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A study by respected hydrologist George Rice was released a few hours ago. Rice George Rice, respected hydrologist, former Edwards Aquifer Authority Board Member explains just how dangerous Vista Ridge pumping will be to the aquifer in the Post Oak and Lost Pines districts — affecting hundreds of thousands who rely on the aquifer. We will be leaving at least 200-450 foot drawdowns the next generation. The study was sponsored by a host of organizations on the front lines of the central Texas water wars from across the Vista Ridge pipeline. It’s that rural -urban alliance at it again! Click here for the press release. Click here for Rice’s study. We just held excellent events in Lee and Guadalupe counties — lots of people are picking up on our petition drive. We’re now receiving thousands of petition letters to Governor Greg Abbott. Burleson County is leading on petitions , so get with it y’all. Petition page here. Join us in Dime Box at the Blackridge Festival this Saturday? Volunteers needed. Pick up a 4 x 4 sign too! Call 512-213-4511. Very Important Dates…San Antonio…Smithville This Saturday, San Antonio , 2:30, Brookhollow Library. Details here . Tuesday, October 6, Smithville , First National Bank at 6:30 pm. Details here . Wednesday, October 7, sometime during the day, Judge Carson Campbell will hear arguments on a motion to stop the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District from issuing a permit to End Op LP. That night at 7 pm at Bastrop City Hall, Lost Pines will revisit the permit. If Vista Ridge collapses, just remember there are other mega-water permits on the way. Stay ready for action and keep those petitions going! This is an amazing effort. Share this message using the share buttons on this page. Thank y’all!

This post is an update on September 26, from the post at the bottom of this page:  Brian Chassnoff, at the San Antonio Express-News, is a good bloodhound. Chasnoff reported on the supression of the damning report from Texas A&M’s Institute of Renewable Natural Resources called the “preeminent water policy organization in the State of Texas” by San Antonio. Now there appears to be an effort by San Antonio to change the report’s findings on Vista Ridge —- to correct “inaccurate statements and omitted facts”. Read Chassnoff’s update here ! Join us at these events and keep those petitions coming! Tomorrow , Sunday, Sept. 27, at 6 pm for our next statewide conference call. Reply for details. This Monday , Sept. 28, 6 pm, Senior Citizens Center, Third & Main, city of Lexington: details here This Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6:30 pm, Frieden’s Church, 2555 Frieden’s Church Road, city of Geronimo: details here This coming Saturday , Oct. 3, 2:30 pm, Brookhollow Library, 530 Heimer, city of San Antonio: details here Keep getting those petitions signed urging the Governor, other state officials and SA Mayor Ivy Taylor to stop Vista Ridge and to stop subsidizing growth with our water and our wallets. Want to help us set up an event in your community? Be on tomorrow’s call or reply. The bulldog’s got a tiger by the tail and it’s not letting go! Neither should we. The following was posted to this page on September 22: This morning, after a big hit in College Station last night, we got big news on continued blood in the water on Vista Ridge — the massive San Antonio water grab. San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor hid the A&M draft report that bashed Vista Ridge. Read this HUGE NEWS! Correction : Tonight’s San Marcos meeting address was wrong for the San Marcos library. It is at 625 E. Hopkins and corrected here on our events page . (We start at 6 pm!) Time to get more folks to sign the petition to Gov. Greg Abbott, right? Do it now please — click here , or just forward this message. You can also print the petition out from here and take it around with you like the Burleson County folks are on fire with! Our first big turn in is on October 1st. Don’t you let them tell you a bad deal is a done deal — ever again. Hang tight, Texans and get active. PS We also highly recommend that, no matter where you are in Texas, that you hop on our Sunday 6 pm conference call. Reply for details. #SanAntonioWaterGrab #VistaRidge

