Latest news with #waterrights
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kyrie Irving Claims Bill Gates Owning Majority Of The Land And Water In The USA Is Weird
Kyrie Irving Claims Bill Gates Owning Majority Of The Land And Water In The USA Is Weird originally appeared on Fadeaway World. On a recent Twitch stream, NBA star Kyrie Irving raised eyebrows once again, not for a dazzling dribble move but for a controversial claim: that Bill Gates owns a majority of the land and water in the United States. "I still think it's weird that, you know, the Gates family, or Bill Gates, owns a lot of the land in North Dakota. I think that's weird. He owns a majority of the water in the United States. I think that's weird." Kyrie's comments sparked immediate reactions online. While he's no stranger to alternative perspectives, having previously questioned the shape of the Earth, this statement taps into a mix of land ownership data, corporate farming concerns, and longstanding American anxieties about billionaire control over natural resources. But is there any truth to what he said? Let's break it down. Bill Gates is indeed the largest private owner of farmland in the United States. According to The Land Report, as of 2021, Gates owned roughly 270,000 acres of farmland spread across more than a dozen states, including large parcels in Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Washington. This land is primarily used for agricultural purposes such as growing potatoes, carrots, soybeans, and corn. However, this number represents just 0.03% of the 895 million acres of total American farmland, per the USDA. And that's just farmland, not total land area, which is around 2.3 billion acres in the U.S. Gates' holdings make him a notable figure, but the idea that he owns a "majority" of U.S. land is objectively false. This part of Kyrie's statement has even less merit. Gates does not "own" the majority of the water in the United States. In fact, no one does. Water rights in the U.S. are regulated by a patchwork of state and federal laws that depend heavily on geography. For instance, riparian rights apply in the eastern U.S., granting landowners the right to reasonable use of water from adjacent sources. In the arid western U.S., prior appropriation dominates: the first person to use water for a beneficial purpose gets the legal right to continue using it, regardless of land ownership. Water is also governed by public trust doctrines in many states, meaning the government holds it in trust for the people. Municipal utilities, irrigation districts, and federal agencies like the Bureau of Reclamation manage large reservoirs and delivery systems, not private billionaires. Gates has made philanthropic investments in water sanitation, particularly in developing nations, but these are far removed from owning U.S. water rights. Kyrie's framing taps into growing public distrust of billionaires buying up large swaths of land, especially as food security and climate change become pressing concerns. Gates' massive wealth, estimated at $128 billion as of 2025, according to Forbes, makes him a natural lightning rod for these fears. But equating that wealth with ownership of a country's natural resources is a leap too far. While there's nothing wrong with questioning power, the facts simply don't back up Kyrie's claim. Bill Gates doesn't own the majority of U.S. land or water, just a small but notable slice of farmland. The water system in the U.S. is a decentralized, highly regulated domain that no single person or entity can 'own' in any meaningful way. In this case, Kyrie may have dribbled a little too far from the story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on Jul 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
CBS News
23-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Colorado neighborhood searches for water rights to save community golf course
A Broomfield golf course could shut down if the land dries up. Broomfield residents are expressing concerns about what's next after the owner sold the water rights. Eagle Trace Golf Club is located near 10th and Main in Broomfield, across the street from Broomfield High School, which is north of 120th Avenue and west of Sheridan Boulevard. For nearly the last decade, Larry Cooper has lived next door to the golf course and comes out to his yard to look out over the water. But in the next 15 months, it could all dry up. "What are they going to do with all the fish and turtles? [The sale is] going to kill them all. That's really a big concern for us and the wildlife," Cooper said. When the water rights to the golf course went up for sale, the city turned them down. This left another development in another Colorado town to buy them and left residents with a golf course and no water. Bruce Erley is the HOA President for Eagle Trace, and he's worried that without the value that water rights bring, the course could be left abandoned. "There's an old cowboy saying that whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting, and so, and we don't want to be in the position where we're fighting," Erley said, "But you'd have at least 500 very upset homeowners if we don't find a solution to this." CBS Colorado reached out to the course owner but didn't hear back. Meanwhile, Cooper and Erley hope the city will send some of their existing water rights back down the fairway. "We're very hopeful that the city will take a leadership role in reversing what's happened here," Cooper said, "It's a big investment. We clearly understand that, and we're all engaged, and we're all going to be part of it." Broomfield city leaders declined to interview on Tuesday but are scheduled to meet with those on the Golf Course Task Force on Wednesday night as they work with residents who want the green to stay that way. "If we can make lemonade out of lemons, that's really our desire is not just have it be the way it is, but have it be actually something that becomes a real jewel for Broomfield," Erley said. Right now, residents are working against the clock as water is scheduled to shut off in November 2026.
