Pedro River Valley, the major watershed for most of southeastern Arizona," he reports. That throws into question the longtime national policy of the federal government deferring to state laws and state sovereignty when it comes to water rights. Dranias believes it is all about environmental extremism. "The federal government has a riparian, ecological area, and they want to use as much water as they can to maintain this area," he says. The center for constitutional government adds that it is essential for the Goldwater Institute to prevail in its efforts to vindicate Tombstone, Arizona, because if Tombstone fails, the floodgates of federal overreach will "wash away what little sovereignty the Western states will enjoy."...more