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Yesterday, a decommissioned power plant went up in flames in Texas City, Texas. Don't worry, it's just smoke, says ABC News. Today, LIV filed formal comments with the TCEQ ( Texas Commission for Environmental Quality ) on the natural gas-fired Bastrop Peakers Peakers LLC Plant . We attended a public meeting on Monday, November 10, held by the TCEQ to let TCEQ and the owner/operator know the community’s concerns with enlarging the power plant already operating at the site. We asked what the purpose of the additional power generation was. We asked was it for we development -- more residents -- or a data center. The permit applicants explained, "it's just going to the grid.” What we asked for, in our comments, could have been asked for by local officials related to noise and light pollution. A few officials were there, but they said nothing. See LIV Comments HERE . We have to be honest with you. We had few resources and, as of October 21, little faith to muster a fight on this plant. That's because on October 21, the TCEQ bothered to throw nary a bone to the good people of Blue, Texas (Lee County), and their very astute and well-prepared attorneys representing the " Move the Gas Plant " group.   MTGP has been fighting to simply move  the location of a brand new, 1.2 gigawatt natural gas plant to land nearby that has already been polluted by ALCOA's strip mining years ago to fire its lignite-powered power plant . It made total sense to remove it from the vicinity of at least a hundred properties, but apparently not enough dollars and cents for California and Wall Street investors who could give two hoots about land that Texans hold dear.   It should not go unnoticed that Blue is in north Lee County, not far from the Lee County community impacted by Vista Ridge, the 142-mile water pipeline colloquially known as the "San Antone Hose". This community has had it with intrusive projects that prey upon their resources and way of life. Yes, it's all a crying shame. We intend to make the questionable purposes of both these beefed-up and brand new plants a big issue in the 2026 election campaign. Then some other people will be crying, or so we hope! See Move the Gas Plant's press release HERE. Contact us if you are also similarly affected and want to do something about it. Power plants, data centers and unwanted water projects abound. But so do we, the people who live here. TCEQ might be worthless, but we are not.

URGENT! – Letters of support to GMA-12 to maintain current Desired Future Conditions  SAWDF (Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund) urges you to write your GCD general manager and tell them that you support keeping the current DFCs for your GCD and the use of GAM run PS4-2 by GMA-12 to support that decision. Please send letters before Thursday, November 20th. Groundwater Management Area 12 [GMA-12] will meet on Thursday, November 20 and conduct joint planning on proposed Desired Future Conditions [DFCs] for the five groundwater districts that comprise GMA-12; Mid-East Texas GCD, Brazos Valley GCD, Post Oak Savannah GCD, Fayette County GCD, and Lost Pines GCD. The DFCs establish a 50-year view of aquifer conditions. The current DFCs are expressed as maximum drawdown in artesian pressure in an aquifer formation averaged over the groundwater district and/or county. Current DFCs are:  Read the remainder of SAWDF Water Policy Request for GMA 12, including contact info for the General Managers: HERE.

The Lee County water hawks -- Nancy McKee, Bill Rhodes and Andy Wier of SAWDF -- start and finish the film with what happened to Lee, Burleson, Milam, and Bastrop counties' water supply when SAWS -- San Antonio Water System -- came water-grabbing for Vista Ridge. This documentary by More Perfect Union News -- Could Texas Run Out of Water? Wall Street Is Betting Big On It -- is circulating like wildfire (pardon the phrase) across the nation. A Texas lobbyist (who shares our pain about the Texas water grabs) jokingly calls the Lee County folks at the table above and their neighbors "the water jihadists." That's because they don't take no for an answer, as they politely and skillfully have demanded the attention of the legislature ever since their beef with SAWS began. However incremental the changes those citizen lobbyists influenced may be, they're meaningful in a state with vast water resources under siege due to population surges, mass industrialization, captured state agencies, and financial hucksters who know how to pay-to-play the legislature for all it’s worth. The peaceful, patient, and frustrated McKee, Rhodes, Wier and SAWDF steal the show by reminding us of our civic duty, requiring homework and determination. It 's well worth 19 minutes to grasp that Texas water is in real trouble, and we don't have to roll over and take it. Meanwhile, what can we do about it? For starters, get educated, get organized with LIV, and make sure you're getting our communications as well as Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund  updates. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. William Shakespeare

