This brief LIV-Indy News boost is to encourage you go to the Capitol tomorrow, Monday, February 13th, to support our local food advocates at the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA).
Stay tuned for what you can do from home or reach out to Linda Curtis tomorrow at 512.213.4511.
Y'all Come, ye Lee and Bastrop County residents!
Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Meeting, Wed., Feb. 15, 7PM,
Giddings City Council Chambers 188 E. Richmond • Agenda Here
At the January meeting, Lost Pines GCD, in response to a suit filed against them, decided to enter into negotiations with Gatehouse LLC for a mega-groundwater permit previously denied to Gatehouse. The original permit demand is for 28,500 acre-feet of groundwater (more than half the size of Vista Ridge). It's important for you to know the Board could take action.
Also on the agenda is a presentation by Austin Water regarding Austin’s proposed Aquifer Storage and Recovery [ASR] project.
Austin is studying a proposal to store treated water from Lake Austin & Lake Travis in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer under Bastrop and/or Lee counties. During times of surplus, the treated water would be injected into the aquifer, and pumped out during times of drought.
There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the project’s impact on the aquifer and private property rights. Last year, Austin Water conducted presentations in Bastrop and Lee counties and online. This is the first time Austin Water has addressed the Lost Pines GCD.
The presentation is the second item on the regular agenda, so you should arrive by 7PM if you wish to make a public comment. Got questions? Call LIV at 512.213.4511 or email us at contact@livtx.org.
We also wish to clarify the brief statement about Austin Mayor Kirk Watson in our recent newsletter, which contained a confusing link to Paul Robbin's Part 2 energy series. The Robbins Series has nothing to do with the statement we made about the Mayor. The statement has been clarified on our blog to give Watson some slack, despite our skepticism. We repeat it below.
"Austin’s new boss doesn’t have to be the same as the old boss. Recently elected Austin Mayor Kirk Watson served as Austin Mayor between 1997-2001. That's when Watson put the fix in for his donors in big real estate pressing the pedal to the metal on unfettered growth subsidies. Did Watson's misplaced priorities exacerbate the impact of climate events like the recent ice storm in Austin on February 1? Over 2,000 households were still without power on the 7th day from the storm. That is a question we at LIV are asking, not an answer. Because if anyone can solve Austin's problems, Watson is quite capable, if he gets down to it."
Please do read Robbins " Austin Retail Rate Shock: Paul Robbins, Part 2.