JEFFERSON CITY — A proposal backed by influential agricultural lobbying groups would limit public access to a state database that records the trillions of gallons of water utilized by approximately 1,400 major users, including farms, power companies, and industrial businesses.
As part of an initiative introduced this year by Rep. Dane Diehl, R-Butler, state environmental regulators would still collect the data showing Missouri’s large water users, but officials would be barred from releasing their identities, limiting the ability of taxpayers to see who is tapping into one of Missouri’s natural resources.
The measure, as well as one introduced in the Senate, failed to advance in the Legislature this year, but ag groups like the Missouri Soybean Association seem poised to press forward. On Wednesday, the organization wrote a $25,000 check to Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
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During a hearing earlier this year, Diehl, a farmer, said the proposal was inspired after rice producers visited his office seeking to restrict access to .
He told the House Rural Community Development Committee that he believes closing the records will encourage more businesses to report their water usage to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
“It keeps that data private,” Diehl said.
For now, however, DNR is not restricted in releasing information to the public about the state’s largest water users.
According to the most recent database obtained by the Post-Dispatch through the Sunshine Act, there are 1,395 water users capable of withdrawing or diverting 100,000 gallons of water or more per day from the state’s abundant streams, rivers, wells and springs.
The list and an accompanying draft report for the program in 2022 shows that an estimated three trillion gallons of water was used primarily for electric generation by utilities like Ameren Missouri, representing about 86% of the total amount of water reported for the year.
The next largest users were cities and local governments, which operate drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants.
Another major user are farms concentrated in Missouri’s Bootheel region in the southeast corner of the state.
According to a review of the DNR data, there are at least eight Bootheel area farms in the top 50 water users on the list, including cotton producers, rice growers and corn and soybean operations.
Those records are a source of consternation for the state’s soybean lobby.
“Nobody should be able to petition and have my private information that they are going to use against me,” said Casey Wasser, chief lobbyist for the organization, during a spring hearing on the bill. “No one should know exactly how much water you are using on your farm.”
Wasser cast the availability of public information about water use as a potentially dangerous problem. Out-of-state investors, for example, could target Missouri water for export elsewhere by tapping into the state’s database.
“Nobody has the right to know exactly how much water I’m using because I guarantee it will be used for nefarious purposes. You know how people are. You know how that’s going to be used,” Wasser said. “Water is becoming like oil. It’s the next commodity that everyone’s chasing.”
The beef industry also is on board.
“We think this information should be private and closed,” Shannon Cooper of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association told the panel.
Lawmakers and some environmental groups are raising red flags about the proposal.
“It just seems astounding. I think we ought to be able to keep track of that,” said Rep. Adrian Plank, D-Columbia.
“I think we need more transparency,” said Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire.
Ike Skelton, who presides over the Camden County Commission, testified that closing off the records would exclude the public from dealings of public interest.
“Water rights and all it entails is vital to our existence. The Missouri General Assembly should always strive for more transparency, not less,” said Skelton, whose county includes parts of the Lake of the Ozarks.
The Sierra Club also opposes the legislation.
“If the companies are able to cause harm to a significant amount of water that thousands of other Missourians rely on, then we should have the right to know who and where water is moving,” Sierra Club spokesman Michael Berg said.
The move to close off public records is among a handful of anti-transparency measures that have been debated by the Republican-controlled House and Senate in recent years.
In 2023, for example, the Senate debate legislation allowing lawmakers to withhold a wide swath of records from the public.
Under the proposal sponsored by Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, any record of a state lawmaker or their staff pertaining to “legislation or the legislative process” would be closed off to public view, except for those offered during a public meeting or involving a lobbyist.
The water database, meantime, also includes a lengthy list of industrial users, including the Lake City Army Ammunition facility in Independence, Six Flags Ƶ amusement park, cement plants in Festus and Ste. Genevieve and explosives company Dyno Nobel in Louisiana.
The state’s major meatpackers also make the list, with Tyson and Smithfield operations appearing in multiple spots, allowing the public to see how much water is being used in the production of pork, beef and poultry.
DNR acknowledges that not everyone complies with the 1983 law that requires large users to submit their annual reports.
The agency said having accurate reports is important for the state.
“Effective management and planning of Missouri’s water resources depend on collection of water-use data,” DNR said in the annual report.
Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.