The upheaval in our political economy is frightening but also provides openings bursting with opportunity for independent, nonaligned voters.   Everyone in politics knows independent voters are the “great white whale” of politics . We do not salute any party. We shop the ballot and are not to be harnessed. Independents broke for Trump in 2024, but not because we're easily misled . Though some independents still follow Trump because they're right-wingers, many genuinely conservative voters are disowning Trump for misleading them. Some Democrats call Trump voters "stupid." They take no responsibility for how deeply they too have misled voters. Ironically, as a result, the upper echelons of the Democratic Party are becoming increasingly out of touch with their base, not to mention independents .  This hilarious 15-minute video from the Glenn Greenwald show covers three leading national Democrats who could not answer a basic question about Israel asked by supportive  podcasters. Meanwhile, younger Democrats and Republicans are clear that the tail (the Israel Lobby) needs to stop wagging the dog (U.S. foreign policy) and Donald Trump. What do independent voters want? We overwhelmingly want out of endless offensive  wars, not just in Israel but in Ukraine as well. There's no way we're buying the made-up BS now to invade Venezuela and start our own unjustifiable war.  We want budget cuts free from gross manipulations of those pushing to further bloat our military budget . Despite having failed its last 7 audits, the Pentagon is expected to fail audits through 2028 . The DOGE utterly refused to cut $500 billion from the Pentagon as advised by former OMB Director under Reagan, David Stockman . Trump's BBB even gave Pete Hegseth and his Department of War a big increase! Trump is obviously a clever politician and a dangerous policy boob . He effectively spun a great story about ending wars and saving our economy. Now we're about to invade Venezuela, the dollar is in deep trouble, and neither party has an affordable solution to the big crisis in the healthcare system that has shut down the government. Partisan wars between the parties have us regular folks in the crossfire at all levels of government. What independents want is out of THIS swamp. Government in Texas, at all levels, is coming unhinged . We have written extensively about our local organizing to show how some local governments are in the same hot messy swamp.  But what can be done about this is NOT -- yet anyway -- a new "independent party", though we support the rights of minor parties, old and new. What we desperately need is a big independent movement focused on the fundamentals that most Americans agree on,  including members of established parties. The smartest thing Donald Trump ever did was this . He unflinchingly took on his party's establishment, something the Dems must apparently relearn from days gone by when some fought Democratic machine politics. Bernie and AOC invariably come back to support the leadership because they are dutiful Democrats. Trump has no such dutiful intentions We -- the independents -- must also stop repeating our own mistakes made during and after the Perot-led mass independent uprising 40 years ago. LIV founders were there.  That's another discussion we're having amongst ourselves. Join us. We need you. Linda Curtis Chief Organizer and bottle-washer for LIV PS The filing period to run in the 2026 election cycle for state and federal office opens on November 8 and closes on December 8. We are open to talking with all candidates.

We're not sure Davy actually said this, but it was too good not to use. Summary : What Does This Mean For Aquifer Protection in Bastrop? At this time, no one, including Austin Water, knows whether their bosses on the Austin City Council will give them the green light to engage with a group that does not have the participation of any elected body other than Aqua Water Supply Corporation. Please note that all the politicians in this report are Republicans, so this is not a partisan dispute. It is an intra-party squabble for power with both factions shooting themselves, and the Texas GOP, in the foot on the key issue in much of Texas -- water. House District 17 -- Bastrop, Burleson, Lee, Milam, and Caldwell counties -- currently held by State Rep. Stan Gerdes . This article explains how and why Bastrop County officials caved to dirty tricks and veiled threats by Gerdes and Bastrop City Councilman John Kirkland, leaving Bastrop County aquifers vulnerable. An article in Community Impact News about the decision on Monday by the Bastrop Commissioners Court to opt-out of negotiations with Austin Water about their controversial and widely opposed Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project (ASR). did not give us the real story.   