It’s GOOD NEWS Tuesday! In addition to #GivingTuesday matching, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by one of our private sponsors!!! Over pumping of groundwater aquifers throughout Texas diminishes the flow of rivers, streams, springs and spells trouble for communities across the state. So please, do what you can to help us protect Texas’ waters. Your…
Written by Michele G. Gangnes Published by Giddings Times & News. A major fundraising campaign benefiting the outreach, education and advocacy work of two local water conservation groups begins December 3. The campaign is built around #GivingTuesday, a world-wide initiative that provides an opportunity to obtain matching funds for donations to organizations working to improve…
Environmental Stewardship’s legal team — Marisa Perales (center) and Eric Allmon (right) — cross-examining Lost Pines District’s hydrogeologist William Hutchison (left) on the impacts of LCRA’s pumping on the Colorado River.
A contested case hearing before two Administrative Law Judges on LCRA’s application for a permit to pump up to 8.15 billion gallons of groundwater annually from underneath Bastrop County ended on October 22, 2019. Environmental Stewardship and the landowners were successful in making their arguments before the judges who are expected to render an opinion next spring … likely late April or May.
After hearing six days of testimony, Administrative Law Judges Rebecca Smith and Ross Henderson of the State Office of Administrative Hearings set a procedural schedule that lays out the next steps of what has been a year-long process. The eight parties in the case have until December 20th to file their final closing arguments and until January 31, 2020 to file written rebuttals or replies.
The administrative law judges will make a recommendation in the form of a “proposal for decision” to the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors. Lost Pines District is the local government entity that manages groundwater resources, regulates pumping, and sets desired future conditions in Bastrop and Lee counties.
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Hearing on LCRA’s Application for Groundwater Permit – October 15-18 – Bastrop Convention Center, Bastrop, Texas. A brief summary of Days 1-4 of the hearing. What follows is a summary of what happened at the first four days of the hearing. The focus is from a perspective of Environmental Stewardship (ES) and the Landowners’ cases and…
Hearing on LCRA’s Application for Groundwater Permit. October 15-18 and 21-22, 10:00 am, Bastrop Convention Center, Bastrop, Texas. We are urging that you attend the opening session on Tuesday, October 15. Remember September 2018 when over 125 landowners and Environmental Stewardship formally protested the permit that the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District proposed to issue…
Having filed supplemental testimonies of George Rice and Joe Trungale, moved to strike the LCRA’s prefiled testimonies of Brian Cook and Leonard Oliver, and responded to LCRA’s objections and attempt to strike the testimony of George Rice and Joe Trungale — our case is strong. On September 27th, after months of work, a new pumping file that will be used to adopt…
Environmental Stewardship provides scientific information on impacts on the Colorado River, aquifer formations, and exempt domestic wells. Groundwater pumping in the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer group affects the Colorado River and its tributaries, the Carrizo, Calvert Bluff and Hooper formations, other aquifers, and landowners’ domestic wells. Environmental Stewardship has been working with George…
Mark your calendar: Hearing on LCRA’s Application for Groundwater Permit. October 15-18 and 21-22 at 10:00AM, Bastrop Convention Center, Bastrop, Texas. We’ve been busy preparing for the Contested Case Hearing on LCRA’s application to pump 25,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year from Bastrop County. Yes, we have been missing in your inbox for months now…
We are pleased to share our enthusiasm as Environmental Stewardship (ES) finishes 2018 having made significant advanced in attaining several of its primary goals. We are excited to be going into 2019 well positioned to provide best available science into several critical public policy considerations and decisions.
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Protestants admitted as parties to LCRA Contested Case Hearing at December 19th Prehearing Conference.
A hearing to determine party status of 127 individuals and organizations protesting LCRA’s application for a permit to pump groundwater from Bastrop County was held on December 19, 2018. The hearing was ordered by State Office of Administrative Hearing Law Judges (ALJs) Michael J. O’Malley and Laura M. Valdez.
Environmental Stewardship and a group of 43 landowners were admitted as parties to the contested case hearing to be held next fall. Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, Aqua Water Supply Corporation, City of Elgin, and Recharge Water, LP, along with 12 unrepresented landowners were also admitted. To ensure that all parties have a justiciable interest, each entity and individual is required to file an affidavit no later than February 9, 2019 (Order 2). Any objections to party status must be filed no later than February 19, 2019.
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