"The Statesman reported that San Antonio, in addition to Hays Co., is a likely recipient of Bastrop & Lee counties' groundwater, the pipeline cost is closer to $400 million . . . "
Note: Several alert readers have forwarded very interesting information, including the news below from Linda Curtis of Independent Texans, about a very serious water war being waged in neighboring Bastrop and Lee counties. Below that, a letter from Steve Box of Environmental Stewardship.
We are saddened but not surprised to learn that powerful private, public and political forces are able to "invade" whole communities and rob them of their God given water resources. Some in Bastrop and Lee are putting up stiff resistance to protect their water. The odds are not looking good. The Texas Water Development Board, the state agency charged with managing and protecting the state's groundwater resources, reportedly is standing off to the side with folded arms – reminds us of those reports we sometimes read of a vulnerable citizen being mugged in broad daylight as pedestrians idly stand by and watch.The RoundUp has reported extensively on the water woes facing Hays County, particularly the southwestern quadrant in which lies the Wimberley Valley. Public officials have explained their involvement as "facilitators" in the search for new sources of water to import. When and if it arrives, it certainly won't come cheap. Our question is, can development pressures here be so great that they can justify taking and selling water from a neighbor's backyard?
Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to the sources below, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story
Letter from Independent Texans
Dear Members & Friends:
* The five reasons why the Pati Jacobs race against incumbent Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt is turning heads across the state:
1. The respected Quorum Report is now watching this race and just interviewed Jacobs and a spokesman for Kleinschmidt. Kleinschmidt spokesman said the reason he had leased his water rights was that if a lease hadn’t been signed then the underground water resources could be sucked out from under their land without compensation.
2. Kleinschmidt is now calling on the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), to "mediate" the dispute over Bastrop & Lee counties' groundwater. (That's like asking the fox to guard the henhouse, since TWDB's six members are all Perry appointees whose job is to mediate – something they have already failed to do.)
3. The Statesman reported that San Antonio, in addition to Hays Co., is a likely recipient of Bastrop & Lee counties' groundwater, the pipeline cost is closer to $400 million. Moreover, private water profiteers were meeting with the the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) in an undisclosed location last Friday.
4. Texans for Public Justice reported that the GBRA Vice Chair, Clifton Thomas, gave $251,000 to Perry.
5. The chair of the TWDB, James Herring, has given $11,000 to Rick Perry.
* The Rocky Palmquist race for Bastrop County Commissioner, Precinct 4: Sadly, when Rocky arrived at 6 am to open his business last Saturday, he found his Jack Russell terrier mix hung to his gate with his head bashed in. No signs of a car hitting him were found.
Independent Texans condemns these criminal and cruel acts. We ask all citizens, no matter where you stand on the issues or candidates, to be on the watch for a fair and free election in Bastrop and all counties. If you have any information about this, please come forward. Read a letter to the editor here from the Bastrop Republican Party.
* More soon on the Governor's race...
Please volunteer some time to help us reach voters!
Call or email us at ljcurtis@indytexans.org
Letter from Environmental Stewardship
Dear HRM of . . .
The water marketers have taken steps to get Bastrop and Lee county groundwater against our wishes. Despite actions taken locally, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) and the South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group (Region L) have taken actions to attempt to obtain our groundwater without our consent. Unfortunately the State agency that is responsible for mediating water plan conflicts, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), has abdicated its duty and is letting this proceed unresolved.
The Simsboro groundwater formation
(in red) inside the Region K planning group
The GBRA Simsboro Project is a "recommended strategy" in the Region L Water Plan against the protests of our Lower Colorado Regional Water Planning Group (Region K) and Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District. This enables GBRA to contract a $400 million pipeline from Bastrop, Lee and Burleson counties to San Marcos and San Antonio with your tax dollars.Two obstacles lie in their path:
1) The State Water Plan has never been accepted (rolled up) containing an "over-draft" conflict, and
2) They do not have drilling permits from the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District / lpgcd@lostpineswater.org
What you can do NOW!
1) Contact your Legislators - see box below.
2) Sign our petition to state and local elected officials: Citizens' Petition to Keep our Groundwater for Local Use.
As citizens, we the people can have a voice in the decisions being made regarding the use of the water resources in our region; but we must act together. Over-drafting (over-pumping) of groundwater for export to other regions will likely have undesirable and unexpected impacts on the economic vitality and quality of life in our communities. Sign the petition and we will deliver your signature to our State Legislators and local elected and appointed officials.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me, steward@environmental-stewardship.org
Steve Box
Executive Director
Environmental Stewardship
9 comments:
Yes and exactly why do you think various forces have attempted to impose a "Hill Country Groundwater Conservation District" on Southwestern Travis county, northwestern Comal county, and the territory now covered by HTGCD? It's not about "preserving water" for you - it's about trying to take away your water rights for the benefit of the friends of the "elected class".