Poly-ticks in Bastrop County's water entered the Bastrop Commissioners Court on Monday, October 27, with some naturally alarmed folks showing up after they received a misleading mass text from Rep. Stan Gerdes . What the hell. It 's primary season, folks. Candidate filings open on November 8 and close on December 8. The text confusingly inferred that the Court was going to support the project. No, the Court was going to discuss what could be done to further protect the aquifers now that Gerdes failed to pass the bill to protect us. Gerdes, to his credit, introduced House Bill 1523 in the last legislative session to stop Austin’s Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) project due to their unwillingness to be transparent. However, Gerdes failed to get the bill passed, though it failed by only two votes. It's clear to us that the bill's near passage forced Austin Water to the table . They did become more publicly engaged with the City of Bastrop, Bastrop County, and other stakeholders to encourage collaborative negotiations and transparency. But Bastropians are still suspicious of Austin -- for good reason -- as they witness Austin running up debt on projects to subsidize hyper-growth development. Austin's ASR project alone could cost well over $1 billion on the heels of a 20% property tax hike on the ballot if it passes on November 4th, and a $5.6 billion convention center demolition and re-do th at petitioners recently filed for a public vote to challenge.   Fast forward to last Friday, when Gerdes pulled a politician’s trick with a last-minute short text (see below) sounding a misleading alarm without links or information. It was a setup for the Bastrop Commissioner's Court that would meet on Monday to discuss entering into a legally binding "Collaboration Agreement" with stakeholders in Bastrop County with Austin Water for aquifer protections, folks!   Gerdes mass text   This text had Bastrop County Commissioners defensively scrambling to answer 100 emails over the weekend, attempting to clear up Stan's dance with the truth. Before you read this, trust us, Item 26 was about entering into negotiations with Austin Water , not expressing approval of the ASR Project. Gerdes TEXT, “The City of Austin wants to store their treated water in Bastrop County’s aquifer, with zero benefit for us and putting our water at risk. Rep. Stan Gerdes has been leading the fight to stop this overreach, and he’s not backing down – but now, it’s our turn to stand with him . On Monday, Bastrop County Commissioners will vote on Austin’s proposed deal – and they need to hear us loud and clear: VOTE NO and protect Bastrop’s water. 📞 Contact your Commissioner TODAY.” (We love how he refers to himself as "he" in the text.) ( The remainder of the text had Commissioner’s contact info, but you can find their info on the County webpage HERE. )   Guess what. Stan was not at the meeting for anyone to stand with! Guess who was. Bastrop City Council Member and Mayor Pro-tem, John Kirkland   Bastrop City Councilman John Kirkland* . spoke to the Court with some 'friendly' advice to refrain from following their own County Attorney's advice, and to follow his -- to opt-out, otherwise it might "look like you're supporting this." It was a thinly veiled political threat. Everyone in Bastrop politics knows the story of Kirkland's ruthless "fake recall" that drove former Mayor Lyle Nelson out of office. LIV has written extensively about it. The threat worked, despite the steady advice of the Bastrop County Attorney, who advised the Commissioners that, with the failure of Gerdes’ bill, entering into negotiations is advised to protect the aquifer. Furthermore, without negotiating a settlement, the County and other affected parties had no legal means to stop it. (We're working on getting you the audio recording.) Four County Commissioners voted no. Commissioner Glass recused himself for a conflict as President of Aqua Water Corporation that had already signed the agreement. In these retooled words of David Crockett (whoever he is) , it's poly-ticks, water suckers all!   Disclosure : LIV’s Linda Curtis ran against Gerdes in 2022 as an independent. She buried the hatchet immediately following the election and refrained from calling him "Rick Perry's Poodle" ever again.   NOTES: We are working to publish the audio so you can listen for yourselves. The County does not make its meeting recordings (audio or video) easily available to the public. The next and bigger ASR threat is coming from the LCRA . Don't expect anything from LCRA. They'll just do it. The Bastrop Commissioner's Court was put on notice about this in this LIV message HERE . *The City of Bastrop has been paying for full-page ads in Community Impact News with self-promotional claims of the City Manager's, Sylvia Carrillo , undying commitment to "Protecting Bastrop's Water." Somehow, Sylvia and her compliant City Council couldn't find a way to provide a public comment to the TCEQ (Texas Commission for Environmental Quality) about the wastewater project threatening water quality at Fisherman's Park in the city's downtown. Then her closest ally, John Kirkland shows up to stop the County from protecting us from Austin's ASR.

