Off the beat: Thyme & Dough and The Leaning Pear are truly local

We received this latest update from the local community news website, Things Dripping. Anyone wishing to publicize local events and news items can do so also by sending the information to the Roundup at: roundup.editor@gmail.com

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

GroACT, Growers Alliance of Central Texas, a group of local, sustainable and organic farmers and ranchers, surveyed its members to help citizens identify restaurants that buy regularly from area farms and Dripping's own Rolling in Thyme & Dough makes the group's list of "who's truly local" along with big and nationally acclaimed Austin restaurants. Hooray Fabienne! Also, cheers to two other restaurants just down the road, Jack Allen's Kitchen in Oak Hill and The Leaning Pear in Wimberley!

For more on how the restaurants were ranked and who made the list, visit the Growers Alliance website.

And this related story published in the Austin Chronicle . . .

Local Is as Local Does – Why area farmers want you to beware of faux local

By Virginia B. Wood | Fri., Feb. 18, 2011

Austin certainly has the reputation as a city that values keeping it weird and supporting local businesses, but a group of area farmers is very concerned about what it sees as the fluctuating definition of "local" when it comes to fresh produce.

The buying local trend is hot all around the country just now, prompting restaurants, grocery stores, and produce distributors to use the "We Buy Local" banner as an effective but sometimes misleading marketing tool.

So, how does Austin define local? Does it have to mean produce grown in our home county, or could the parameters expand to include the entire big state of Texas? Area farmers adhere to a definition that includes produce and food products grown within a 150-mile radius of Austin. This is the same standard used by most of our farmers' markets, with a few seasonal exceptions for items such as citrus, bison, seafood, and apples not regularly produced in Central Texas.

Why is the definition of what constitutes local so critical? A newly formed coalition of area farmers and ranchers called Growers Alliance of Central Texas, or GroACT, maintains that diluting the definition of local to include produce from anywhere in the state deceives consumers while threatening area farmers' livelihoods.

If so many people are really buying local, they ask, why aren't their farmstands and farmers' market stalls selling out? Why is it now necessary for many of them to sell at two or three farmers' markets in order to make the same (or less) income they used to generate with one stall? While several factors are surely involved here – the soft economy, the number of overall farmers' market shoppers being diluted by the proliferation of markets, and even the resurgence of backyard gardens and chicken coops – GroACT members remain convinced that defining local is a serious economic issue for them.

Austin's modern local food movement began in the early Nineties with a small, dedicated group of organic farmers who sold produce from the back of pick-up trucks and off folding tables at small neighborhood markets. When Whole Foods Market built a flagship store at Sixth and Lamar in 1996, the same farmers offered a weekly market in the parking lot there for some time. The movement grew slowly over the next 10 years, as it did around the country, until it blossomed fully in the national consciousness about four years ago.

Read the complete story at this link: http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2011-02-18/local-is-as-local-does/

Lack of winterization led to blackouts

Senators were concerned that some generators may have anticipated the cold weather and tried to game the system for their own profit

Texas Senate News

Austin | Feb. 15, 2011 — Some power companies had not prepared their plants for extreme cold before the severe winter weather that hit Texas the first week of February, according to testimony offered before a joint Senate panel on Tuesday.

Members of the Senate's Business and Commerce Committee and Natural Resources Committee heard from state officials and energy executives about the rolling blackouts that occurred in Texas on February 2nd.

According to H.B. "Trip" Doggett, the CEO of the Electric Reliabilty Council of Texas (ERCOT), the loss of generation at 82 different units that night were all caused to some degree by equipment failure due to cold weather.

Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the Public Utility Council, offered legislators three reasons why equipment failure led to rolling blackouts statewide. First was a lack of communication between various agencies that oversee the power grid in Texas. Second was a problem with the state's natural gas supply. Electric supplies were accidentally cut to some gas plants, so they weren't able to supply additional gas needed to generate electricity. Finally, and most importantly, was a lack of adequate winterization to protect against extreme cold. Smitherman said that all plants in Texas are weatherized, but mostly to protect against hurricane conditions.

One of the solutions the PUC is looking at, said Smitherman, is a review of all emergency plans at the various power generators to ensure they have adequate protection against future cold weather events. He thinks that current statutory authority combined with market forces are enough to encourage suppliers to better prepare.

Senators were concerned that some generators may have anticipated the cold weather and tried to game the system for their own profit. In Texas' unregulated market, many generators opt to bid on power generation a day early. So they buy low and the next day, when weather brings plants offline and the supply of electricity drops, they can sell electricity at a higher rate.

On February 2nd, the price of electricity rose to an astronomical level of $3,000 per kilowatt hour. San Antonio Senator Leticia Van de Putte wanted to ensure that power companies weren't profiting from their customers outages. "I think we really do need to look and make sure somebody wasn't buying at $30 and selling at $3,000," she said.

Business and Commerce Committee Chair Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay said the state's independent market monitor had found no evidence of fraud in the market in the days leading up to the freeze.

The event appears to have cost some power companies dearly. Luminant Energy, one of the largest generators in Texas, had outages at 3 coal-fired plants and a few small gas generators due to cold weather. Luminant CEO David Campbell told the committees that his company was willing to work with the state to ensure that a similar outcome can be avoided next time.

RoundUp exclusive: County paid taxes in land purchase for Jacob's Well

As it turned out, and what was revealed when the closing documents were made public, was just how sweet the sweetheart deal was for the sellers of the 50 acres

Note: This special report, another in a RoundUp series, reveals more of the behind the scenes maneuvering in the county's recent $1.7 million purchase of 50 acres near Jacob's Well. The purchase was made ostensibly to protect and preserve the natural spring flow at Jacob's Well, headwaters of Cypress Creek. What we are finding, however, is a maze of highly questionable moves, both legal and ethical, by county officials to secure the property in what looks like a real windfall for the property's seller. Unfortunately, the taxpaying public has been left in the dark. For more background, read the stories at these links: million-dollar tax write off, more than meets the eye, county votes money and open meeting violations.

Send your comments, questions and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Hays County Judge Bert Cobb at bert.cobb@co.hays.tx.us or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Special Report

Westridge retained rights to 50 taps and 6 million gallons of water annually

On December 17, 2010, Mark Kennedy, an attorney working for District Attorney Sherri Tibbe and accompanied by Commissioner Will Conley, signed the closing documents for the County’s $1.7 million purchase of 50 acres from developers operating under the name of the Westridge Joint Venture. The land is located near Jacob's Well, and monies from the Park Bond fund were used to complete the purchase.

Critics of the purchase argued that the County was paying too much for the property, and they pointed to an independent appraisal as evidence that the Commissioners’ Court was over-paying by approximately $300,000. But those arguments didn’t gain traction. The idea of the purchase rolled on. The Commissioners were spending public monies to 'protect Jacob's Well', a land conservation purchase.

Jacob's Well/miabella fotographix

As it turned out, and what was revealed when the closing documents were made public, was just how sweet the sweetheart deal was for the sellers of the 50 acres. In fact, the transaction was such a sweetheart deal for the sellers that it left some citizens wondering who Assistant District Attorney Kennedy and Commissioner Conley were working for when they OK’d the deal.

The closing documents revealed two elements in the transaction that the Commissioners Court never approved. And it is those two elements that have some asking if Conley and Kennedy overstepped their bounds by acting outside of any authority granted by the court.

