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No need to go on. You defend Big Government no matter how oppressive it is. Most of us hate big government, but you love it. We all know that.
Oh yes *I* love big government. Oh yeah!
Sigh. Don't pretend to know me. I can provide a ton of examples of things I don't like. The thing is, we probably agree on those I suspect so you don't see me arguing about it.
For example:
Stay out of our guns, they're ours.
Govt Surveillance of our population is BAD the patriot act is horrific and abusible
Militarizing our police is bad
Drug laws are bad
Laws that impact our freedoms with no logical reason behind them is bad.
The thing is, I will argue FOR things like the government providing for the common good
This makes me some massive government lover. Sure. think that.
Republican Texas has the same laws - surface water belongs to the state. It's not a left vs right issue..
Nothing in your link says the rain falling on my land belongs to the state. Your link refers to runoff flowing through my land. That's a very different proposition/
States are limiting use of water, but those limits are being challenged due to previous courts ruling that property owners have reasonable use doctrines..
"Landowners are entitled to reasonable use of the ater that flows across their land as long as it is returned to its natural water course. This includes ponding water behind a dam for personal use or making drainage improvements to protect structures".
"Landowners are generally required to accept that water flows onto their property in a natural water course, so long as no additional water from another watershed has been added to such flow; subsurface drainage (clay or tile) that has been installed for more than 21 years is considered a natural water course".
This whole theory that government can control water that comes onto ones property from rain etc, is due to a plan put into place by the Chagrin River Watershed Partners, who "suggested" government initiate control over water flow on properties, but these laws have been successfully challenged in court becuase property owners have an obligation to minimize damages down stream, and one cant minimize damages down stream without restricting flow, and by limiting use of an individuals use of land, municipalities are becoming liable for taking properties through adverse possesion.
Even the EPA has backpeddled on limitations in areas like ripiarian setbacks
So basically just like Oregon. You can protect your structures, and you can't change the natural water course. Which this guy did.
I don't think you would find the Oregon laws disagreeable. You might quibble about "personal use" I find 15 million gallons a bit excessive mind you....while I could buy 1 million or 2.
Sigh. Don't pretend to know me. I can provide a ton of examples of things I don't like. The thing is, we probably agree on those I suspect so you don't see me arguing about it.
For example:
Stay out of our guns, they're ours.
Govt Surveillance of our population is BAD the patriot act is horrific and abusible
Militarizing our police is bad
Drug laws are bad
Laws that impact our freedoms with no logical reason behind them is bad.
The thing is, I will argue FOR things like the government providing for the common good
This makes me some massive government lover. Sure. think that.
Yes, it does, absolutely.
The government cannot "provide for the common good" without first impoverishing the common people.
So basically just like Oregon. You can protect your structures, and you can't change the natural water course. Which this guy did.
I don't think you would find the Oregon laws disagreeable. You might quibble about "personal use" I find 15 million gallons a bit excessive mind you....while I could buy 1 million or 2.
You absolutely can change the natural water course provided you return it to its natural state prior to it leaving your own land.
The amount of water isnt the qualifier as for "personal use".
You don't live in Oregon, so I doubt Oregonians care if you think it is wrong. Also, you aren't headed to Oregon to challenge the law.
You dont need to head to Oregon to change the law, you just need to question similar laws in ones own state and once its ruled unconstitutional or unreasonable by the courts, those laws filter through to the other states..
The public has no idea how out of control our governments are. Rain that falls on my property belongs to me. No exceptions.
Do you live out East? Our country has two very different legal schemes for regulating water and water rights.
Out East where water is plentiful, water rights are governed by a riparian system. In that system, you likely do own the water that falls on your property.
Out West, it's very likely you do not own rights to the water that falls on your property - it's owned by somebody else. Here, where water is scarce, water rights are governed by a first-in-time allocation system. Western governments retain sovereign ownership over water in and on its way to naturally occurring bodies, and then people make claims to the water and divert it into ditches for their use. The government then protects these water rights against people like the guy convicted in the story here.
Also, Western states require that as a condition of your ownership of water rights, you put the water to productive use. If not, your ownership is considered abandoned, and the claim to that water shifts to the person who, chronologically, next made a claim on that water.
This is really important stuff out West. And it's not some newfangled way government is getting out of control. Here in Colorado, what I was just described was enshrined in our state constitution at the time we became a state.
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