The Texas Legislative Council does a good job, with pros and cons We at LIV were going to recommend voting Yes on Prop 4, the water amendment. But we had second thoughts based on a post we saw in the newsletter of Save Our Springs Alliance recommending a No on Prop 4. At the bottom of this post, see what SOS says about it and what the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund says. We respect both of these organizations! Truthfully, we also did not have the bandwidth this year to focus on these 17 statewide amendments to the Texas constitution to do it justice. So, for you policy not politics wonks and LIV members who read LIV News, here's the deep dive on all 17 Amendments from the Texas Legislative Council, with pros and cons, HERE . Tomorrow, Friday, October 31st, is the last day to vote early. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th. Save Our Springs on Prop 4: A Closer Look at Proposition 4: What’s  Really  at Stake for Texas Water  Early voting has begun, and Proposition 4 on the Texas ballot is drawing attention for its promise to deliver a “Texas-sized investment” in our water future. On the surface, the measure looks good. It would dedicate up to  $1 billion a year in existing state sales tax revenue  to the  Texas Water Fund  for the next 20 years. The money would flow through the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to finance local and regional water, wastewater, and flood infrastructure projects. No new taxes, steady funding... What’s not to like?  It’s complicated. Texas absolutely needs more investment in water infrastructure. The  2022 State Water Plan projects that by 2070, the state’s population will grow by more than 70%, while existing water supplies decline by 18% and demand increases by 17% and this doesn't factor in the  thirsty data centers Texas is currently courting . Add in aging systems, climate change, drought, and workforce shortages which all make funding essential.  But Proposition 4 leaves big questions unanswered. Prop 4 has a broad scope of eligible projects, not all good.  The legislation allows use of funds for a wide variety of projects including:  New supply development and purchasing out-of-state water, which could fuel growth where it is naturally limited by water  Desalination which is an expensive, energy intensive process with a lot of waste for treating salt or brackish water into drinking water  Produced water— the wastewater leftover from fracking—is full of toxic chemicals, costly and inefficient to treat, and supports a dangerous practice that harms our climate.   These projects are expensive, energy-intensive, and harmful to our environment which begs the question:  Is Prop 4 enabling large growth- and development-driven water schemes at any cost? Conservation and efficiency don’t get the same focus.  While new supply and infrastructure are essential, the  state’s own data suggests  that about 30 % of future supply needs will come from conservation, reuse, and efficiency. Yet the language of Proposition 4 puts heavier emphasis on “creating new supply” and infrastructure expansion rather than ensuring robust funding for demand-side measures.  Will the funding from Prop. 4 actually come back into our communities to fund conservation and smart water practices? We solved water, moving on.  There’s a risk that this kind of sweeping funding could give Texans a false sense of security, suggesting the state’s water problems are solved when, in fact, real resiliency will come from protecting and conserving local water sources, not just building and buying new ones. Furthermore, Prop. 4 begins to lay the groundwork for a statewide water grid that creates similar opportunities for abuse and mismanagement like our statewide electrical grid.  Is it wise to encourage further privatization of resources in Texas? Proposition 4 is not the comprehensive solution Texas needs.  SOS urges lawmakers to prioritize water funding that protects our existing resources rather than leaning heavily on risky and energy draining methods. This means dedicating a larger share of funds to conservation, efficiency, and responsible reuse, while protecting small and rural water systems. We call for greater transparency and accountability in how funds are allocated and measured, and a long-term strategy that treats water as a finite, shared resource, not just a conduit for unchecked growth. Texans deserve a water future that is safe, reliable, equitable, and sustainable.  Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund on Prop 4: Proposition 4 on November ballot – dedicated funding for Texas Water  (Prop 4): “The constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas Water Fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.”  SAWDF supported this constitutional amendment during the 89th Texas Legislature. It will dedicate up to $1 billion a year to the Texas Water Fund for the next 20 years. The funds will come from state sales and use tax that exceed the first $46.5 billion collected. The money will be distributed by the Texas Water Development Board [TWDB].  The legislation that implements this amendment, SB 7, includes a provision that prohibits the use of these funds for pipelines that will carry fresh groundwater from rural areas to urban centers, i.e. no money for projects like Vista Ridge! Both Chairman Perry in the Senate and Chairman Harris in the House insisted on this provision. They both recognize that groundwater resources are finite, and mining of our state’s aquifers has diminishing returns because it causes unreasonable harm to rural economies and the domestic & livestock wells upon which we all depend.  Follow this link for a comprehensive overview of Proposition 4 by the TWDB.

On Tuesday, October 21, the Bastrop City Council voted to issue $15,000,000* in certificates of obligation (CO) bonds that include a golf course. A complaint filed on the bonds with the Texas AG is awaiting review, filed by The League of Independent Voters of Texas (LIV) on Monday, October 27. (See complaint link below). Linda Curtis , a co-founder of LIV, Advisor, and chief organizer, said today, "We are challenging the City's bond issuance in a complaint filed with the Attorney General. We believe the city played hide and seek with its public notice, the effect of which denies the right of citizens to petition for a public vote on the bonds. We also believe that using certificates of obligation bonds -- new debt -- on a golf course is not only taxpayer abuse, under the circumstances laid out in our complaint, it is not legally permissible." City resident Cecilia Serna , retired from the largest non-profit national hospital system after 32 years.  She worked from ancillary to supervisory roles. She is a well-known (and a very nice) stickler for detail and open government. In copious detail, Serna laid out in public comment on October 21st, how the public notice was improper. She ended with this request, after which the Council -- as advised by their bond counsel -- unanimously passed the ordinance to issue the bonds: Cecilia Serna "Since the notice was not published in the city’s official newspaper, I’m asking you, my city council, to re-issue the 45-day notice in the city’s official newspaper, the Elgin Courier per Texas local government code 52.004." The Complaint is HERE The Updated Public Comment is HERE LIV expects a quick turnaround from the AG. Fingers crossed. COs in Texas are sometimes abused because they don't require voter approval. That is, unless citizens use the 45-day window to petition between the notice and the issuance of the bonds. The petition hurdle is 5% of registered voters. Though petitions are doable in small cities, in large cities where bonds can involve hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, the 5% hurdle is too high to overcome in 45 days. One Texas city used COs for a water park. LIV's Linda Curtis was a leader in the petition effort in Austin in 1995 that effectively stopped the City Council's plan to issue $20,000,000 in COs. Currently, the City of Austin plans to issue COs for the controversial teardown and redo of the Austin Convention Center. (See LIV article " Uprising Against Taxpayer Abuse ".) Special thanks to Michele Gangnes , an original founding member of LIV, and a retired public finance attorney. Michele has done over 30 years of pro-bono work to protect Lee and Bastrop counties' groundwater. For more information, call Linda Curtis at 512.657.2089. ________________________ NOTE: There's more information about COs at the Texas Comptroller's Office HERE . *Community Impact News misreported the City of Bastrop's bond issuance as $20,000,000.

