A watershed stock water decision
Washington Ag Today December 23, 2011 Christmas came a few days early for cattle producers in Washington state. It came Thursday morning. As Jack Field, Executive Vice President for the Washington Cattlemen’s Association explains, Santa Claus in this case was the Washington State Supreme Court. Field: “The Supreme Court decided six to three that the superior court decision that was supportive to the interpretation of RCW:90.44.050 was upheld. For those who haven’t been following closely that was the case pending at the Washington State Supreme Court that pertained to the ability to livestock operations to make ground water withdrawals for stock watering purposes. The court in their summary said they concluded under the plain language of the statute that withdrawals of ground water for stock water purposes are not limited to any particular quantity by RCW: 90.44.050 Furthermore, they reaffirmed the superior court’s grant of summary judgement to respondents. This is quite possibly the best Christmas present we ever could have wished for.” Field says in a nutshell the decision means the cattle industry in Washington is protected and has the ability to function, flourish and grow. Field: “This is huge. A decision in the other direction would have had catastrophic impact.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
