Kevin Patrick, the attorney for the Tarrant Regional Water District, said the Supreme Court's decision Monday to seek the opinion of the United States Solicitor General was good news for the water district's lawsuit against Oklahoma. “We’re very pleased that the Court recognized the importance of this case by calling for the views of the United States," Patrick said Monday. "Where States have agreed to share water – as Texas and Oklahoma did in the Red River Compact – it is critical to our federalist system of government and to economic development that the Courts enforce the agreement as written and not permit states to renege by passing laws that purport to override the agreement, as Oklahoma has done. We will ask the United States to urge the Court to hold Oklahoma to its agreement that Texas is entitled to 25 percent of the Red River water.” The water district's lawsuit began in January 2007 when Tarrant Regional sued Oklahoma in attempt to capture water from three river basins in south-central and southeastern Oklahoma. The water district wanted to divert more than 130 billion gallons from river basins just north of the Red River but a federal judge and the U.S. 10th Circuit of Appeals ruled in Oklahoma's favor. During the litigation, Oklahoma legislators passed a bill in 2009 to clarify that the water was not available to other states without approval from the Oklahoma Legislature
- Bill Hanna
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