Al Arabiya
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Nebraska sues neighboring colorado over how much water it's drawing from the south platte river
OMAHA, Neb. – Nebraska is suing Colorado over the amount of water it draws from the South Platte River, the latest in a long history of water rights disputes between the states that have been left increasingly dry by climate change. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and state Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a news conference Wednesday to announce the lawsuit, which was filed with the US Supreme Court. 'It's crystal clear. Colorado has been holding water back from Nebraska for almost 100 years and getting more and more egregious every single day,' Pillen said, pointing to Colorado's rapidly expanding population over the past decade. 'So today it's really, really simple: We're here to put our gloves on,' Pillen said. 'We're going to fight like heck. We're going to get every drop of water.' Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the lawsuit 'unfortunate' in a written statement and said Nebraska officials failed to look for reasonable solutions. The lawsuit accuses Colorado of depriving Nebraska of as much as 1.3 million acre-feet (about 160,350 hectare-meters) of water from the river over several years that Nebraska is entitled to under a 1923 compact between the states. The suit also accuses Colorado officials of blocking Nebraska's effort to construct a massive canal – often called the Perkins County Canal – and reservoir project that would see Nebraska seize land in Colorado to divert water into Nebraska, which is also allowed under the compact. Nebraska needs the water not only for agriculture production in its southwestern region – which climate experts predict will grow hotter and drier in the coming decades – but also to feed water supplies in the eastern part of the state, officials said. Nebraska's capital, Lincoln, is expected to get 12 percent of its water from the proposed canal, Pillen said. The compact entitles Nebraska to 120 cubic feet (3.4 cubic meters) per second from the river during the irrigation season between April 1 and Oct. 15 each year and 500 cubic feet (about 14 cubic meters) per second during the non-irrigation fall and winter months. Hilgers said Colorado has been shortchanging Nebraska during the irrigation season, allowing only about 75 cubic feet (about 2 cubic meters) per second of water daily into Nebraska this summer. 'I think this may be the most consequential lawsuit that this office will be a part of in my generation,' Hilgers said. 'It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the South Platte River to the future of the state of Nebraska.' Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a statement calling the lawsuit 'meritless' and denied that Colorado had violated the compact. The South Platte, which flows through northeastern Colorado into southwestern Nebraska, has been at the center of a tempest brewing between the two states going back to 2022, when Nebraska announced it would build the canal. Since then, officials from the two states have been haggling over how to carry out both the terms of the compact and land acquisition to build the canal. Hilgers said the two states are at an impasse. Weiser countered that Nebraska officials should have remained at the negotiating table. 'Nebraska's actions will force Colorado water users to build additional new projects to lessen the impact of the proposed Perkins County Canal,' he said. 'When the dust finally settles, likely over a billion dollars will have been spent – tens of millions of that on litigation alone – and no one in Nebraska or Colorado will be better off.' The lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states, Hilgers said. 'The process isn't fast,' he warned. 'We'll probably have a special master appointed within the next 12 months, and under normal litigation timelines, that's maybe 3 to 5 years before we get a result,' he said. That does not mean work on the canal will stop, he said, as he expects work on permitting and design of the canal to continue. Nebraska has been at the center of interstate water disputes for decades. In 2002, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas reached a settlement over Republican River water allocation after years of legal wrangling. But disputes continued, and new agreements were reached among the states again in 2014. Water disputes could become more common as climate change worsens shortages, said Dr. Carly Phillips, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists – a nonprofit that advocates for climate change solutions. 'Warmer temperatures affect multiple parts of the hydrological cycle,' Phillips said. 'It is decreasing the snowpack, which is the main way water is stored in the western US. Higher temperatures also mean the snow melts earlier each year, changing the availability of stream flow. And states like Nebraska might see increased irrigation demand when it's hotter. These patterns are all in the same direction across the board,' Phillips said. 'The trends are really consistent when it comes to snowpack, stream flow, evaporation, and irrigation demand.'