Next stops on the “Stop Vista Ridge” tour: ► THIS coming Monday, 6:30 pm, College Station, Wellborn Community Center, 4119 Greens Prairie Rd ( more here ) ► THIS coming Tuesday, San Marcos Library, 2 Civic Center Drive ( more here ) <=====  Don’t forget FARFA! ( more here ) Report on Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District meeting last Wednesday We waited to send this report in effort to deescalate the frustrations on all sides. Lost Pines GCD President, Mike Talbot — who we know is a good man — seemed heavy handed at the top of this meeting. Looking back — and we’re just guessing here — perhaps Talbot’s posture was in response to a word we used (“sellout”) in our last email alert. What’s more — and this is another guess — the landowners who have been trying to get a seat at the table on the End Op permit, have so far been denied their rights. On Wednesday morning these landowners filed a motion to stop Lost Pines from proceeding with the End Op permit negotiations until the court rules. Though this was a perfectly reasonable move by the landowners that we support, we see how this could have led to mistrust. ( Here’s that last email with more details.) We have also heard things of a slightly more verbally hostile nature. We in no way nor in any fashion endorse calling out or pressuring the Lost Pines Board. We may disagree with some things, but we still believe in this board. We also know that they are without some of the tools they need to defend the aquifers from depletion. That is the legislatures’ job and our job is to make sure they know that’s their job. The court will soon rule on landowners’ request for party status. We will let you know when and where a hearing is held and if you can attend. All sides, including the water marketers, must live with that decision. We urge all sides to keep cool heads and we promise to do our part. Invoking Davy Crockett  Historians have argued that the Alamo was remembered because of the bravery of the vastly outnumbered Texians who died there. While that is certainly true, others have also said we remember the Alamo because Davie Crockett, who was a “rock star” of his time, died there. We invoke Davy Crockett with our own historical interpretation that he was a hero, most of all, because he was a small “i” independent who died with his independent boots on. Though we have no intention of losing the water wars, nor the war to clean up and open up Texas politics, we also know the odds just as Crockett knew them. Those who died at the Alamo were also praying for troops to arrive. We too await the troops. That would be you and thousands of other Texans who are beginning to step up. You inspire us. Many of you have started circulating our petition to Governor Abbott right here . Keep it up! Hang tough Texans, be nice and keep your independent boots on for the road ahead. PS Large signs will be available meetings next week or just give us a call. PSS A special thanks to the folks from Burleson County who came to the Lost Pines meeting. #LostPinesGroundwaterConservationDistrict

Before Lost Pines sells out, you need to come to Bastrop City Hall on Wednesday night at 7 pm (1311 Chestnut). A deal is in process that will affect ALL of central Texas (from Austin to Bryan-College Station to San Antonio) and the future water supply of Bastrop, Lee, Milam and Burleson counties. The growth-at-all-costs real estate lobby might be drunk with power. They’re not drunk on our groundwater…yet. Background :  Last Wednesday night after years of standing tall, the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Board ( except for Keith Hansberger, the only original board member left ) buckled. Ironically, while we were in Burleson County meeting with landowners who are putting the heat under the Post Oak Savannah GCD — for selling them and their water out — Lost Pines began (the deal isn’t inked yet) a path to endorse a very similar strategy by End Op LP to deplete our groundwater. Folks, Bastrop and Lee County landowners are still in court trying to get a seat at the table on this permit. Lost Pines should have waited, but chose not to. (Read the details of the “deal” here from Environmental Stewardship.) This deal will be voted on at a future meeting yet to be announced — and could be done last minute just like the meeting Lost Pines called last week. Therefore, this Wednesday could be the only time you have to talk to the Board before they vote. (Be on time for public comment.) Bring your family, your neighbors and anyone else who cares about their land, their water and their affordability (urban and rural Texans)… This could be the most important meeting we’ve ever asked you to attend. We will be in College Station (Sept. 21), San Marcos (Sept. 22), Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance conference in Bryan (Sept. 25-26), Lexington (Sept. 28), San Antonio (Oct. 3). More planned every day — including Austin and San Antonio. Watch our events page here . We also need funds . If you haven’t recently joined to the all-volunteer League or contributed to us, please do! Funds are needed for automated calls, meeting rooms, fliers, signs…Give online on our website or send us a check — details here . (If you have recently, we thank you!) We have only just begun to fight — John Paul Jones. PS Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance needs volunteers in Bryan for their annual conference, Sept. 25-26 – get a greatly reduced rate! Reply for details.. PSS We will have 4 x 4 signs on Monday. Contact us if you’re due one. #EndOp

