Leland “Lee” Rolfs
Energy & Environment
Energy & Environment contains the interviews of individuals who were involved with the development and implementation of state energy and environmental policy from the 1970s through the early decades of the 2000s. The interviews elicit insights about the policy-making process, the assignment of priorities, and the give-and-take involved in reaching final policy decisions. Of special interest are instances in which Kansas developed singular solutions and means for implementing them. To explore this collection and others, visit the Kansas Oral History Project home page: https://ksoralhistory.org/
Leland “Lee” Rolfs, is a native Kansan; born in Topeka where he attended elementary and junior high school. He graduated from Hays (KS) High School. Rolfs graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and began his professional career in Chicago before returning to Kansas to pursue a law degree at the University of Kansas School of Law. He was employed as an attorney for the Kansas Water Resources Board and the Kansas Department of Agriculture and served as Special Assistant Attorney General from 1978 through 2008. As counsel in those agencies, Rolfs was involved in several aspects of water policy formation and implementation. He served as legal advisor to the State on four interstate river compacts and as a member of the Kansas litigation team in two important interstate lawsuits: Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado ; and Kansas v. Colorado. Since leaving state service, Rolfs has consulted with the Kansas Water Office, the Missouri River Association of States and Tribes, and the Division of Water Resources in the Kansas Department of Agriculture. At the time of this interview, he had been teaching water law at the Washburn University School of Law since 2008.
In this oral history interview recorded in 2019, Lee Rolfs explains that few regulations governed water use when he began working at the Division of Water Resources of the State Board of Agriculture in 1978. He describes how the State responded to depletion of the Ogallala aquifer by creating Groundwater Management Districts (GMD) to manage future development, and to create a comprehensive system to address water issues. Rolfs recalls how the policy positions switched over time from the State being reluctant to regulate groundwater use when the GMDs initially sought restrictions to the opposite, with the GMDs opposing regulations when the State sought to impose them. He recalls his work on ground-breaking litigation with Colorado over water in the Arkansas River (Kansas v. Colorado). That case spanned over 25 years of his career with the State. Rolfs expounds on the Water Appropriation Act and its importance in the development of Kansas and its limitations in addressing the issue of long-term declines in the water table. He observes that cooperation, knowledge, and education are essential for properly managing water in Kansas.
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