By Murry Evans
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (AP)
Two of the state’s largest American Indian tribes offered last week to pay $5.2 million of the state’s debt involving the Sardis Lake project in southeastern Oklahoma.
The Durant-based Choctaw Nation and the Ada-based Chickasaw Nation said they can make the debt payment, due by June 30, which the tribes said would give the state more time to resolve a dispute over the potential use of the lake’s water.
The state owes the federal government more than $22 million in connection with the lake’s construction, and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board has discussed selling the lake’s water storage rights to Oklahoma City to help pay off the debt.
