The groundwater management wars are heating up at the Capitol. AB 2201 (Bennet) started as a bill to require a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) in a critically over-drafted basin to establish and implement a process to issue permits for groundwater extraction facilities by July 1, 2023. This would have applied to all facilities except for those where the groundwater being used for domestic, environmental, existing, or renewable energy purposes. CSAC engaged with the author and committee to discuss implications of shifting well permitting away from the counties, and were in negotiations when the Governor released his Executive Order on well permitting.

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