Annual Annual Regional Water Resource Conference Choctaw Resort Conference Center Durant, OK August 22, 2013 The Red River Water War: Tarrant, the Path to the Supreme Court, & Implications for the Future Marguerite Chapman, J.D., LL.M. Professor Emeritus of Law University of Tulsa College of Law th 3120 East 4 Place Tulsa, OK 74104
[email protected] 918-631-2463 RRVA Logo, Red River Basin Map & Photo Credit: http://www.rrva.org/ River Photo Credits: State Hwy 78 Bridge en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Highway_No._78_bridge _at_the_Red_River;; Photo of barge: http://www.rrva.org/; malialitman.wordpress.com; Elm Fork of the Red River near Carol 2009 photo: http://www.owrb.ok.gov/quality/monitoring/bump/pdf_bump/Current/StreamsSlideshow.pps 2 History of the Red River Compact Negotiation Commission • President Eisenhower signed legislation on August 11, 1955, specifically consenting to the negotiations of an interstate compact for the Red River, the sixth longest river in the U.S. • Lots of challenges: Climatic & Hydrologic Diversity; Water Quality Problems; Divergent State Water Laws; History of Red River Boundary Litigation; U.S. Supreme Court and Equitable Apportion Doctrine; Effect on Compact on Intergovernmental Relations, etc. • RRCNC opted for interstate compact rather than federal-interstate compact such as Delaware River Basin Compact or Susquehanna River Basin Compact. • Duly authorized representatives of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and of the federal government signed the Red River Compact on May 12, 1978 – almost 23 years after negotiations began. • Official signing ceremony at Dennison Dam culminated 60 formal meetings of the RRCNC. • Red River Compact became legally effective and binding on December 22, 1980, when President Carter approved the federal consent legislation.