Boise, Idaho – In a tersely worded letter to the White House today, Governor Brad Little and Lt. Governor Scott Bedke sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a clear message – keep your hands off Idaho’s groundwater.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) sent out a request for information earlier this year poking around for data and information on states’ groundwater.

“We are deeply concerned about your administration’s efforts to increase federal oversight of groundwater in the states,” Little and Bedke said in the letter. “Perhaps most alarming is the direct statement from PCAST that this effort is, ‘to support the development of a report to advance government-wide action on groundwater.’ It shouldn’t surprise either of you that Idahoans generally reject the term ‘government-wide action,” especially as it relates to our precious water.”

Little and Bedke outlined seven questions about the purpose of the information the White House is seeking that they say must be answered before the PCAST report should move forward.

“Management of water is a state issue. We do not invite or welcome the involvement of the federal government in making decisions about this precious resource,” Little and Bedke concluded in their letter.

Read the full letter to the White House here: https://gov.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/letter-white-house-pcast-groundwater-grab.pdf