Letter to Elected & Appointed Officials on the Interpretation of Beneficial Use

Here is the Letter to Officials on the Interpretation of Beneficial Use (inc. Summary) from May 15, 2023

Background and preceding events prior to the letter

Here is the Legislative Counsel’s Opinion from August 25, 2022, that’s referenced in the letter

Here is the first letter from Water League inquiring about the state’s interpretation of Beneficial Use statutes & rules from August 17, 2022

Here is the link to the July 6, 2022, OWRD statement that “It is not a misallocation of a permitted water right to water a non-registered cannabis site.”

[Note: Oregon just passed SB 326 on June 12, 2023, that prohibits the use of water from a water right to irrigate unlicensed cannabis. This is a huge win because now the question of beneficial use as it pertains to the public interest is no longer just a determination made when a water right is perfected, but is an ongoing consideration that evolves with shifting public values and ecological factors, both of which are empirical in nature.]

Links in the letter

Fort Vannoy Irrigation v. Water Resources, 345 Or. 56, 188 P.3d 277 (Or. 2008)

HB 4061 [Enrolled]

Attorney General’s 1993 Opinion on Bottled Water — Or. Op. Atty. Gen. OP-6499, 1993 WL 602062 (Or.A.G.)

Phillips v. Gardner, 2 Or. App. 423, 469 P.2d 42 (Or. Ct. App. 1970)

Cannabis Industry Impacts to the Environmental Health of the Illinois River Basin and Community Well-Being

Staats v. Newman, 164 Or. App. 18, 23 (1999)

Don’t Waste Oregon Committee v. Energy Facility Siting Council, 320 Or. 132, 881 P.2d 119 (Or. 1994)