Opinion ID: 2543215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Exercise of police power to regulate water resources

Text: ¶ 24 Defending the constitutionality of the challenged legislation, the Attorney General argues that the measure is an exercise of the Legislature's police power for the purpose of regulating the state's water resources. Police power is an attribute of state sovereignty. Gibbons v. Missouri K. & T.R. Co., 1930 OK 108, 285 P. 1040, Syllabus by the Court. It is generally an inherent power of the state legislature that extends to the whole system of internal regulation by which the state preserves public order, prevents offenses against the state, and insures to the people the enjoyment of rights and property reasonably consistent with like enjoyment of rights and property by others. Id. Through the exercise of its police power, the Legislature determines what is necessary for the peace and welfare of the people. Edmondson v. Pearce, 2004 OK 23, ¶ 34, 91 605, 623, 91 P.3d 605. ¶ 25 The Legislature may exercise its police power to regulate any property within the jurisdiction of the state when regulation is necessary to secure the general safety, the public welfare, and the peace and good order of the community. Gibbons, 285 P. at 1042. The Legislature may exercise its police power to regulate the use and enjoyment of property when the free exercise of such use is detrimental to the public interest. Phillips Petro. Co. v. Corp. Comm'n, 1956 OK 313, 312 P.2d 916. ¶ 26 It is a basic principle that water is a natural resource, Sheldon v. Grand River Dam Auth., 1938 OK 76, 76 P.2d 355; Anderson-Prichard Oil Corp. v. Okla. Corp. Comm'n, 1951 OK 234, 241 P.2d 363; Kline v. Okla. Water Resources Bd., 1988 OK 18, 759 P.2d 210, which the state may regulate for the health, welfare and safety of the people. See, Wyoming v. Colorado, 259 U.S. 419, 42 S.Ct. 552, 66 L.Ed. 999 (1922); Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Mich. Dept. Of Natural Resources, 504 U.S. 353, 365, note 6, 112 S.Ct. 2019, 2026-2027, 119 L.Ed.2d 139 (1992). The Legislature may exercise its police power to protect the state's water irrespective of the rights of private owners of the land most immediately concerned. Hudson County Water Co. v. McCarter, 209 U.S. 349, 355, 28 S.Ct. 529, 531, 52 L.Ed. 828 (1908). For the health, welfare and safety of its citizens, the Legislature may regulate a landowner's use and enjoyment of water resources to prevent waste and infringement on the rights of others. Franco-American Charolaise, Ltd. v. Okla. Water Resources Bd., 1990 OK 44, 855 P.2d 568, 576; Kline v. Okla. Water Resources Bd., 759 P.2d at 212.