The Independent
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Nebraska sues neighboring Colorado over how much water it's drawing from the South Platte River
Nebraska is suing Colorado over the amount of water it draws from the South Platte River, the latest in a long history of water rights disputes between the states that have been left increasingly dry by climate change. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and state Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a news conference Wednesday to announce the lawsuit, which was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. 'It's crystal clear. Colorado has been holding water back from Nebraska for almost 100 years and getting more and more egregious every single day,' Pillen said, pointing to Colorado's rapidly expanding population over the past decade. 'So today it's really, really simple: We're here to put our gloves on," Pillen said. "We're going to fight like heck. We're going to get every drop of water.' Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the lawsuit 'unfortunate' in a written statement and said Nebraska officials failed 'to look for reasonable solutions.' The lawsuit accuses Colorado of depriving Nebraska of as much as 1.3 million acre-feet (about 160,350 hectare-meters) of water from the river over several years that Nebraska is entitled to under a 1923 compact between the states. The suit also accuses Colorado officials of blocking Nebraska's effort to construct a massive canal — often called the Perkins County Canal — and reservoir project that would see Nebraska seize land in Colorado to divert water into Nebraska, which is also allowed under the compact. Nebraska needs the water not only for agriculture production in its southwestern region — which climate experts predict will grow hotter and drier in the coming decades — but also to feed water supplies in the eastern part of the state, officials said. Nebraska's capital, Lincoln, is expected to get 12% of its water from the proposed canal, Pillen said. The compact entitles Nebraska to 120 cubic feet (3.4 cubic meters) per second from the river during the irrigation season between April 1 and Oct. 15 each year, and 500 cubic feet (about 14 cubic meters) per second during the non-irrigation fall and winter months. Hilgers said Colorado has been shortchanging Nebraska during the irrigation season, allowing only about 75 cubic feet (about 2 cubic meters) per second of water daily into Nebraska this summer. 'I think this may be the most consequential lawsuit that this office will be a part of in my generation,' Hilgers said. 'It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the South Platte River to the future of the state of Nebraska.' The South Platte, which flows through northeastern Colorado into southwestern Nebraska, has been at the center of a tempest brewing between the two states going back to 2022, when Nebraska announced it would build the canal. Since then, officials from the two states have been haggling over how to carry out both the terms of the compact and land acquisition to build the canal. 'It became clear, despite the very professional and intentional scope of those negotiations, that we were at an impasse,' Hilgers said. Weiser countered that Nebraska officials should have remained at the negotiating table. 'Nebraska's actions will force Colorado water users to build additional new projects to lessen the impact of the proposed Perkins County Canal,' he said. 'When the dust finally settles, likely over a billion dollars will have been spent — tens of millions of that on litigation alone — and no one in Nebraska or Colorado will be better off.' Hilgers said the lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states. The process 'isn't fast,' Hilgers warned. 'We'll probably have a special master appointed within the next 12 months, and under normal litigation timelines, that's maybe 3 to 5 years before we get a result,' he said. That does not mean work on the canal will stop, he said, as he expects work on permitting and design of the canal to continue. Nebraska has been at the center of interstate water disputes for decades. In 2002, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas reached a settlement over Republican River water allocation after years of legal wrangling. But disputes continued, and new agreements were reached among the states again in 2014. Water disputes could become more common as climate change worsens shortages, said Dr. Carly Phillips, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists — a nonprofit that advocates for climate change solutions. Warmer temperatures affect multiple parts of the hydrological cycle, Phillips said. It is decreasing the snowpack, which is the main way water is stored in the western U.S. Higher temperatures also mean the snow melts earlier each year, changing the availability of stream flow. And states like Nebraska might see increased irrigation demand when it's hotter. 'These patterns are all in the same direction across the board,' Phillips said. 'The trends are really consistent when it comes to snowpack, stream flow, evaporation and irrigation demand.' ____
Washington Post