The first element referred to the ownership of approximately 6,022,500 gallons of water usage a year in the form of 50 water taps that were assigned to the property. Those 50 water taps had a monetary value (shown in the appraisal) of $225,000.00. Access to the 50 water taps played a central role in the justification for the approximate $300,000.00 over-payment.

After all, the purchase would take away the approved water taps, and there would be less drawn down of the aquifer. As the closing documents show, however, the developers retained the water tap allocation.

So what does that mean for the folks who are concerned about water shortages and such? It means that approximately 6,022,500 gallons of water a year that would have been secured by the County gaining control over the 50 water taps just won't happen. Now the developers can take their allocation of 50 water taps and move to another location near the well, and put Jacob's Well at risk again.

The second questionable element referred to payment of property taxes owed by the developers. The notion of a purchaser paying the sellers’ property taxes for the preceding year is not consistent with standard land purchasing agreements, and the payment was never authorized by the Commissioners Court.

Citizens have been seeking answers to their questions to no avail. Now is a good time for Judge Cobb to ask for an outside independent investigation into the matter. That is the only way he is going to get answers to these and many more questions about the Jacob's Well purchase.

Deregulation, it appears, is not all that it's cracked up to be

Be careful what you wish for Mr. and Mrs. Deregulation. Losing 50% of your retirement nest egg is one thing. But if your son or daughter ends up working in the mines of Massey Energy or on the deepwater platforms of BP/Transocean, you might want to think twice about the potential real price of deregulation

Note: A widely accepted definition of "insanity" is doing the same things over again and expecting a different result. Rocky Boschert takes a look at some of the colossal failures associated with most every politicians favorite answer to the nation's economy in good times and bad: Deregulate! Makes one wonder, why, anymore? If deregulation worked as it should, then why is everything so danged expensive? Why do our deregulated industries keep moving their factories and jobs out of the country? Maybe deregulation isn't everything it's cracked up to be. The insanity part of it certainly is getting old. Perhaps, for the common good, we should all try learning new lessons from that old phrase made famous by John Dickinson and George Washington, 'United we stand, divided we fall.'

By Rocky Boschert
Financial Editor

The new post-election mantra of the Republican Party is the same old failed Bush era mantra – that corporate regulation is a "job killer." And yes, it is certainly possible to have regulations kill jobs. Yet we are just two years beyond an epic eight years of rapid anti-regulators that killed well over ten million jobs.Why, then, is there not a single word from the new House leadership about investigations to determine how the anti-regulators did their damage?

And while we're at it, why not investigate the areas in which woefully inadequate regulation allows firms to maim and kill, like Massey Coal and BP? Please, let’s finally be honest: Deregulation, de-supervision, and decriminalization (the three "d’s") in fact created the criminal environment that drove the recent U.S. financial crises. It was the three "d’s" that created the epidemic of accounting control fraud that hyper-inflated the real estate bubble that caused the Great Recession. And the Great Recession (which officially began in the third quarter of 2007) shows why the anti-regulators are really the premier job killers in America.

The recent Great Recession was triggered by a larcenous financial contagion that could not have happened without the appointment of anti-regulators to key leadership positions – primarily in industry, but also in government.

The epidemic of mortgage fraud was centered on loans that the lending industry referred to as "liar's" loans. The truth is even an honest regulation-lite leader would have ordered banks not to make these pervasively fraudulent loans. In fact, most of the subprime loans were made by lenders not regulated by the federal government.

Historically, every criminal-based recession – the S&L debacle in the late 80’s, the Enron era frauds, and the 2007 recession – were all driven by epidemic accounting control fraud, i.e. financial deregulation. The regulators are the "cops on the beat" when it comes to stopping accounting control fraud. If they are made ineffective by the institutionalization of the three "d’s", then cheaters gain a competitive advantage over honest firms. This makes markets perverse and causes recurrent crises.

From the mid-Ninety’s to the present, three similar “eunuch” administrations have displayed fear and hostility to vigorous regulation and have appointed regulatory leaders largely on the basis of their private sector cronyism and shadow opposition to regulation. And when these cowardly administrations occasionally blundered and appointed, or inherited, regulatory leaders that believed in actual regulating, the administrations demonized the regulators for doing their job (Arthur Levitt & William Donaldson of the SEC, Brooksley Born of the CFTC, and Sheila Bair of the FDIC).

Similarly, Congress whored themselves to the Wall Street bankers by legislatively trashing the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) accounting rules that made banks recognize their poor business decisions and losses. The purpose of that bit of regulatory thuggery was to evade the “Prompt Corrective Action” mandate which then allowed banks to pretend they were solvent and profitable – so that they could continue to pay enormous bonuses to their senior officials based on the fictional "income" and "net worth" produced by their scam accounting, i.e. not recognizing one's losses, instead using fictional net worth and gross income.

So the next time a Republican or DINO politician, or a libertarian, tells you that regulations kill jobs, ask him or her to look at the past decade and show you real proof. But of course, the typical reaction to such a reality challenge is to blame the prior political regime or the other political party with nothing but insipid talking points and a disgraceful lack of facts. And of course corporate media does nothing to foster a fact-based discussion that holds both political parties accountable.

Be careful what you wish for Mr. and Mrs. Deregulation. Losing 50% of your retirement nest egg is one thing. But if your son or daughter ends up working in the mines of Massey Energy or on the deepwater platforms of BP/Transocean, you might want to think twice about the potential real price of deregulation.

Oh yes, that’s right, you hate trial lawyers as well. It was Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist, James Carville, who in 1992 created the election slogan: “It’s the Economy, Stupid.”

For the 2010 Congressional campaigns, the slogan should have been: “It’s Corporate Crime and Control, Stupid.” Sadly, but predictably, given whom the victors were in the last election cycle, that didn’t happen.

Rio Bonito, Blue Hole hike n' bike trail on city's front burner

The city of Wimberley is preparing a letter to Hays County commissioners expressing the city council's strong concerns on the condition of the new Hays County-City of Wimberley multipurpose trail from Blue Hole Regional Park to the First Baptist Church along Winters Mill Parkway

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Flocke at rflocke@austin.rr.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Note: We're a little late in posting Wimberley Mayor Bob Flocke's City Hall Briefs covering the last city council meeting of Thursday Feb. 4. Mr. Flocke recently began distributing the Briefs by e-mail to interested citizens. It is not an official publication of the city and Flocke notes that any views or opinions expressed are his alone. Some may not know that Flocke, a retired U. S. Army Lt. Colonel, has a Master's Degree in Journalism and served as a public information officer during his Army career. If you'd like to join the distribution list, email: rflocke@austin.rr.com. In the interest of brevity, we have edited out some of the items in the original report.

WPDD applications withdrawn

The Wimberley City Council voted Thursday evening to accept the property owners’ withdrawal of two applications to rezone their Blanco river front properties to Wimberley planned development districts (WPDD). The city-initiated zoning for Rio Bonito and the property immediately east of Rio Bonito would have made the properties WPDDs with base zoning of residential acreage and low impact commercial respectively.

Faced with neighborhood opposition to the rezoning, the city staff recommended that the city develop a master plan for the downtown area, including the two properties, and the property owners withdrew their applications.