Update: October 24, 2025 : We are updating this original LIV article posted in February 2023. LIV is not opposed to all ASR projects, such as San Antonio's ASR. However, Austin's ASR poses particular threats to our aquifers. We rely on our water policy leaders for guidance on the complex science of groundwater, especially the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District (LPGCD) that represents Lee and Bastrop counties, and two nonprofit organizations: the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF), and Environmental Stewardship. A bill to stop the Austin ASR project, filed by Rep. Stan Gerdes ( HB 1523 ). lost by two votes in the 2025 legislative session. Since then, we believe partisan politics -- especially with candidates filing their notices to run in 2026 starting in a few weeks -- is muddying the water. Why? Because, with HB 1523’s failure, there is nothing that can be done to stop Austin’s ASR other than through negotiation to stop damage to the aquifers. This is not the time to run away with our tails tucked between our legs. The good news is that Austin has been forced to the negotiating table, likely by the near passage of the bill and continued community opposition. Stakeholders have been meeting for months to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU included, for example, Austin's promise not to use eminent domain. However, the stakeholder group requested a legally binding process . The document called a "Collaboration Agreement," was reviewed/approved by legal staff at Austin Water, Bastrop County, City of Bastrop, Aqua Water Supply Corporation, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, and the City of Smithville. Stakeholders' jobs will be to hold Austin to conducting the science. This is a very expensive process -- $300+ million -- that could benefit water policy and could also help halt the project. We hope Austin water watchdogs also figure out if what we at LIV suspect is true. Austin’s ASR could be a big waste of money for Austin. If so, we hope the project is halted by Austinites and Bastropians. We’ll see. Stakeholders listed are as follows. The ones we bolded have signed on to participate so far: City of Austin /Austin Water, Aqua Water Supply Corporation , City of Bastrop, Bastrop County, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District  (LPGCD), City of Smithville, Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF) , Bastrop County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) #2   IMPORTANT WARNING on ASR! The biggest and most imminent ASR threat is coming from LCRA, the Lower Colorado River Authority . When LCRA comes knocking with eminent domain, they will just do it and take no prisoners. Get ready for this fight by signing up to receive our news alerts, folks! Here is the proposed (aka Collaboration Agreement .) We hope Bastrop County participates. They will vote on it this coming Monday, October 27. Details below: The Austin Aquifer Storage Agreement is Item 26 on the Bastrop Commissioners Court meeting agenda this coming Monday, October 27, starting at 9 am. Agenda HERE . The original article posted in February 2023, is below the divider line. We hope you find it informative. LIV-Indy News Exclusive: The City of Austin Could Use Eminent Domain to Force Risky Aquifer Storage in Bastrop and Lee counties "The Power" by SNAP In this article: Summary Background Risks to Aquifers No Local Control, Eminent Domain Abuse Austin’s Costs Who's Got the Power? Who's Got the REAL Power? Summary : The City of Austin is scoping out the viability of a plan to inject captured excess surface water allocated to the City into aquifers underlying Bastrop, Lee, and Travis counties. It’s called Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR). There is no apparent benefit to the people who live in Bastrop and Lee counties, nor to our local governments and businesses. In fact, there are real risks of aquifer contamination. To boot, the City can use its power to convert private property to public use (the power of eminent domain) through the process of condemnation, if necessary, even outside their jurisdiction . ( Local Govt. Code Chapter 251 .) Background : Project engineers from Austin Water, the City’s water utility, spoke to the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District last Wednesday night. Their talk came after three community forums held previously in Lee and Bastrop counties. The City’s plan for ASR is in its infancy, but already the “natives are restless.” Several citizens spoke about the risks to the aquifers, the potential use of eminent domain to seize hundreds, if not thousands of acres of private land, and potential contamination. The sole authority to permit ASR projects, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has been accused of non-enforcement of federal clean water and air law. See LIVTX.org news published on February 10 . “Now they [Austin Water] claim that they’ll never take out more water than they put in it. Sounds good. But the city of Austin has a long history of doing everything it can to bring more people. More people, more water use. Now the standard prediction with climate change is we’re going to get drier...The question is what’s in this for us, and what guarantees do we have that our needs will come first?” Hugh Brown , Lee County well owner, in public comments to Lost Pines Board, 2/15/23 The Risks to Aquifers Aquifer Storage and Recovery – ASR – projects are already established in San Antonio, El Paso, and