The elected class we can hold accountable at the ballot box. Private water marketers and profiteers are accountable only to those who bankroll them. Sometimes, they are all one in the same. Voters in western Hays County need to wise up and get rid of Skipton, Key and Nesbitt on the HTGCD board (plus Rick Perry and Patrick Rose) before they sell off all our ground water to the highest bidders. They would never fight water profiteers like the brave GCD is in Bastrop. There they are fighting to save their ground water for the local users. Can't see Skipton, Key and Nesbitt doing that for us. (Insert Claytie Williams joke here about might as well lay back and enjoy it). Jason Isaac and Bert Cobb at least support rainwater collection. Seeing these water wars and water problems increasing, our legislature and counties should get off their lazy butts and do everything they can to help people get on rainwater systems.
Dark Cloud said:
“There they are fighting to save their ground water for the local users. Can't see Skipton, Key and Nesbitt doing that for us.”
You can’t see it because you are blinded by your own liberal prejudice, you fool. Nobody is selling any water from the Trinity aquifer or even the Edward’s. None of the three you name here support such a thing and are bound by their oaths to protect our groundwater. You Libs just can’t get over the fact that you lost the last election. I can only imagine how you will react on November 3.
This type of water theft is brought on by the Texas Law that lets it happen, Rule or Right of Capture. Name one representative in the Texas legislature that wants to stop this, and you will see where the problem is. Until that quirk in the constitution is overturned we will just have to live (or die) with the consequences. This is Texas!
The tribe of Skipton, Key, Nesbitt and their oaths are like buffalo chips. Young liberal warriors must be taught not to kick them on a warm day. Better on a cold day or they will let our enemies keep wasting the gift to our people from the Great Water Spirit.
Anonymous 2: And you right wing free markets extremists are so caught up in this American dream fantasy of property and gun rights that you are too easily manipulated and duped by the corporate development interests spearheaded by the real estate sector and co-opted politicians who use your naive purist American dream mindset to dumb down your economic analysis.
Water is not negotiable for survival. It is not an iPhone or an SUV or one of thousands of mutual funds you can invest in corrupt Wall Street firms. Water is not a not "consumer descretionary."
Passivity and narrow mindedness is certainly one path toward sky high water utility prices - or dehydration - or water unfit for our children to drink.
We need to first stop further development through boycotts and civil disobedience, build smaller houses, retrofit rainwater collection systems, and oust politicians who promote and negotiate with water profiteers.
Get wise and stop the left vs. right nonsense. We all need water whether we are redneck goobers or liberal hypocrites.
Squaw Chief Red Cloud has smoked too much wacky tobacky.
It is not the current board that is trying to force the Hill Country GCD upon you. This is a gift that keeps on giving from former members of the HTGCD board who tried to create a personal regime complete with retirement plan at your expense. The district must now expend resources to deal with cleaning up the mess.
Former board members were working officially to sell you out up until the point they were replaced. Some are still working at it.
The current board stands firm (except for Baker) against replacing the HTGCD with the Hill Country GCD that covers an even larger territory. Residents will have the option to get rid of Baker in May 2011.
The "Rule of Capture" is irrelevant to property owners in this area and the populated areas of the state because those areas are already subjected to a groundwater conservation district.
The "rule of capture" is a rule of law that applies only in the absence of a ground water conservation district. There is a groundwater conservation district here. You cannot just drill a well and pump as much water as you wish. The well must meet certain limitations to be exempt from metering, production fees, and a permit.
Well systems that do not meet the statutory limitations are subjected to permits, metering, and production fees. Among other things, the permit limits how much groundwater the permittee is allowed to draw. The "rule of capture" is a red-herring with respect to discussion of the local district. The "rule of capture" is used as a diversion tactic by those who need to rely upon prejudices, false claims, and fear in order to gain power.
There is an excellent article about this very issue, from a more global perspective, in the latest edition of Newsweek, entitled "The New Oil". The sort of conflict reviewed here on the Roundup is but a harbinger of the conflicts which will be occurring all over the globe as the runaway growth of the human herd runs headlong into the limitations of this most basic resource for the survival of life. This is not liberal or conservative, just the plain truth. Areas with water need will attempt to impose their aspirations on areas percevied to have a water supply that can be tapped. Including areas like San Antonio and Hays County trying to get water from Bastrop and Lee counties. GBRA is neither evil nor nobel here, it is just an agent of that reality -- that humanity will not control itself to live within its limits, either globally or locally.
Dark Cloud, you should get out from your Tee Pee for a little sunshine every once in a while. The City of Kyle is drawing large amounts from the Edwards and the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer. We are being sucked dry from all direction. You speak like that fork tongued yellow hair warrior who died at Little Big Horn.
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