In the council discussion over whether to accept the withdrawals, Councilman John White commented that he thought that the withdrawals had not been voluntary, and that the city was allowing a few highly-vocal neighbors to determine the economic futures of the property owners.

White was referring to a section of the Texas Local Government Code that says if land owners representing 20 percent or more of the land within 200 feet of the proposed rezoned property object to the rezoning, it will take a super majority of the city council to approve the action.

In the case of the Wimberley City Council, a super majority, or majority plus one vote, is four votes. If two council members vote against the action, it will fail to pass. The council vote to accept the withdrawals was three to one, with White voting against.

Action postponed on reimbursement of expenses for contested elections, recounts

The city council postponed discussion and action on a proposal by Place Two Councilman Mac McCullough that the city adopt an ordinance requiring the reimbursement of certain expenses incurred by the city in city election recounts and contested elections.

McCullough said that he had engaged Austin elections attorney Buck Wood to draft such an ordinance, and Wood had been delayed. The action was continued until the council’s March 3 meeting.

Council approves plan for Blue Hole soccer field irrigation

After considering five options for irrigating the soccer fields at Blue Hole Regional Park, the council directed the city staff to pursue negotiations with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority on the option for drip irrigation for two soccer fields with treated effluent from the existing wastewater treatment plant located on park property.

The original soccer field irrigation plan called for the soccer fields to be irrigated with a subsurface drip irrigation system using Type 1 effluent from a new wastewater treatment plant to be built at the park. The existing treatment plant produces an untreated Type II effluent which cannot be used in its current state to irrigate public recreation areas.

With the setback in the city's efforts to secure funding for a new wastewater treatment plant, the city staff has been working with GBRA on alternative irrigation using effluent produced by the existing treatment plant at the park. Upgrading the existing treatment plant to produce Type I effluent would be at considerable cost. (The council voted unanimously to selected Number 4 of 5 options considered: Drip irrigate with treated Type II effluent from the existing wastewater treatment plant at an estimated cost of $388,746.)

Funding will come from existing Blue Hole funds and not from the city's general funds. The city staff met with representatives of the Wimberley Soccer Association to share the alternatives and gather input. The representatives indicated that they could support the use of Type II effluent to irrigate the fields using either a surface spray or subsurface drip irrigation system. Current public health rules prohibit spraying Type II effluent on areas used for contact recreation.

Council airs concerns about durability of new hike and bike trail

The city of Wimberley is preparing a letter to Hays County commissioners expressing the city council's strong concerns on the condition of the new Hays County-City of Wimberley multipurpose trail from Blue Hole Regional Park to the First Baptist Church along Winters Mill Parkway.

The communication will ask the county to take immediate action to stabilize erosion of the trail's surface. The city also will encourage the county to use remaining project funds to improve the durability of the trail surface by either adding an asphalt surface or by adding concrete curbs to control the spreading and erosion of the current crushed granite surface.

The action by the city council came on advice from the Wimberley Transportation Advisory Board. In its presentation to the council, the TAB recommended the use of large native stones and native landscaping along the trail or the installation of properly spaced bollards across the trail to discourage ATV use on the trail.

As part of its recommendations, the TAB urged the city and county to hold the trail designer and contractor responsible for repairing and correcting the causes of recent significant erosion and silting reported on the trail.

LWV to sponsor civility training workshop

The League of Women Voters-Wimberley Valley is sponsoring a Civility Training Workshop on Saturday, February 26, 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The workshop will be held in the Katherine Anne Porter School cafeteria, located at 515 FM 2325, Wimberley. Registration is at 8:30 a.m.

Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath, co-founders of the Institute for Civility in Government will lead the workshop. In their words, “Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process.”

The Institute for Civility in Government is a national, grassroots, non-profit organization that works to reduce polarization in society. Through educational programs and membership, the Institute aims to build civility in a society that increasingly tilts towards uncivil speech and actions.

To pre-register, mail contact information (name, address, telephone number and email) along with a $25.00 deposit check payable to LWV-WV, to treasurer, Joy Moden, 1111 Thompson Ranch Rd., Wimberley, TX 78676, by February 18. Contact person: Cookie Hagemeier, cookiemon1@vownet.net; (512) 847-7177.

Wimberley Arts Fest ’11 plan OK’d by council

Wimberley Valley Art League plans to use city right-of-way and parts of the Square for its Wimberley Arts Fest ’11 were approved by the city council Thursday evening. The annual event will take place on Saturday, April 30 on the Wimberley Square from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Motor vehicle access to the west side of the Square will be prohibited during the event starting at approximately 7 a.m. and ending shortly after the event ends. The WVAL will provide on-site security and event insurance. In addition to the various artists, the event will feature food vendors. Directional signage associated with the event will be placed in the right-of-way in the area of the Square.

Some companies made millions off the Texas blackouts

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Wilder at wilder@texasobserver.org or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Forrest Wilder
Published: Thursday, February 03, 2011
Texas Observer

Read the complete story at this link

While Texans suffered rolling blackouts Wednesday, some power generators were enjoying windfall profits. Starting around 5 a.m., prices in the wholesale market surged to the market cap, $3,000 per megawatt-hour, and stayed there, off and on, until around noon. Prices are typically below $100/megawatt-hour, acknowledged ERCOT CEO H.P. "Trip" Doggett today in a press conference.

There are still more questions than answers but this much is clear: At best, some power generators around the state raked in oodles of money thanks to the way ERCOT has structured the energy market. At worst, some may have manipulated the market to drive up prices.

In the end, the price surge yesterday could cost consumers tens of millions of dollars, said David Power, deputy director of Public Citizen-Texas. Although residential consumers are typically insulated from temporary wholesale price spikes, "Somebody ends up paying for it," said Power.

Forrest Wilder, a native of Wimberley, Texas, joined the Observer as a staff writer in April 2005. Forrest specializes in environmental reporting and runs the “Forrest for the Trees” blog. Forrest graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2003 with a degree in Anthropology.

Battle lines being drawn, but water issues and players remain elusive

It almost seems as if our legislature has willfully or misguidedly allowed a plethora of confusing governing bodies to come into being

Note: We've sandwiched Wimberley area resident Barbara Hopson's commentary between a recent story in the Smithville Times and a Times' Letter to the Editor. All three address one of the most important questions of our time: How to best manage our increasingly limited water supply for a growing population? As Ms. Hopson points out, this is a tough question to figure out with so many vested interests and players in the mix. Here's a hint to avoid obscuring the forest for the trees: Keep the focus on the actions of your hard-charging local officials, the ones who claim to be "ahead of the issues" and have an answer for everything. They are the ones typically getting their cues from the higher ups and the special interests.

The HDR Hays County Water and Wastewater Facilities Plan – the one done specially for western Hays County that includes a long list of recommended infrastructure projects totaling $813 million over 50 years – will be one of the big things to watch; how the implementation of the plan plays out in the weeks and months ahead. You can download a copy at this link. Public comment ended at 5 p.m. today. "This is the starting point," said a source familiar with the study and the process. "We see the benefit of this report as getting some ideas down in writing." The 200-plus page study (at a cost to the taxpayers of $215,000) examines water and wastewater management options, infrastructure needs, and policy alternatives needed to accommodate future growth in the western hills, and the rest of the county. Even "no" future development, or very limited development, are options in the study. If you want to follow which direction it all takes, keep your eyes on western Hays County's two county commissioners, Precinct 3 Will Conley and Precinct 4 Ray Whisenant.

