Press Release
Environmental Stewardship Given Green Light to Challenge TCEQ’s Management of the Lower Colorado River
Bastrop, TX. February 9, 2024. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CONTACT: Steve Box, Executive Director, Environmental Stewardship, 512-300-6609, info@envstwardship.org.
Richard Martin, a long-time Bastrop County angler, and Environmental Stewardship (ES) moved a big step closer this week to arguing their case that the segment of the Lower Colorado River Mr. Martin has fished in for the past 50 years is impaired and that state environmental regulators have failed to prove otherwise.
On Wednesday February 7, 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) granted Martin, a member of Environmental Stewardship, a contested case hearing in the Corix/McKinney Roughs Wastewater Treatment Plant Application pending before the commission. If approved, the permit would increase by 10-fold the amount of wastewater Corix can discharge into the river from its at-capacity plant in the middle of LCRA’s McKinney Roughs Park. The hearing is to be held before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) sometime in the spring. Mr. Chap Ambrose’s request for a contested case hearing was referred to SOAH for a determination on whether his request meets the standard to also admit him as an affected person.
Lawyers for Environmental Stewardship have cited a lack of adequate and timely monitoring on this segment of the river to determine if it meets its exceptional aquatic-life use standard. Wastewater discharges into the river upstream of McKinney Roughs have increased dramatically over the years from the region’s unprecedented growth. Nonetheless, TCEQ has failed, Environmental Stewardship argues, to provide data supporting the agency’s determination that the river does not qualify as impaired, which would place restrictions on how new wastewater permitting is approved.
“I feel like I have lost my river,” lamented Martin, adding how it’s rare to catch large fish like he did in years past when the water was much less turbid, silty, and choked with algae.
Other wastewater permits awaiting TCEQ approval include The Boring Company (an Elon Musk company), which has applied for a new wastewater treatment plant, spray field, and river discharge point just downstream of the park. While TCEQ insists this segment of the Colorado River between Austin and Bastrop should remain off the 303(d) list of impaired streams in Texas and, therefore, new wastewater permits should not be denied, Environmental Stewardship has backed up its argument with more than anecdotal reports from Martin and others who recreate on the river. One of those is Mr. Ambrose, whose daughter has attended summer camp at McKinney Roughs Park. The commission on Wednesday referred his request for a contested hearing to SOAH to determine if he has standing in the case.
In a recent data analysis report released by an ES member scientist, it was found that even though the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) collected water chemistry data on the river during this 20-year period, it was flawed primarily because the action limits were set below the detection limits, thereby negating any actionable response. During that period, this analysis found that the macronutrients that enhance bacterial and algae growth, nitrate and phosphorus, are present at much higher average levels in the Lower Colorado River than in other exceptional waterways in the region (e.g. South Fork San Gabriel River, Middle Yegua Creek). Furthermore, the nitrate level has been increasing for at least 30 years. Moreover, several toxic chemical pollutants exhibited as present in the late 1980’s were ignored, and nothing was done to follow up on this issue of concern.
In another report, water monitoring specialists working for ES evaluated whether PFAS compounds (Forever Chemicals, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are present in the lower Colorado River, alluvial aquifer, and private groundwater wells between Austin and Smithville, Texas. Although most samples taken from alluvial aquifers and private wells came back clear of contamination, our sampling efforts disclosed that PFAS compounds are ubiquitous in the river at levels above drinking water limits proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, when ES asked whether the proposed discharge would adversely impact the health of the community and surrounding neighbors (i.e. by exposure to PFAS and other toxic chemicals, or the consumption of fish caught in the river), the Executive Director responded that, “the [wastewater] methodology is designed to ensure that no source will be allowed to discharge any wastewater that: 1) results in instream aquatic toxicity; 2) causes a violation of an applicable narrative or numerical state water quality standard; 3) results in the endangerment of a drinking water supply; or 4) results in aquatic bioaccumulation that threatens human health”.
Unfortunately, this response did not provide adequate information to demonstrate what this methodology is, nor how it is used to monitor the discharge of wastewater that contains PFAS (chemicals that are known to persist and bioaccumulate in aquatic environments) and other toxic compounds, intended to protect human health. For example, a 2023 study published in Environmental Research reported that “Ingestion of PFAS from contaminated food and water results in the accumulation of PFAS in the body and is considered a key route of human exposure. Exposure assessment suggests that a single serving of freshwater fish per year with the median level of PFAS as detected by the U.S. EPA monitoring programs translates into a significant increase of PFOS levels in blood serum”.
During the public comment period, ES sought to resolve its concerns by requesting that the TCEQ provide the data and reports relied upon to make decisions regarding the degradation of water quality required to determine if the segment is in fact, meeting the standards, or if it is falling short. The Executive Director would not disclose the information requested and avoided answering most of our key questions. Unable to resolve those concerns, we pursued a contested case hearing and requested at the very least, a re-consideration of the permit.
We are excited to have the opportunity to present Mr. Martin’s case to SOAH and grateful to our counsel, Perales, Allmon and Ice, LLC, for successfully executing our request for a hearing. Now we are assessing whether the evidence that Environmental Stewardship has assembled is, as we expect, sufficient enough to prevail on merits, in order to continue with the contested case hearing to determine if TCEQ should be held accountable for its actions (or lack thereof) in managing the ecological health and water quality of the lower basin of the Colorado River.
For more information on these concerns see our website https://www.environmental-stewardship.org/corix-mckinney-roughs-wastewater-permit-application/ , https://www.environmental-stewardship.org/exceptional-aquatic-life-standard-threatened/, and https://www.environmental-stewardship.org/pfas-forever-chemicals-in-texas-colorado-river/ , or contact us at info@envstewardship.org.
Environmental Stewardship is a nonprofit organization whose purposes fall under the following categories: Public Policy – Advocating to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the earth’s natural resources in order to meet current and future needs of the environment and humans; Science & Ecology – Gathering and using scientific information to restore and sustain ecological services provided by environmental systems; and Outreach & Education – Providing environmental education and outreach that encourages public stewardship. We are a Texas nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information visit our website at https://www.environmental-stewardship.org/.