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diversion in water -rich states: such as. Minnesota, the major€.tyof which is located outside the Great Lakes. Basin, seems €ikely to grow as.freshwater resources. €n other parts .of the.country became increasingly scarce. A potentlal foreshadowing of things to come arose in a controversial 2019 proposal from a Lakeville, Minnesota r company called Empire guilder Investments. Empire Builder proposed. installing: two wells. in Randolph, Minnesota;. pumping 500. million gallons of groundwater per year and shipping it out of Minnesota and across the country to drought -affected states:66 D N R Commissioner. 5arah.Strom men quickly issued. a statement indicating there was "virtually no scenario" in which DNR would approve the proposal, and the story soon faded away. But a big factor in DNR's reckoning that the propoosa€ could not move forward was that Empire's proposed wells would ta.p the: Mt. Simon -Hinckley aquifer, which enjoys unique statutory protections:157 What if Empire's proposal involved drilling into a different;:less=protected aquifer? Minnesota does: haveruIes and.statutes regulating groundwater withdrawals (such as prioritizing types of water.use) and protecting the s.ustainability of aquifers.68 But if a proposal such as Empire's met these requirements, could the DNR prohibit the proposal simply because the water wouid be:shipped to a.southern state? Wouldn't that risk running afoul of the .U.S. Supreme Courts dormant commerce clause holding, discussed above, in Sporhase v. Nebraska?69 The DNR seems to believe; there are ways to make it work. During the Minnesota Legislature's 2021 session, the DNR advanced a bill :to prohibit the appropr.iatiion of "water. in excess of one million gallons per year.fo.r bulk transport or sale of water for corisuMptive use to a location more than 50 miles from the point of the proposed appropriation;" 79 According to. the DNR's General Counsel Sherry Enzle.r, this limited prohibition, which will apply to equally to allpermit applicants; was specifically.drafted to be consistent with Sporhase. Minnesota Gov. Tim Wall signed the bill into law on june 29, 20Z1.71 JEREMYP. GREENHOUSE is an environmental lave attorney and partner at The Environmental Laiv Group, Ltd The author wishes: to. extend sincere thanks to Sherry Enzier and Peterjohnson for.agreeing to be interviewed for this article, With special thanks to Mr. Johnson for providinghelpM comments on the development of the compact. and agreement as well as his. critical role in that process. Notes Vilong, Edward; "Plan. for China's Water Crisis Spurs Concern", New York Times (6/1/2011.). z Susanne Wong,. China Bets on Massive: Water Transfers to Solve Crisis, International Rivers, December 2007 World Rivers Review (12il51.2007), citinghydro.logist Richard Evans, available at httpsJlarchive.internationalrivers.orglresourceslchina-bets-an-massive-water-transfers-to-solve-crisis-1899. 3 Cod Kota cek, China Completes. Second Line ofSouth-to-North Water Diversion Project Circle of Blue Water News (11812015),.avail.able at https:iIWWW .circleo.fblue.6rgI20151woddlphoto-slid6show-china-completes=serond- line-south-north-water-transferl. 4 The. Economist, A massive diversion -China has built the worldss largest water -diversion project (417120'1.8), available at https.11www.economi'st.comlchi'na/2Oi8lg4/`0Slchina=has-bunk=the-worlds-iargest- water. -diversion project.. s. httpsJlwww.unwater..orglwater-facts/scarcity citations omitted. According to the United Nations, an area. is i . experiencing "water stress" when annual water supplies drop below 1,700 M3 per person. When annual.water supplies drop below 1,000 m3 per person, the population faces. "water scarcity" See https.Ilwww..un.orglwaterforlifedecadelscarcityshtm1.