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Ms. Hopson at hopsonbarbara@yahoo.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Water district wary of Senate bill
Friday, January 28, 2011 | Denis McGinness
Read the complete story in the Smithville Times at this link

The Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District board of directors has unanimously adopted a resolution that strongly opposes a move by either the state legislature or the courts to create a vested right for landowners to own the groundwater under their property before it is captured.

The move is in reaction to Senate Bill 332, authored by State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, who has stated that the legislation is needed to clarify that landowners have a vested ownership in the groundwater underneath their property and that through the Rule of Capture, they have a vested private property right to drill a well and produce groundwater for their use.

So many entities and so little enforcement

By Barbara Hopson
Guest Commentary

My feeling is that the Texas problem which most urgently needs attention is the scarcity of water for present and projected populations. Water is something we literally cannot live without, and so it is an urgent issue.

It's very hard even to know where to begin in discussing water issues. We tend to focus on a local issue concerning it, but, statewide and district-wide, problems are inter-related and fluid – like water itself.

I guess I would begin with the problem of who (if anyone) owns the water. This is a thorny and unsolved issue. The Texas Supreme Court has before it several cases which may cause the Court finally to make a ruling on who owns water. Since 1904 it has been commonly accepted that a person owns the water beneath his property, and this idea is called the Rule of Capture. But common sense tells you that no one person should be able to sink a well to use all the water he wants, to the detriment of neighbors.

I remember about 15 years ago there was a huge catfish farm on the edge of San Antonio, and that catfish farm was the largest water user served by the San Antonio Water System (SAWS). SAWS threatened to adopt a new water price scale to rein in the fish farm, but the fish farm voluntarily closed before San Antonio had to do that. That instance did not result in a court case, but it might have been helpful if it had; perhaps the limits on the Rule of Capture would have been outlined by the Texas Supreme Court at that time.

Another mind-boggling situation is that there are so many entities – governmental and not – involved in water issues. There are the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, county courts, various river authorities, groundwater conservation districts, groundwater management areas, and priority groundwater districts. There are groups such as the Hill Country Alliance, the Wimberley Valley Water Association, the River Institute, the Cypress Creek Project, and others, which are advisory, but which have no governing power. So many voices clamoring for our attention and for the ears of our legislators make our heads spin.

Then there is the fact that governmental water entities frequently do not enforce the laws and regulations which they are charged with enforcing. The Texas Water Development Board has recently given an enormous loan to the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority for a study to pipe water from aquifiers in Bastrop and Lee Counties to San Marcos and San Antonio, even though the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District is the agency which sets water policy for that area, and even though the citizens of Bastrop and Lee counties have protested that projections show that they themselves will need that water for their own growing populations.

Also, some groundwater conservation districts seem unable, or unwilling, to fine or otherwise constrain water suppliers which pump without a permit or fail to fix leaking lines that waste scandalous amounts of water.

It almost seems as if our legislature has willfully or misguidedly allowed a plethora of confusing governing bodies to come into being.

Lastly, costs to consumers of water and for wastewater treatment have reached alarming heights in various parts of the state, including here in Wimberley. Consumers who are not served by community-owned water utilities are at the mercy of privately-owned water suppliers. Those suppliers are permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to raise their rates time and again. It is the fox guarding the hen house, since many of the members of the TCEQ are ex-employees of water supply companies. They are good old boys slapping each other on the back, along with a wink and a nod.


Opinion: Groundwater ownership can be a Trojan Horse
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 | Smithville Times
Read Mr. Grimes' entire letter to the editor at this link

Editor,

As I ranch land in Guadalupe County that generations before me have done since the battle of San Jacinto, I can’t help but think of how mankind has plundered most of the earth’s natural resources for capital gain and I can’t help but wonder if groundwater will be the same.

[snip]

In my six years of working for groundwater districts, I have never seen a landowner denied a permit for an agricultural use and most agriculture users do not pump near their permitted amount. Recently, the Texas Farm Bureau, of which I am a member, partnered with the Texas Cattle Raisers Association and various other organizations and are trying to define groundwater in Texas as a vested property right. This may sound good on the surface, but let me assure you that this, in my opinion, is a Trojan Horse for water marketers across the state to get their deals done.

Joshua Grimes
Luling

ERCOT requires PEC to interrupt service

Update, 5 p.m. from PEC – ERCOT's mandate to utilities statewide to reduce electricity demand ended at 1:30 p.m. today. Early Wednesday morning, ERCOT instructed utilities to begin rotating temporary, intentional power interruptions to compensate for a statewide electricity generation shortage due to numerous power plant malfunctions that occurred because of the extremely cold weather. Because of the resulting stress placed on the Texas electric grid, ERCOT decided to require rolling interruptions throughout the state in order to protect the system and avoid uncontrollable, widespread blackouts. At its peak, the directive affected more than 34,000 PEC meters. PEC instituted temporary service interruptions in different sections of its territory in 10-minute intervals to comply with the directive. The Cooperative was required to reduce demand by 59 megawatts.

Update – Sent at 2:22 p.m. from PEC's Communications Department: "PEC is no longer shedding load through rolling blackouts. However, we are still in an emergency situation and on standby in case there is a need to resume mandated power interruptions."

Note: We received this late breaking news from PEC at 9:15 this morning. We're not sure how long the rotating brownouts will last, most likely until the hard freeze conditions pass. Ms. Harvey told the RoundUp that PEC member-customers can help by turning off any excess use of electricity in their homes and businesses. "Any electricity not necessary puts an undue strain on the system, especially right now," Harvey said.

For more info, here's the link to ERCOT's press release distributed earlier. ERCOT's web site: http://www.ercot.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2011

TO: All media in PEC Emergency Operations Plan
CONTACT: Anne Harvey, (830) 868-4933; Austin line (512) 219-2602

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is directing Pedernales Electric and its other member transmission and distribution electric utilities to shed electric load to help prevent uncontrolled, widespread blackouts.

PEC will interrupt service to different parts of its territory in 10-minute increments to comply with the ERCOT directive. Because Pedernales Electric cannot guarantee continuous service, those who rely on uninterrupted power should make preparations.

PEC also asks its members to take steps to prepare for safe restoration of their electric service.

All electrical appliances that were on when service was disrupted should be turned off, as well as the circuit breakers to major appliances. Once power is restored, members can help avoid overloading by turning these appliances back on in 15-minute intervals.

Members who call PEC toll-free at 1-888-883-3379 can be connected with Pedernales Electric’s automated high volume call answering system, which is activated during major interruptions.

Pedernales Electric Cooperative, based in Johnson City, Texas, is the largest distribution electric cooperative in the country, serving more than 236,000 meters in an 8,100-square-mile service area.

'Far out' report suggests renaming I-35 segment between Georgetown and Buda

The draft report, in perhaps its loftiest flight of fancy, suggests that the tolls likewise be removed from the extension of Texas 130 between Mustang Ridge and Interstate 10 near Seguin, a segment under construction right now by a private consortium at a cost of more than $1 billion

Note: For you commuters and road and transportation wonks, here's an update from the Austin American-Statesman's Ben Wear on some of the 'way out there' discussions taking place about the future of I-35. Thanks to an alert RoundUp reader for forwarding the story. Here's the link to Mr. Wear's report.