Kerrville . ASR projects are being touted in California and Arizona as a saving grace for intransigent drought and vast over-pumping of groundwater that hits the news almost daily. According to a scientific paper, “ The Fragile Future of ASR ,” one-fourth of the projects fail because they’re risky. They’re risky because: ASR projects have challenges related to both the type and quality of injected water and the geology of the aquifer itself, including the potential introduction of pathogens (harmful bacteria and viruses) into the aquifer; development of disinfectant byproducts that may contaminate the aquifer; and release of undesirable elements like arsenic into the groundwater; and clogging of wells from chemical reactions, all of which risk permanent damage to the aquifer. See, for example, this EPA publication . Also, injected water has sometimes migrated out of the confined area of the aquifer due to unknown subterranean fractures and faults, causing loss of injected water into adjacent aquifer formations and into local drinking water supplies. No Local Control, Eminent Domain Abuse Texas county governments have no power to regulate ASR projects under current law, and groundwater conservation districts have very limited regulatory authority over ASR projects. Austin’s ASR project reportedly would require City control of hundreds of acres of rural property, in addition to a pipeline route to deliver and recover injected water, all of which, if necessary, could be acquired by eminent domain, in accordance with Chapter 251 of the Texas Local Government Code; The proposed ASR project is believed by many citizens of Bastrop and Lee counties to entail significant potential harm to essential groundwater resources and private property rights without any apparent compensatory benefit to them. Austin’s Costs The cost estimated for this project shared in an email from Austin Water is as follows: The ASR costs for Austin Water were originally developed as part of the 2018 Water Forward Plan , Austin’s integrated water resource plan. The cost for ASR as estimated in the 2018 plan was approximately $367M . However, we will be developing updated cost estimates for ASR as we continue the location evaluation process, and expect the cost estimate to increase significantly due to inflation since the original 2018 numbers were developed and a better understanding of the project needs. Who's Got the Power? TCEQ has sole power and discretion to issue a permit for the project, including through the issuance of a letter of authorization (“authorization by rule”) for ASR projects without notifying anyone except our groundwater district and without allowing public comment. It’s hard to believe, but under Texas law, any individual or entity can apply for a TCEQ letter of authorization for an ASR project. And there is no limit to the size of their projects! Here’s the clincher . Government entities with eminent domain power may condemn property for these projects even outside their jurisdiction. So far, the City has merely acknowledged this power without saying whether the City is willing to resort to condemnation. Though the project must abide by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, it is not unreasonable to ask if anyone is listening who really “counts” in today’s political quagmire. Just ask yourself what has the TCEQ or Railroad Commission done to protect our drinking water in light of the 100,000 uncapped oil and gas wells that pose a clear and present danger to contamination of groundwater, the main source of our drinking water. Check out the results of this very recently released survey by Texas Water Trade, the CEO of which is a trusted water protection ally, Sharlene Leurig, carried in the Texas Tribune here . Who's got the REAL power? "The truth is our Texas Legislators, the City of Austin, and, therefore, YOU have the real power. Will our officials use their power for the good of Texas? Not if you don’t. ” LIV Board member, Austin resident, and longtime tenant rights advocate David Jones. Your Texas legislators have the power to enact laws that govern the TCEQ and the Railroad Commission. In fact, the TCEQ is under Sunset Review ( see the Sunset Report to the 88th Legislature here ). ASR is not mentioned in the report. So far, we see no legislation introduced in this current legislative session about ASR. The most powerful people in the equation are these officials – call 'em! State Senator Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown) represents Bastrop County and chairs the Sunset Commission. Call 512.463.0105. State Senator Lois Kolkhorst represents Lee County. Call 512.463.0118 State Representative Stan Gerdes represents Lee and Bastrop counties. Call 512.463.0682 Austin Mayor Kirk Watson , formerly Bastrop’s State Senator. Call 512.978.2100 Find All Your Legislators here . Texas Water Day Click on the picture for details. Call LIV for more as well at 512.213.4511 (no texts) or email us at contact@livtx.org Share your local water concerns with us at LIV. Then, please join us at Texas Water Day next Monday, February 27, from 3-5 in the extension auditorium and 5-7 in the Legislative Conference Center. Click on the logo above for more details and contact us at LIV. PS : We all could have much more power if we get serious about organizing the 5 million independent Texans. Please become a dues-paying member of the all-volunteer LIV or donate some of your hard-earned dough here . LIV meets weekly. You're invited! Let's grab some power, y'all.

Michele Gangnes is a retired public finance attorney and longtime pro-bono water defender for Lee and Bastrop counties. Howdy, you lovely people reading this post! If you like it and are on Facebook, please share and comment HERE . This letter , written for LIV by a founding member, Michele Gangnes, was delivered on October 21st to members of the Bastrop City Council to urge a delay in the issuance of $15,000,000 in public debt known as certificates of obligation*. It was met with a unanimous vote to issue the bonds. LIV believes the City engaged in an effort to hide the public notice of the bonds. Gangnes made the case that the City should have published notice of their intent to issue the certificates the way they officially ordered themselves to do, instead of reverting to a method they said just nine months earlier they would not use anymore. Why would they do that? We can only say that the result denied citizens fair notice of their right to petition for a public vote on the bonds. In addition to state law that gives us the right, there's this lil' ol' thing called the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds the " right to petition for redress of grievances " as sacrosanct. But for now, this has escaped the Bastrop City Council. Secondarily, Michele lays out the legal arguments as to why she thinks golf courses are not eligible to be financed with certificates of obligation unless they are explicitly included as part of a  "public works" project. The City Council approved financing a “golf course and golf facilities” anyway, without making that connection. Moreover, our opposition to using any public money to add a golf course is due to the city's refusal to even conduct a community-wide survey for what the community actually requested in 2023 surveys and community engagement sessions --- a recreation center for their kids and families! Instead, City Hall activists assembled a mere twenty people to come to City Hall to support the golf course, and voila! It was a done deal. Read letter from Gangnes posted here. Thank you so much, Michele! How do you feel about all of this? You can comment below or send an email directly to us at contact@livtx.org . _________________________ * This short video about certificates of obligation explains how many cities are abusing COs to fund unnecessary projects. The city of Bastrop's plan to use public debt via COs to fund a golf course caught our eye on NextDoor. Thanks to everyone for keeping an eye out for our water and our wallets, especially Cecilia Serna and Herb Goldsmith . Michele Gangnes is also a founder and Board Member of the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF), a 501c3 organization. SAWDF provides important guidance and leadership to protect the aquifers underlying Bastrop and Lee counties. You can view Cecilia Serna and LIV's Linda Curtis comments and the bond counsel's response on this YouTube post of the City Council meeting, starting at 1:13:17 HERE . Resolution 2024-37 was passed by the Bastrop City Council on October 22, 2024, designating the Elgin Courier as the "Official Newspaper for Required Newspaper Publications...etc. etc."

Austin homeboy, world traveler, local commercial real estate investor, and activist extraordinaire for planet earth and all its critters,  Brian Rodgers , recently hit a home run in the  Boston Globe . The article gives a nice boost to his campaign against Charmin toilet paper for using wood pulp from one of the two most important forests on earth -- the boreal forest in Canada. The boreal is the breeding ground for the 3 to 5 billion birds that migrate down into the U.S. every year. Rodgers hit the road in March with his digital movie sign truck, just after the opening of his and Steve Mims ' mini-documentary " Charmin Wipes Out a Forest ”.   Since then, it's been seen by over 1.5 million people. Charmin is one of the leading products of the giant Fortune 500 company, Procter & Gamble. Nearly 100 Procter & Gamble heirs have tried to get the company to get out of the boreal. A class action suit was also recently filed to represent the affected parties. The millions of people across Canada, the U.S., and the world who give a crap about wildlife are also fighting this and praying for common sense. We wish those working on this the best to protect one of the boreal forests.  Oh, and don't forget to stop using the boreal to wipe your butt.  See more at  CharminKillsForests.org and share this post -- including the pictures below courtesy of Brian Rodgers -- and support LIV.

