Last summer, right-wing Representative Scott Odenbach (R-31/Spearfish) proposed amending a South Dakota law that limits how much water we pull from aquifers. Surprisingly, Rep. Odenbach wanted to make this environmental regulation stricter:
While the law bans removal of water from aquifers above the Greenhorn Formation, which includes those east of the Missouri River, it allows an exception for deeper bedrock aquifers like those beneath the Black Hills.
Odenbach told News Watch he might seek to “tweak” that law in order to remove the Black Hills exception, thereby preventing removal of water from any state aquifer that is not recharging as fast or as much as needed.
“That (statute) essentially says you can’t sink new wells into an aquifer, unless you can show that you’re not taking out more than is naturally recharged,” he said. “In light of that report by the U.S. Geological Survey, I think we need to ask the question of whether we need to make sure that the statute also applies to our aquifers West River” [Bart Pfankuch, “Lawmaker Considers Limiting New Black Hills Water Usage,” South Dakota News Watch, 2025.08.25].
Not surprisingly, Rep. Odenbach was willing to stake out this green position because it fits his mugwump caucus’s tilt against economic development:
Odenbach added that he is concerned that some individuals and entities in the Black Hills, such as the development agency Elevate Rapid City, are promoting “growth for the sake of growth” that could negatively affect the existing high quality of life in the Black Hills.
“Groups like Elevate Rapid City, they just want to have untrammeled development as fast as they possibly can. And then when we wake up and it’s like Denver and we’re out of water, they can move on to somewhere else,” Odenbach said. “The people that live here and care about the Black Hills want us to be more careful” [Pfankuch, 2025.08.25].
Elevate Rapid City CEO Tom Johnson isn’t worried about aquifer replacement rates, but he does think District 31 should replace Odenbach:
Johnson said Odenbach is taking an “anti-growth” stance that will prevent the Black Hills and its current and future residents from reaching their highest potential.
“The problem with folks like Odenbach is they’ve got their piece of the pie, right? They’ve got the Black Hills that they want and they don’t want your kids or your kids’ kids to have a piece of that,” Johnson said.
“I think the real thing that the voters in Spearfish should do is try to find someone who wants to have a nuanced discussion and vote candidates out that are anti-growth and who want to hand our prosperity over to East River” [Pfankuch, 2025.08.25].
Hand our prosperity to East River… which has prospered quite nicely under SDCL 46-6-3.1‘s aquifer protection for 48 years.
Rep. Odenbach did indeed try to remove the Black Hills exception from the aquifer-protection statute. His House Bill 1103 passed House Agriculture and Natural Resources, where it received support from the East Dakota Water Development District and the Nature Conservancy but drew fire from Elevate Rapid City, the Municipal League, the Sioux Falls Chamber, the conservation districts, rural water, and the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Opponents prevailed in the House, where HB 1103 failed on February 2 on a 16–49 vote. Odenbach got more proportional support from House Democrats (80% voted yea) than from his own party (80% of Republicans voted nay).
Odenbach and his seat-mate Rep. Mary Fitzgerald (R-31/St. Onge) have both filed their petitions to run for reëlection. Elevate Rapid City and the mainstream-Mickelson Republicans have not yet fielded a challenger to carry the growth-über-alles flag in the Republican primary. They have one Democratic challenger so far. Morgan Plucker of Spearfish, who doesn’t mention water among her top issues but who does say she wants to tax the rich and restrict data centers, suggesting she won’t get an endorsement from Elevate Rapid City and the rest of the economic-development crowd.