Taking it one fun step further – if a contest were launched for the renaming of a segment of 35 running through Austin, what you name it?

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Wear at bwear@statesman.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Ben Wear: Getting There

Updated: 5:17 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31, 2011
Published: 8:47 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

So a state report last week suggested that Interstate 35 and the Texas 130 tollway swap names and roles and, to some degree, tolls. You've heard the expression "out of the box."

austinpost.org

This one is an area code removed from the box. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't like the box dwellers have been boring us silly with ideas for fixing I-35's traffic congestion.

The 122 pages from the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee, the fruit of months of hearings and other discussion up and down the interstate corridor, suggest that the federal interstate designation be stripped from I-35 from north of Georgetown to Buda. Give it to Texas 130 instead, taking away the tolls from that road. And call what is now I-35 ... well, the report doesn't say. East Avenue? I welcome your suggestions.

There's more. The report recommends taking two of I-35's six to eight lanes (it varies through Austin), one on each side, and making them "dynamic" toll lanes, with prices that would go up and down depending on traffic. Fewer free lanes, in other words. But the authors want two lanes added to Texas 130, which would be I-35 by then. Got it?

Doing all this (and many other complicated, expensive things included in the report) is actually harder than its sounds. For instance, this might require as many as two elections: a local vote to allow free lanes to be converted to tolls and another Central Texas vote to perhaps raise fees to help pay the $2 billion or so of debt remaining on Texas 130 and its two partner toll roads. The Legislature would have to pass some laws, including one allowing that local vote on fees.

Someone would need to find the money to add those lanes to Texas 130 (and, oh, yes, the seven miles of Texas 45 Southeast that completes the eastern loop of Austin). Politically, you'd have to convince a still toll-skeptical public that it's OK to take away free lanes and put tolls on them and that enough people would be diverted around Austin on the new I-35 to make it better on the old I-35.

In fact, you'd have to find an elected official willing to advance such an idea. I'm not saying it couldn't be done — this is Austin, after all — but such a thing could shorten someone's time in office.

The draft report, in perhaps its loftiest flight of fancy, suggests that the tolls likewise be removed from the extension of Texas 130 between Mustang Ridge and Interstate 10 near Seguin, a segment under construction right now by a private consortium at a cost of more than $1 billion. They plan to toll it, and profit from it for 50 years, and send a small percentage of the toll money to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Taking the tolls off those 40 miles "ain't gonna happen," as one key official told me. There's a good chance that recommendation, said to have originated from Lockhart, will fall out of the final report.

So, is this just some tasty pie in the sky or the first glimmer of a long-awaited solution for I-35? Sorry to raise a question I can't answer, but no one knows at this point. It's well to remember, however, the let's-bury-I-35-through-Austin plan that was splashed all over the Statesman's front page about a decade ago. Haven't seen the bulldozers out there yet.

For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.

Aqua official signals start of leak repairs in Woodcreek and Woodcreek North

A big question that has many of Aqua's ratepayers nervous is whether the repair costs will be passed on in the form of increased rates

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to the groundwater district at manager2@haysgroundwater.com, to HTGCD Board President Jimmy Skipton at jimmyskipton@gmail.com, board vice president David Baker at jacobswellspring@gmail.com, board member Joan Jernigan at jerniganjs@austin.rr.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story. Click here to go to the district's website.

By Bob Ochoa
Editor

An Aqua Texas official has informed the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District that the water company is moving forward with plans to repair leaks in its system in Woodcreek and Woodcreek North.

Click on letter to enlarge

The repair and replacement of "certain water lines" will be a "monumental task," Aqua Texas, Inc., Central Texas Area Manager Brent C. Reeh states in a letter to the District's board president, Jimmy Skipton. The District received the letter Jan. 18. The RoundUp obtained a copy of the letter through a public information request.

Reeh said Aqua will need to complete several regulatory steps "before we are able to actually start turning dirt and replacing water lines." The review process by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of Aqua's repair plans will take between 90 and 120 days, Reeh said. In the meantime, Aqua will solicit bids from contractors for the project.

Reeh's letter does not specify the extent or cost of the initial repairs. Aqua officials have previously estimated a price tag of $5 million to repair the entire system. A big question that has many of Aqua's ratepayers nervous is whether the repair costs will be passed on in the form of increased rates.

Aqua's willingness to begin repairs on its notoriously leaky Woodcreek water system "is a good thing for the aquifer," Mr. Skipton told the RoundUp. "Aqua Texas is showing, at this point, good faith. They have taken it upon themselves to fix the problem after going to the (District's) meetings and hearing the concerns brought up by a lot of people who thought Aqua should start doing something to fix the problems."

For well over a year, Aqua and the District's board have been unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to remedy extensive groundwater waste, or line loss, in Aqua's water system, which serves more than 2,000 customers in the City of Woodcreek and unincorporated Woodcreek North.

"The task of coming to an agreement has been challenging, to say the least," Reeh states in his letter. "We will continue to work with you and the District in trying to work on a comprehensive agreement to address our respective concerns."

Under its current permits with the District, Aqua is allowed to pump 321 acre-feet of water annually for its Woodcreek Phase I service area and 339 acre-feet for Woodcreek Phase II (approximately 215 million gallons combined). By its own reporting to the District of groundwater pumpage, use and line loss, Aqua's system is hemorrhaging something on the order of 57 million gallons annually. Line loss is reported to be about 20% in Woodcreek Phase I and 35% in the Phase II service area.

The District's Rule 9, which addresses groundwater waste and penalties, sets the allowable line loss at 15%, the standard for municipal water systems. Aqua has threatened legal action against the District if it sought to enforce the water waste rule.

Several long running attempts to negotiate a settlement on the line loss problem have failed. One such attempt which proved to be extremely unpopular with the public was to grant Aqua a 3-year permit with built in pumping increases in exchange for a promise from Aqua to repair its system's leaks.

Meanwhile, the RoundUp is informed that the City of Woodcreek is preparing a survey that it will send to residents of both Woodcreek and Woodcreek North in February. A city source said the survey is being done to "gauge the sentiment of Aqua's customers." The results will be tabulated in March.

Late last year, the Woodcreek Property Owners Association collected more than 650 individually signed petitions protesting Aqua's high rates. An informed source said the petition essentially says "enough is enough, we can't afford to live here with these kind of water rates – please do something." The petition requests an investigation into Aqua Texas water and sewer service rates.

Copies of the petitions were hand delivered to then State Rep. Patrick Rose and candidate Jason Isaac, who defeated Rose in the November election. Other officials said to have received, or will receive, the petitions include new County Judge Bert Cobb, County Commissioner Will Conley, State Sen. Jeff Wentworth and former County Commissioner Jeff Barton.

So far, the source said, "We haven't heard a word back from anyone, nothing from Isaac."

Commissioner Conley and Judge Cobb reportedly will meet soon to discuss the petition.

Part of the petition text states: "For years we have been subjected to the excessive rates and fees of Aqua Texas. We cannot afford these outrageous rates and fees and we request you investigate this company and do all that you can to reduce these rates and fees as soon as possible. Those of us who own vacant lots or have our homes on the market are being adversely affected as well. Basic human needs such as water and sewer should never be a luxury item!"