Nathan McGuire of Austin, Texas So this techie guy in Austin by the name of Nate McGuire , puts up this website, at the unceremonious URL, austintaxrateelection.com . The site explains in common and nonpartisan language the Prop Q Austin tax rate hike of 20%, and how it flies in the face of the the proponents that they "love Austin." Check out this mailer that's been hitting Austin households from the Travis County Democratic Party. All 11 members of the Austin City Council are Democrats. All but one are pushing Prop Q. The mailer claims the reason Austin needs to do this is due to federal cutbacks by Trump and Abbott's actions. This Vote Yes flier even uses the wrong color -- red -- that's a Vote No. How much did they pay for this? Hopefully not as much as the $1M+ logo fiasco! We love how former City Councilman and longtime journalist, Daryl Slusher , gets after the Trump and Abbott claims in his online Austin Independen t article, " Silence of the Shams ." Prop Q is so bad, even the proverbial hogs at the Austin city trough in the Austin Chamber of Commerce and Real Estate Council are coming out against Prop Q! See HERE . Then, be sure to read this page with the statement to vote No on Prop Q by the Austin Neighborhoods Council parked on Nathan's site. We took special note of this paragraph from ANC: "The ANC Executive Committee fully supports public spending that directly serves citizens' vital interests—responsible governance demands no less. However, City Hall must own up to its choices on other massive expenditures entirely left out of this proposition. Why is the city pouring $1.6 billion* into a vastly expanded convention center? Why has it committed $104 million to the I-35 Cap and Stitch project this year? City leaders are also pushing other nonessential projects ahead while they leave essential needs underfunded." *LIV Note : The $1.6B in ANC's statement for the convention center does not include the 30 years of debt service and more that bring the costs up to a whopping $5.6B. See this release issued by Austin United PAC last week when they filed 25,000 signatures for a public vote on a convention center counter-proposal in May. See release HERE . Thanks to McGuire for doing our homework. Use it or lose it, Austin! Please become a dues-paying member of the LIV, the only voter association for independent and non-aligned voters in Texas. _____________ Note! Now the business lobby comes out to question Prop Q. See this Austin Business Journal article HERE .

KVUE-TV on Austin United PAC files petition for public vote on $5.6B convention center fiasco. Are local cross-partisan uprisings against taxpayer abuse going on in Texas? You know something's up when progressives and conservatives are using the same words, "Live within our means." In Austin, voters are being asked to approve a 20% tax hike ( Prop Q ) just as Austin citizens filed 25,000 signatures calling for a public vote to put the Austin Convention Center $5.6 billion re-do fiasco before the voters in May. (Thanks to KVUE and the Austin Free Press coverage HERE .) On Thursday, October 21, the imperious Austin City Council (minus the super-smart, humble and transparent Councilman Marc Duchen ) decided to steamroll ahead with an initial $650,000 in tax revenue bonds for the convention center. They couldn't bring themselves to slow down even just a tad to see if the petition would be certified by the city clerk in another few weeks, much less the May vote. (See today's KVUE's coverage HERE .) Click on the sign to be taken to McGuire's site We are also hearing lots of chatter that Prop Q, Austin's big tax rate hike election, could be in trouble. CBS reported this on day one of early voting HERE . Also, see our article, " Christmas Came Early thanks to a guy named Nathan ," about a techie guy -- Nathan McGuire -- who decided to take action on his own and did so, brilliantly and independently, including this clever sign for free digital use. San Antonio's Project Marvel -- Props A & B See MySA's article comparing the Austin & San Antonio Convention Center Battles. Which downtown lobby -- San Antonio's or Austin/s -- is more clueless about the economic times? Hard to say. As for San Antonio, the good news is its new Mayor, Gina Ortiz Jones , is leading a cross-partisan uprising against taxpayer abuse -- right now at the polls. Voters get to vote on the mega-project on the public purse -- Project Marvel. According to MySA : "it includes a new Spurs arena, an expansion of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, a new convention center hotel. and more downtown-area improvements. Although an exact price for each construction plan hasn't been set, city officials estimate it could cost up to $3.5 billion." San Antonio is a city where 17% of its citizens live below the poverty line. If you believe our economy is in good shape for non-essential spending, we have a bridge to sell you. Bastrop Taxpayer Abuse Bastrop is in the minor leagues for clueless city spending, but for its size of just 12,000 people, its City Manager ( Sylvia Carrillo ) is in the running for the worst city manager seen near a city budget. Don't miss this LIV article about the city of Bastrop's issuance of $15 million of debt (viz certificates of obligation) that includes a golf course! Did the city of Bastrop purposely botch the public notice to deny citizens the right to petition for a public vote? We're on a mission to find out. Join us in creating your own local cross-partisan uprising against taxpayer abuse. Please comment and share this article. Oh, and please become a dues-paying member of LIV to support our efforts and to declare your independence!