Texas Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), who was appointed by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to chair the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs, made the following statement during his keynote address yesterday (June 16) to the Texas Water Conservation Association (TWCA):
Referencing what happens when science underlying a permit is wrong and wells go dry, Perry said, "We’re going to have that conversation.”
Kermit Heaton, landowner and cattle rancher in Paige, Texas (Bastrop County) who spoke to Perry's Committee on May 10th, responded by saying,
"I hope this is not the same B.S. we have been fed for years on a problem right under the nose of state officials. They were warned about the Vista Ridge (San Antone Hose) starting 2014 when SAWS and their private partners came in with their bought-and-paid for ‘experts’. Now there have been a bunch of rural wells go dry — in the first 6 months of pumping -- and they had to be reworked or re-drilled. I think an audit of Vista Ridge will show us how NOT to handle our water resources. These water marketers can’t act like robber barons who can rape and pillage at their whim. As Saint Augustine said ‘In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery.’"
From the TWCA website: Texas Water Conservation Association (TWCA) is a 501(c)(4) association of water professionals and organizations in the state of Texas working to promote sound water policy for the state. By the time you read this message, they will have concluded their summer conference held in Round Rock, Texas, one of the fastest growing communities in the US.