We'll have more on this as updates become available.

Jacob's Well land deal may come with a million-dollar tax write off

Commissioner Conley had gone on record at the November 23 Commissioners Court meeting as saying that he would not change the deal to give a tax write off to the sellers

Note: This is the second story in an exclusive RoundUp series called Big Money Environmentalism in Hays County: What You Should Know by citizen journalist Lenee Lovejoy of San Marcos. Scroll down several stories to read the first report. Lovejoy has spent considerable time scouring county public records and otherwise covering her reporting bases. Here, she examines contracts and other official records to reveal more of a complex purchasing arrangement of those famous 50 acres adjacent to Jacob's Well for $1.7 million than what the tax paying public has been led to believe. It takes a fair amount of hutzpah to try to pull some of the apparent end runs we're seeing revealed in this tangled deal – and some familiar names are involved. Why are we not surprised. The taxpayers deserve more transparency and honesty in how their money is being handled, always, and especially when accompanying an iconic and revered natural water feature as Jacob's Well.

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Ms. Lovejoy at LeneeL@centurytel.net or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Lenee Lovejoy
Special Report

Problems seem to have arisen with the County’s controversial deal to purchase 50 more acres for conservation near Jacob’s Well. Those close to the court say that the terms for the deal were changed after County Commissioner’s Court approved the contracts last year.

Any changes would have to be presented to Commissioners’ Court at a public meeting, and approved by at least 3 votes. If that did not occur, the deal that took place on December 20 may have been executed without the proper authorizations required to conduct County business.

The contracts that Commissioners’ Court approved last November 23, among other things, called for Hays County to buy 50.199 acres for $1,700,000 from Westridge Joint Venture, LLC, and Robert L. Haug and Vinson J. Wood.

It appears that what may have taken place, however, was the purchase of roughly 30 acres for $1,700,000. This transaction was apparently used to set a per acre value of $56,666 on the remaining 20 acres. These 20 acres would have been gifted to Hays County in a second transaction that would show up on paper as a gift worth $1,133,320.

It appears that Westridge Joint Venture, LLC has asked the county to sign an IRS document acknowledging this gift.

Other than the County Judge, very few (if any) are authorized to sign the contracts required to buy and sell land on behalf of the County. Former County Judge Liz Sumter reportedly refused to sign the contracts for the modified deal.

Final verification of all of this has not been received, but it is true that the “Assignment and Assumption Agreement” that was signed on December 16, and the various deed transfer documents signed on December 17, show the signature of County Attorney Mark Kennedy, rather than that of Judge Sumter.

The option agreement for the deal identifies Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley as the county’s designated representative. Commissioner Conley had gone on record at the November 23 Commissioners Court meeting as saying that he would not change the deal to give a tax write-off to the sellers.

Former County Judge Liz Sumter had voted against the Jacob’s Well deal last November, citing that it would use public money for private use, which was wrong; that due diligence had not been done to ensure the County’s best interests were protected, and that it involved too much liability for the County.

Judge Bert Cobb, who took office earlier this month, had gone on record as opposing the deal because the contracts did not meet the desired objective, which was to ensure the land around Jacob’s Well would be conserved. County Commissioners who voted for the deal were Mr. Conley, Debbie Ingalsbe, and former Commissioners Karen Ford and Jeff Barton.

Further controversy has arisen since certain residents of Hays County analyzed the contracts on this and previous land buys at Jacob’s Well.

More on this in the next installment.

Lenee Lovejoy is a 15 year resident of San Marcos. After 20 years working in global corporations and public education as a systems analyst and web programmer/consultant, she decided to make a change. Today she runs a ranch with her husband and has her own web design/consulting business.

Are we teetering on the edge of placelessness? Now's the time to weigh in

HDR's draft report and its supporters are overriding local concerns by imposing functional efficiency, objective organization and manipulative planning. The study proposes merely the best way to achieve narrowly defined technical ends

Note: Texas State graduate student and Wimberley area resident Matt Heinemann raises many passionate points and questions about a water and waterwater study now in final draft form that carries profound implications for future growth in western Hays County and the Wimberley Valley. The study can be downloaded from the county's website, at this link. You should read it, it's got some pretty audacious recommendations. Unfortunately, public comment as been nill to sparse. It remains open through Feb. 3. Send your comments to County Grants Administrator Jeff Hauff at jeff.hauff@co.hays.tx.us or call Hauff's office, 512.393.2211. Commenting on important local development studies is like voting – if you don't you can't complain. According to Hauff, the study's next destination is the Texas Water Development Board. After final approval, the county will prioritize the study's recommended infrastructure improvements and can apply for state assistance to begin implementing them.

Send your comments, questions and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Heinemann at love4water@gmail.com, to County Commissioner Will Conley at will.conley@co.hays.tx.us, to County Judge Bert Cobb at bert.cobb@co.hays.tx.us, to the Judge's Chief of Staff Lon Shell at lon.shell@co.hays.tx.us, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Matt Heinemann
Guest Commentary

What is wrong with Hays County’s consulting firm HDR recommending water from the Guadalupe River via the San Marcos treatment plant transmitted down Ranch Road 12 to Wimberley?

This is, after all, the recommendation that Will Conley intends to support once the year-and-a-half-long water and wastewater facilities study drafted by HDR for Hays County is adopted. It would appear the plan is intended to ensure growth in the Valley up to and beyond the next 15 years.

The first thing wrong with the scenario in the study is that it is not sustainable. Fifteen years of relatively "reliable" water may ensure short-term expansion of residential development, but it does not guarantee a long-term water supply and it will play havoc with our property values. There is a false assumption that growth in the Valley is in the best interest of residents.

Many resist the vision of this report as the inevitable fate for the Wimberley Valley. Many also understand that more growth will bring along with it the burden of substantial tax increases. (See American Farmland Trust – click on Hays County Cost of Community Services Study/pdf). The water & wastewater plan, as now drafted, has a narrowly defined range of alternatives. Unfortunately, there are only a small number of people who view these alternatives as needing to be urgently addressed.

Place is an attitude

How many people do you know in Wimberley who are disgusted by mini-malls, sprawling shopping centers with a uniform sameness, big-box retail department stores and kitsch storefronts practically everywhere? Many of our cities are losing, or have already lost, their authenticity.

In their public meeting last Wednesday (Jan. 19) in Wimberley, the engineers in the HDR study, and Commissioner Will Conley, seem to have prioritized recommendations based on technique over place. Cities in Hays County are not uniform in their composition nor in their desires for growth. In my experience, residents in Wimberley feel deeply about their community and resist drastic changes in its composition.

HDR's draft report and its supporters are overriding local concerns by imposing functional efficiency, objective organization and manipulative planning. The study proposes merely the best way to achieve narrowly defined technical ends. Some politicians have lost sight of the personal structures which give communities meaning. They have ceased to look for or define meaning in their communities. This is an inauthentic attitude. And this is a sorry situation for a representative of a truly authentic place.

The engineers presenting this study have lumped our communities together, all requiring a similar set of strategies to overcome ‘spatial inefficiencies’ with major infrastructure improvements. Why would our community want to allow such detached planning from fullness of place and community? Wimberley "the place" is merely incidental in this report with its countywide implications. Are we to understand that our destiny is common to the other communities in fast growing Hays County? Are we supposed to follow the goals of a narrow group of interests for efficiency sake, for development, profits or greed?

