Transcript

Jeff Fassett: We're finding out that our law isn't enough

I'm not sure I have too much to add. I think it is education, it is public pressure. I watched with interest the piece that was done on instream flows in Wyoming. I think that is an emerging issue for us. I think we've got good experience in what we've done, but we are clearly finding out that our law isn't enough. It's not meeting the needs or the questions that are being asked of state officials, and I think that it will take greater education, greater public pressure to get those laws to change. Then you will begin to see greater tools being used. I was thinking, listening to the question, I am not an expert on that, and maybe somebody else is familiar but I think that the state of Oregon did pass a law as a recall a number of year ago where they did precisely as you are suggesting. There was a certain percentage of a transfer that was sort of left to the stream. I don't know exactly how successful or unsuccessful that was, but it was at least a shot at trying something new as part of the marketing and part of the water transfer laws to make a more formal recognition of the stream needing some water too. And perhaps someone else is familiar with that, but I know that was one effort specifically in one state to try to do that.

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