Water Rights – The Roosevelts Predicted Our Fight For Them
Virtually every list of great American presidents includes the names of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. To us, the members of the North Carolina Water Rights Coalition, Teddy and FDR are related more than just by blood and acclaim. They are also two principal – and principled – leaders in speaking out against private interests having too much control over the public’s water rights.
For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt gained public legislative support for a Power Authority “to give back to the people the waterpower which is theirs.” While governor of New York, he wanted the state to control hydropower from the Saint Lawrence River rather than private firms because he realized it could provide more affordable electric rates for customers.
Similarly, Theodore Roosevelt warned against “waterpower barons” seeking a monopoly on New York’s natural resources in the early 20th century. More specifically, he said in 1915: “Keep your eye on the Aluminum Company that is trying to get control of your water powers. Don’t let go of them. We have been too free in the past. I have no objection to big business making money, but I do not want it to make it at the expense of public interest.”
The result of the Roosevelts’ opinions and efforts have resulted in the state of New York having the power to encourage private firms to pay back the community with funds and other sources of revenue in exchange for use of public water. This is the same kind of power that we on the North Carolina Water Rights Coalition want our state to employ to the advantage of all citizens, rather than give them away unconditionally to businesses, some of which have no ties to the state or even the United States at all.
What Teddy said nearly 100 years ago, as well as FDR’s comments nearly 70 years ago, still bear weight and are perhaps even more relevant today. The motivation of the North Carolina Water Rights Coalition is to pursue what the Roosevelts fought for, and our Supreme Court affirmed – the right of the citizens to control the water of America’s great rivers for the highest and best public use as opposed to private corporate gain. It is Anti-American to grant monopolies on natural resources that belong to the public. Both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt understood how these monopolies also undermine our democratic systems. Join with us in protecting your legal rights, in making America strong, and in keeping this water resource for development of our state, the purchase of manufacturing jobs, and the prosperity of the people of North Carolina to whom it belongs.
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