What I heard Commissioner Conley say at the Wednesday night meeting is that this type of plan is “long overdue,” that he is anxious to get moving on the recommendations, and he is not interested in having more open meetings for public comment about the report.

The narrowness of such an approach, with an emphasis on the abstract “future dwellers” and economic interests implied, rather than on the impact that water infrastructure of this scale will have on community life and values is profoundly inauthentic and shameful. This technique-dominated planning is difficult to reconcile with the subjective values of people and place, and it requires a significant investment. It outright ignores the experiences and everyday lives of concerned Wimberley citizens – possibly even threatening to obliterate the sense of place many of us feel in living here.

Matt Heinemann is a Wimberley area resident, graduated from Wimberley High School and now a graduate student in Geography at Texas State University. Matt participated in the committee responsible for the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Wimberley. He can be reached at love4water@gmail.com

Grassroots fight for local water control takes shape

“We have to say to the few people who are putting this plan together that this does not serve the state of Texas or the people of Texas . . . Moving water does not work.”

There are numerous other ways citizens can get involved, especially helping to organize and support a planned statewide water conference slated for Saturday, March 19 at McKinney Roughs

Note: Here's the latest installment in the escalating war over the transfer of groundwater and groundwater rights in neighboring Bastrop and Lee counties. The map of the proposed pipeline by the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority clearly shows a spur connecting to San Marcos. Future supplemental water supplies to Hays and western Hays County may depend heavily on completion of this pipeline. Whether it can overcome the mounting resistance from Bastrop and Lee county citizens is the key question. There is an oblique reference to the project in a draft long range water plan for Hays County presented at a public meeting last night at the Wimberley Community Center. Here's what it states: "About the year 2030 when the interim supply agreement with (Canyon Lake Water Supply Corporation) would expire, construct an 18 mile, 16” diameter treated water pipeline from GBRA facilities at the San Marcos Water Treatment Plant, along RR 12, to the City of Wimberley." Download a copy of the draft Hays County Water and Wastewater Facilities Plan here. Comments from the public are being taken until Feb. 3. Call the county's grants administration office at 512.393.2211 for more information.

On another water-related front, we are informed to be on the lookout for legislation from State Sen. Jeff Wentworth that will empower the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to levy – with voter approval – an ad valorem property tax rate of up to 5-cents to fund district operations. Some would say, "Better late than never." And others, "Over my dead body!" What will be new State Rep. Jason Isaac's position, will he agree to co-author the bill in the House? Will the groundwater district's current board even allow the question to be brought to a vote?

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

For more information on the March water conference and how to get involved, contact Linda Curtis at 512.535.0989.

Read the complete story in the Bastrop Advertiser at this link.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 | By Cyndi Wright

Summoning the specter of the Trans-Texas Corridor project that was halted after a successful grassroots mobilization, a mixture of people and groups staged a standing-room only forum Saturday to organize a similar push against recent state decisions concerning water.

Smithville Times / click on graphic to enlarge

Specifically targeted was the Dec. 16 Texas Water Development Board’s approval of a $2.5 million loan to the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority for a pipeline project, dubbed by opponents as the Trans-Texas Water Highway, that is projected to pump an estimated 56,000 acre-feet of water per year from Bastrop and Lee counties to GBRA customers in Hays, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe and Kendall counties.

Billed as “The Texas Water War: Will the People Unite?”, the meeting was led by Independent Texan Linda Curtis at Bastrop’s public library on Saturday. The rainy weather seemed especially appropriate for a meeting designed to organize local Texans into finding some measure of control over the limited water resources in the state.

“We are here because this is something we are all concerned about,” Curtis said. “We all drink water.”

Besides Curtis, other organizers of the forum included Environmental Stewardship founder Steve Box; political candidate and local rancher Pati Jacobs; and Phil Cook, representing himself and the Sierra Club.

Not present due to illness was organizer Judith McGeary, founder of the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance, which was formed to fight the proposed National Animal Identification System, a governmental solution to tracking diseased livestock that opponents say will drive small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business while increasing the consolidation of the food supply into the hands of a few large, multinational corporations.

“The Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance will play a major role in forming this coalition,” Curtis said.

The grassroots campaign that seriously wounded the Trans-Texas Corridor project was led by Fayetteville couple David and Linda Stall, who received a standing ovation when they joined the meeting Saturday. “You will have to create pressure on your elected officials to get them to make this a priority,” Linda Stall told the crowd. Curtis worked with the Stalls as they led their fight against the TTC. “We learned a lot during the organization of that movement,” she said. Who rules?

Organizers and speakers on Saturday agreed a major problem is the lack of a true, clear, legal definition of who owns groundwater. “Water law is unsettled,” Cook said. “Ownership of groundwater is undecided in Texas.”

The current legal definition, the Rule of Capture, states that whoever owns a piece of property owns the water beneath it. Absent malice or willful waste, landowners have the right to take all the water they can capture from under their land and to do with the water what they please. But according to Cook, it’s still questionable and mostly unclear when that ownership takes place.

“If it is owned, when and where does that take place? While it’s under the ground or when you bring it up and capture it? Water law is highly controversial,” Cook said, explaining why he thinks it has yet to be clearly defined in a legislative session. “For about 20 years we’ve been hearing ‘we’ll deal with that in the next session.’”

Republican Senator Troy Fraser from Horseshoe Bay introduced SB 332 last week, relating to the vested ownership interest in groundwater beneath the surface and the right to produce that groundwater, which states in part: A (grounwater) district may make and enforce rules, including rules limiting groundwater production based on tract size or the spacing of wells, to provide for conserving, preserving, protecting and recharging of the groundwater or of a groundwater reservoir or its subdivisions in order to control subsidence, prevent degradation of water quality or prevent waste of groundwater.

But “it doesn’t solve the problem,” Cook said.

According to Jacobs, a local rancher who owns Bastrop Cattle Company, 75-80 percent of Texas’ population will end up somewhere along the I-35 corridor. “And they need water,” she said. “These people are not our enemies. We need to turn them into our allies.”

According to Jacobs, the rising cost of gasoline will dictate a “seismic” change in the way things are done. “We are going to have to change from a petrochemical society,” she said. “There are tremendous opportunities for change, but you cannot do it without water. In 20 years, there will be no water on I-35 or out here if moving water is how they try to solve it.”

Jacobs said people just need to say no. “We have to say to the few people who are putting this plan together that this does not serve the state of Texas or the people of Texas,” she said. “Moving water does not work.”

With gas prices rising, Jacobs said it will no longer be feasible to truck vegetables from California to Texas – or anywhere else. “We need to build jobs and development around regional agriculture,” she said. “This is not pie in the sky. We have doubled our sales every year for the last four years and used less water doing it.”

One man, identified as Austinite Gordon Walton, told participants that it was going to be an uphill fight against the water marketers and politicians. “Everybody here is going to have to get very passionate,” he said. “This is not going to be a hand-holding thing. The only way we are going to get to them is to get in their faces and make them very uncomfortable. Organizations like this need money to fight this.”

PEC files impact statement with court in Fuelberg case

Note: Bennie Fuelberg's punishment hearing was rescheduled to February. Several of the major financial damages listed in PEC's impact statement were cited in prior RoundUp commentaries by Merle Moden of Wimberley and Milton Hawkins of Johnson City.

January 18, 2011
TO: All PEC-area papers
MEDIA CONTACT: Anne Harvey, (830) 868-4933; Austin line, (512) 219-2602

Pedernales Electric Cooperative has filed an impact statement seeking $8.8 million in restitution in the case of State of Texas vs. Bennie Fuelberg. Acting CEO Luis A. Garcia officially filed the document Jan. 6 at the direction of the Cooperative’s Board of Directors. Fuelberg served as PEC’s general manager until early 2008.

The intent of filing the statement is to seek restitution from the defendant in the current proceeding, highlight the interests of PEC and its members as victims in the case, and prevent further damages to PEC and its members from (or avoid) a costly civil lawsuit. Texas law allows trial courts to order restitution, and the trial judge will be reviewing impact statements from PEC and other affected parties prior to the sentencing hearing.

PEC’s statement reflects financial damages to the Cooperative and its membership caused by the defendant’s actions and the resulting trial.

As outlined in the statement, PEC will seek restitution from the defendant for losses and damages including:

- Misapplication of fiduciary property; theft.
- Expenses of PEC staff related to the trial.
- Deferred compensation plan of defendant.
- Attorneys fees.
- Financial losses and fees related to Texland Electric Cooperative.
- Navigant investigation and associated costs.
- Travel expenses incurred by the defendant while working for PEC.

The corporate ruling elite, deficit spending and the expendable American worker

America's corporate ruling elite have ultimately made this decision: American consumers and workers are not needed anymore..."

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Boschert at arrowbiz@texasorp.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Rocky Boschert
Financial Editor

As we enter 2011, corporate business profits are doing pretty well, in spite of, or perhaps because of, poor economic conditions for most American workers. In fact, corporate profits are the only area of the US economy that has been expanding at a good clip since the 2008 recession.

In the third quarter of 2010, profits of domestic corporations were running at an annual rate of $1.27 trillion, just shy of their peak of $1.40 trillion in pre-recession 2007, well on the way to that high mark. Even after an adjustment for inflation, corporate profits are in relatively good shape, in a V shaped recovery, if you will.

So it is not too hard to see why the American ruling elite – whose incomes are tied to corporate business profits and Wall Street investments – are loathe to allowing a major shift of economic policy that may curtail their profits and their power. Yet in the past, normal economic analysis would have you think that more economic growth would provide even more profits, especially to corporations.

Profits, however, depend on two things: 1) the amount of economic wealth that gets created, and 2) where that share of the wealth goes – and how it is distributed.

Currently, for the business elite and the wealthy, with the current high level of unemployment, workers remain in a poor position to demand higher wages – i.e., a larger share of the economic wealth, either current or future. So corporations - and the ruling wealthy that get their income from owning corporate businesses – do not really want unemployment to fall much — especially to fall low enough to give workers more competitive bargaining power to demand higher wages and more benefits. And the weak position of workers in the current economy affects more than just wages and benefits.

As the Main Street / employment recession continues, businesses, especially the larger corporations, are able to force regulatory leniency and corporate-beneficial tax changes while controlling their expenses more easily than in “normal” times. For example, they can change work rules, scream over-regulation is hurting profits, get rid of older and/or higher paid workers, reduce benefits, and bring in new technology more easily, since workers are in a much weaker and poorer position to resist the changes imposed by business and the wealthy.

Moreover, the financial “shock” imposed on society by bad economic conditions and incompetent past business decisions is often used to manipulate their servitude politicians, making it easy for businesses and the wealthy to demand huge concessions from government to bail them out.

We are seeing these “demands” now with the new Republican/Tea Party dominated House of Representatives and the DINO corporate liberals. Still, from the perspective of the wealthy, one would think they would know more growth would be better for their profits – as more growth would also mean more consumption.

But here lies the new American economic conundrum: More demand for goods and services would necessitate more employment, giving the working class more power, hence weakening the power of the wealthy ruling class business owners.

With regard to the new global economy, America’s corporate ruling elite have ultimately made this decision: American consumers and workers are not needed anymore when the Wall Street American corporations have China, India, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and soon the Middle East and Africa to sell their goods to – produced by globally rotating cheaper labor on those same continents.

In essence, American workers are expendable unless a company gets a renewed case of American patriotism. Yet it has become apparent corporate America is not going to invest their free bailout money to help American workers. If a productive US growth stimulus policy required governments to spend more by running deficits, the wealthy are not going to be very patriotic. Why? Because they know that higher deficits would mean more taxes for the wealthy down the line.

In part, the wealthy fear that higher taxes would be needed to pay off the debt the government would incur when it ran deficits to stimulate growth, growth that would be designed to mostly help the struggling middle and poorer classes.

Equally important, and a valid concern to all political persuasions, upping government spending today will most likely entrench a higher level of government activity, which may also require higher taxes on a long-term basis. And the wealthy – with their vast army of lobbyists yielding suitcases of payola for our federal and state politicians – are very skilled at being able to push higher tax obligations onto lower income groups, as they have recently done again with the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

Concerns and fears over higher taxes – much of it fabricated by the ruling corporate elite generates a strong anti-big-government ideology, and that ideology can trump pro-worker common sense and unemployment solving economic logic. And there are plenty of people who because they are trained to oppose “big government” – also oppose the spending that would be involved in any program that would provide significant economic stimulus and employment through more deficit spending.

Strangely, most Americans who oppose government spending are not among the wealthy; yet they share the same anti-government, anti-tax ideology. After all, since they are not allowed to improve their incomes by voting for higher wages, they think they can improve their incomes by voting against taxes, which means voting against “big government,” which means voting against deficits spending.

All this said, most of today’s large federal budget deficit is not the result of spending designed to stimulate the economy. In 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the federal government was on course for a 2009 surplus of $700 billion. But in fiscal year 2009, the budget deficit was about $1.4 trillion. Where, then, is this $2.1 trillion difference between the 2001 CBO estimate and the current 2009 reality?

Lost in the “conservative” (or should we say Republican Party) rhetoric, is that slow economic growth in the early 2000s, followed by severe downturn in 2008 and 2009, accounted for over 40% of the difference, as tax income declined sharply and spending automatically increased (e.g., unemployment compensation) due to the recession which started in late 2007. In fact, about 50% of the difference resulted from legislation enacted in the Bush years – over half of which was war spending, tax breaks for the wealthy, and the bank bailout (under Bush, but ultimately enabled by the Democrats). In reality, the stimulus package of the Obama administration accounted for less than 10% of the difference, a relatively small share of the current deficit.

In the end, business interests and the wealthy who rail against the deficit have real financial interests and power that they want to protect. But what is more impressive is how the wealthy and powerful business interests have done a very effective job – with big help from a compliant and ignorant media – to convince economically weakened middle class conservatives and independents into believing their economic interests are the same as the ruling class who control domestic US economic policy.

“…One nation, indivisible; With Liberty and Justice for some.”

Rocky Boschert, Owner and Managing Principal of Arrowhead Asset Management, a fee-only investment management firm in Wimberley, Texas, is a Registered Investment Advisor and has over 25 years experience in the money management and investment business. Rocky writes a weekly financial tips column in the Personal Finance Page of the RoundUp.