Sometimes it’s easy to know who your best friends are. One of them stood up last night at a specially called meeting of the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District – Keith Hansberger. (Sorry for this lousy picture of a man we respect). Keith, a retired airline pilot who has represented Lee County on the Lost Pines board since day one, voted no to the current plan for a negotiated settlement with End Op LP. This plan may or may not be acceptable to Lee and Bastrop county citizens — they haven’t been asked about it. Keith simply said it needs to go slow. You can read this Statesman article , though we take no responsibility for its accuracy. Bastrop and Lee County resident s:  We suggest that you show up at the next regualr Lost Pines GCD meeting on September 16 to ask some questions. We will be following up with more details, as we get them, so keep an eye out and pencil in this important — VERY! — meeting. I attended the “Growth Summit” held in San Marcos a week ago. Keynote speakers were Austin Mayor Steve Adler and San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor. Both acknowledged that they have been meeting every 8 weeks to discuss how to connect Austin and San Antonio into “one continuous metropolitan region”. Adler was silent on Austin’s affordability crisis and its cause – the unbridled growth he boasted about. Taylor bragged about San Antonio’s water conservation while never mentioning its Vista Ridge massive water grab. Taylor never peeped a word about the 16-20% rate hikes San Antonio ratepayers can expect for Vista Ridge water that is clearlly intended for use to build out over its own Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, likely in the Hill Country. Yes, this is madness. Folks, the simple fact is that – unlike Mr. Hansberger – as ordinary citizens we don’t yet understand the value of water in Texas . Moreover, we don’t yet understand that the buck (or bucket) stops with us. But many are getting a clue! Hundreds of people have begun carrying these petitions or sending folks to our website to sign it. Keep kicking your heels up, Texas — and get to one of our upcoming events and bring a neighbor:  College Station, Sept. 21, San Marcos, Sept. 22, Geronimo (Guadalupe County), Sept.  30, Bexar County, Oct. 3, or invite us to your city or town. We’ll also be at Liberty Fest this coming Saturday in Houston and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance Annual Conference in Bryan the following Friday and Saturday. All the details are here in our Events section . I personally have no plans to becoming a sheeple. I suspect neither do any of you. #KeithHansberger

Thank you, Lockhart. Next stop Milam County! Thanks also to the Lockhart Post-Register newspaper too!:  Pipeline project raises water fears Caldwell County meeting at the beautiful historic Clark Library in Lockhart. Next Tuesday, Sept. 8, we’ll be in in Milano (Milam County) 6:30 pm, at the Milano Civic Center, 120 West Avenue E., Milano, TX. Details here . Remember, Milam is at ground zero, along with Burleson County, for the Vista Ridge/San Antone Hose. Note: A Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District meeting is the same night, starting at 5:30, so we encourage you to come early to their meeting at 310 East Avenue C in Milano, then mosey on over to our meeting at 6:30 pm. More upcoming events — share using the share buttons on the pages linked. Are you a libertarian? On Saturday, Sept. 12, we’re speaking at Liberty Fest in Houston . Details here . The Stop Vista Ridge wagon train is now scheduled for College Station on Monday, September 21st. Details here. The next night, September 22, the Stop Vista Ridge train stops in San Marcos. Details here . Are you coming to the 9th annual conference of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance? It’s September 25-26, in Bryan and we’ll be there too! League Board member, Michele Gangnes, is on the ever-important water panel on Friday, Sept. 25, at 1:30 pm. Get all the FARFA dish right here . The water marketers are paying close attention to us and even attending our meetings. Maybe we should ask to attend theirs, eh? Happy Labor Day, y’all! #Lockhart #MilamCounty #Texas

Stop Vista Ridge meeting, Elgin, Texas We had another packed house, this time in Elgin on Wednesday night. We had more great feedback on our revealing “Stop Vista Ridge” video. This coming Tuesday’s meeting (Sept. 1) in Lockhart has been moved to a larger venue — the Clark Building in downtown Lockhart (217 S. Main) from 6 to 8 pm. Details here . The video shown at these events is coming soon to you on YouTube. When you get it, we need your help to share it with others to beef up our petition drive. Have you signed and shared the petition to Gov. Abbott yet? Go here . Please note that if you live in Hays or Travis counties , what Vista Ridge means to you could well be faster growth due to increased water supply. We hope you’re already connecting the dots to unaffordability. It is the current residents who are picking up most all the tab for new roads, new water lines, new schools and public safety for the newcomers. Growth should pay for itself, but it really can’t due to Texas laws. Moreover, unbridled population growth and environmental damage are just two of the economic, social and political choices for which Mother Nature will exact her price from future generations. The last thing central Texans need is hyper-growth over the fast-recharging Edwards aquifer and its sensitive recharge zone, fueled with water permanently removed from the very slow recharging Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer and its Simsboro formation under nearby rural counties. Watch for more on these points in the video. Please share this message and feel free to leave a comment at the end of the page. PS We are also in process of setting up meetings in Brazos County (Bryan-College Station) all the way to San Antonio. If you want a meeting in your area, let us know asap! Keep an eye on our Events page.

