High Court rejects Texas claims to Okla. water

WASHINGTON – Two Oklahoma tribes are celebrating a Supreme Court decision to reject a north Texas claim to water on the other side of the Red River.

In a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon, Greg Pyle, chief of the Choctaw Nation, and Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, praised the Supreme Court’s decision in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann to uphold two lower court rulings preventing the 11-county district from buying more than 150 million gallons of southern Oklahoma’s water from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

“This decision is a great victory for everyone in the state of Oklahoma,” the statement said. “The Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations joined Oklahoma in this case because we share a vital interest in protecting water resources in southeastern Oklahoma. We believe this decision will enable us to build on our efforts to work together with the state to protect and manage these water resources.”

The two tribes had filed friend of the court briefs in the case, as the Red River runs along the southern boundary of their jurisdictional areas. The tribes still have pending water rights litigation against Oklahoma concerning the use of Sardis Lake, the Kiamichi Basin, Clear Boggy Basin and Atoka Lake. Oklahoma City has been receiving water from those locations for several years without the tribes’ approval. Oklahoma City receives about half of its water supply from lakes and reservoirs within the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations.