Oklahoma Must Pay For Construction Of Sardis Lake

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The US Supreme Court is refusing to hear Oklahoma's appeal that it pay for construction of Sardis Lake.<br/><br/>The decision means the state will have to pay the federal government

Wednesday, January 10th 2007, 8:50 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The US Supreme Court is refusing to hear Oklahoma's appeal that it pay for construction of Sardis Lake.

The decision means the state will have to pay the federal government up to $68-million for building the lake in southeastern Oklahoma.

The Corps of Engineers built the lake near Clayton under a 1974 contract with the state that requires Oklahoma to make 50 annual payments and to pay future operating costs.

The state planned to sell water to cities and industries but found few customers and stopped making payments to the federal government in 1990. Two payments were made in 1996 and '97 before the state again stopped making payments and the government eventually sued after Oklahoma rejected an offer to settle the case for $20-million.