OWRB Meeting Update

On Tuesday morning the Oklahoma Water Resources Board considered the temporary groundwater permit application filed by Lazy S Ranch Properties, LLC in Carter County seeking to withdraw over 4,000 acre-feet of groundwater from wells located just off the outcrop of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer.

CPASA and several others filed a protest to this application, but were dismissed as parties by the hearing examiner. During yesterday’s meeting, CPASA and the other protesters presented arguments and requested the Board (1) reinstate all the protesters as parties; and (2) send the application back to staff for further consideration.

I'm happy to report the Board did just that. Thus, CPASA will be a party in the new administrative hearing process and will be able to conduct discovery and present evidence. After hearing all the evidence, the hearing examiner will draft a proposed order for the Board’s final decision.

We are working on identifying a date for our next meeting. Once we have that set, we’ll be able to give a full report on everything from the OWRB meeting and talk about next steps.