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Nebraska sues neighboring Colorado over how much water it's drawing from the South Platte River
OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska is suing Colorado over the amount of water it draws from the South Platte River, the latest in a long history of water rights disputes between the states that have been left increasingly dry by climate change. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and state Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a news conference Wednesday to announce the lawsuit, which was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. 'It's crystal clear. Colorado has been holding water back from Nebraska for almost 100 years and getting more and more egregious every single day,' Pillen said, pointing to Colorado's rapidly expanding population over the past decade. 'So today it's really, really simple: We're here to put our gloves on,' Pillen said. 'We're going to fight like heck. We're going to get every drop of water.' Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the lawsuit 'unfortunate' in a written statement and said Nebraska officials failed 'to look for reasonable solutions.' The lawsuit accuses Colorado of depriving Nebraska of as much as 1.3 million acre-feet (about 160,350 hectare-meters) of water from the river over several years that Nebraska is entitled to under a 1923 compact between the states. The suit also accuses Colorado officials of blocking Nebraska's effort to construct a massive canal — often called the Perkins County Canal — and reservoir project that would see Nebraska seize land in Colorado to divert water into Nebraska, which is also allowed under the compact. Nebraska needs the water not only for agriculture production in its southwestern region — which climate experts predict will grow hotter and drier in the coming decades — but also to feed water supplies in the eastern part of the state, officials said. Nebraska's capital, Lincoln, is expected to get 12% of its water from the proposed canal, Pillen said. The compact entitles Nebraska to 120 cubic feet (3.4 cubic meters) per second from the river during the irrigation season between April 1 and Oct. 15 each year, and 500 cubic feet (about 14 cubic meters) per second during the non-irrigation fall and winter months. Hilgers said Colorado has been shortchanging Nebraska during the irrigation season, allowing only about 75 cubic feet (about 2 cubic meters) per second of water daily into Nebraska this summer. 'I think this may be the most consequential lawsuit that this office will be a part of in my generation,' Hilgers said. 'It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the South Platte River to the future of the state of Nebraska.' The South Platte, which flows through northeastern Colorado into southwestern Nebraska, has been at the center of a tempest brewing between the two states going back to 2022, when Nebraska announced it would build the canal. Since then, officials from the two states have been haggling over how to carry out both the terms of the compact and land acquisition to build the canal. 'It became clear, despite the very professional and intentional scope of those negotiations, that we were at an impasse,' Hilgers said. Weiser countered that Nebraska officials should have remained at the negotiating table. 'Nebraska's actions will force Colorado water users to build additional new projects to lessen the impact of the proposed Perkins County Canal,' he said. 'When the dust finally settles, likely over a billion dollars will have been spent — tens of millions of that on litigation alone — and no one in Nebraska or Colorado will be better off.' Hilgers said the lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states. The process 'isn't fast,' Hilgers warned. 'We'll probably have a special master appointed within the next 12 months, and under normal litigation timelines, that's maybe 3 to 5 years before we get a result,' he said. That does not mean work on the canal will stop, he said, as he expects work on permitting and design of the canal to continue. Nebraska has been at the center of interstate water disputes for decades. In 2002, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas reached a settlement over Republican River water allocation after years of legal wrangling. But disputes continued, and new agreements were reached among the states again in 2014. Water disputes could become more common as climate change worsens shortages, said Dr. Carly Phillips, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists — a nonprofit that advocates for climate change solutions. Warmer temperatures affect multiple parts of the hydrological cycle, Phillips said. It is decreasing the snowpack, which is the main way water is stored in the western U.S. Higher temperatures also mean the snow melts earlier each year, changing the availability of stream flow. And states like Nebraska might see increased irrigation demand when it's hotter. 'These patterns are all in the same direction across the board,' Phillips said. 'The trends are really consistent when it comes to snowpack, stream flow, evaporation and irrigation demand.' ____ Associated Press reporter Sarah Raza contributed from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
