Our worst fears about the water war could come true at the Bastrop Convention Center this Wednesday
night at 7 pm (1408 Chestnut). The outcome of this meeting will affect the future for an entire region – from Bryan-College Station to Austin to San Antonio.
We will be sitting in silence and talking to the press.
We will watch our friends on the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District either capitulate to the advice of their lawyers, or remember their mission and their actual history — as a conservation district. Listen up, friends. Is it not yet clear to you that THE pivotal issue for our future – is not simply water? It is really a question of who decides on the pivotal issues. Will it be land speculators, profiteers and lobbyists, many who do not even live in Texas and don’t give a hoot about us? Or will it be the people who live here and who care deeply about our affordability, our water and – most of all — the future for generations to come?
While a regional movement of citizens has begun to rise up against San Antonio’s Vista Ridge water grab in Burleson and Milam counties, End Op LP’s mega-permit ON THE SAME AQUIFER (just on the other side, in Lee and Bastrop counties), is barreling down the track at this meeting. If they get what they want (46,000 acre-feet), Forestar Real Estate Group will be close behind and they will get their full 45,000 acre-feet in Lee County.
Last week, we shared with you this report by respected hydrologist, George Rice, former board member of the Edwards Aquifer Authority. The drawdowns and expected damage to the aquifer were projections for Vista Ridge only. His report does not take into account an additional 91,000 acre-feet for the profiteering End Op and Forestar deals.
Is it not yet clear to you that Austin’s affordability, Hays County and its Hill Country way of life, San Antonio’s ratepayers and water bankruptcy east of Austin all the way to Bryan-College Station, are all on the line at the same time?
Friends, it’s time to tell the world what is happening here.
Come out on Wednesday night. We don’t want Davy Crockett turning in his grave.
PS Keep getting those signatures on the petition to the Governor — linked here on our home page — and watch your email on Thursday for a report and call to action.