► Congrats Burleson County o n a GREAT first Stop Vista Ridge meeting — in the city of Caldwell on Tuesday night. ► Next…Elgin…next Wednesday night… details here . A highlight of Burleson’s meeting was when Nathan Ausley, President of the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District, admitted that he had leased his water to Metropolitan Water, Scott Carlson’s company. This was not new information. What was new was Ausley’s audacity in front of hundreds of landowners he supposedly represents to suggest that they could “check the map” to see if his lease was being used for Vista Ridge. (Watch the short video clip of the interchange.) A follow up meeting is in the works as Burleson countians are on their way to organizing a local League of Independent Voters. How ’bout you? ► If you like the idea of draining aquifers, flooding farm and ranch land for wasteful and destructve reservoirs, or the continued government policies (at all levels) of driving affordability in our urban centers off a cliff as they wave the world to move to Texas, ignore us. If you think it’s time for voters to unite across the partisan divide, then… Sign and share our petition to the Governor , order signs & join the League . …and invite us to come to your community, especially if you can’t make it to an event already scheduled. Keep checking in on our events section as meetings continue to be scheduled. Is it not time to tell those drunk with power to get on out of town on the horse they rode in on? Ordinary Texans are the only ones with the power to make that happen — but you’ve got get on your high horse. #NathanAusley #PostOakSavannahGroundwaterConservationDistrict

We start our Stop Vista Ridge tour tomorrow in the city of Caldwell, Burleson County, “ground zero” for the game changer in aquifer depletion in Texas. No, we’re not going to let that happen, are we Texas? If you can get to the Caldwell Civic Center, 103 State Hwy. 21, tomorrow (Tues, Aug. 18) at 6 pm, you’ll get a sneak preview of the new rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”. This Thursday, the Independent Ponies are gonna start walking all over Vista Ridge. Watch out! The next email will explain. #independentponies

We recommend that you attend this meeting tomorrow night and ask Senator Campbell about Vista Ridge. Though this meeting is focused on issues related to the Trinity Aquifer, Senator Campbell needs to hear from her constituents on the Vista Ridge water grab. Details:  Monday, August 17, 6 to 8 pm @ Wimberley Community Center, 14208 Ranch Road 12. Details here. Vista Ridge, the $3.4 billion game-changer in movement of groundwater, is still in play . Easements are being sought for the 142 mile pipeline from Burleson to Bexar counties. On the night before the end of the session, Senator Campbell was pushing hard for a bill amendment to enhance financing opportunities for Vista Ridge AND over-turning the rights of county judges in the 7 counties traversed by Vista Ridge, to a say in the matter. The attached video of the floor fight is a must-see. Senator Campbell, in the face of clear and outspoken opposition from mostly Republican colleagues, coudn’t let it go . Please note that the League of Independent Voters is holding our own meeting on Vista Ridge on September 22. Details here. Hoping to hear from you after tomorrow night and to see you on September 22! #SenatorDonnaCampbell #VistaRidge

►Hundreds are signing this petition to Governor Abbott to stop Vista Ridge. And you? We need thousands. You can even print it out here . ►This Sunday at 6 pm, join our conference call. Reply for details. Remember this Time Magazine piece from 2004 about the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC)? Three years later the TTC was dead. Ten years later, we are faced with the Trans-Texas Water Highway. It’s called Vista Ridge. These guys still haven’t given up on the dream of modeling central Texas after southern California — to build out, pave over and leverage private land and water resources like it and we are their piggy bank. We cannot let this happen. What we have now, that we didn’t have in 2004, is the League of Independent Voters of Texas. LIV has the capacity to unite voters across party lines, even as we head into a divisive election year. ►Donate to help us hold more of these events along the Vista Ridge pipeline. (Send a check to us at PO Box 651, Bastrop, Texas 78602 or give a secure online donation == see the donate button on the right ====>) When we — together — defeat Vista Ridge, LIV will still be here and ready to build a positive vision for all our communities. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Promise. Texas needs us more than ever now. Thank you, Texans! #VistaRidge

Please sign this petition to Governor Greg Abbott, other statewide officials and San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor urging them to stop the Vista Ridge Water Project and to make growth pay for itself. Print out this petition on legal size paper here and on letter size paper here . We don’t have a target deadline for delivery to the Governor and others state officials, which includes your state legislators. We need your participation over the coming months to bring this into the next legislative session. [emailpetition id=”11″] Scott Carlson of Brenham, Texas , “pleaded guilty in a Houston courtroom to stealing $2.4 million from two oil companies he’d worked for as a land man.” (San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, August 20, 2006, reprinted here at TTC News Archives.) Around the time that Carlson received probation, he was door knocking in Burleson and Milam Counties . He had a check in one hand and a water lease in the other on behalf of his company Metropolitan Water Company, aka MetWater. According to this same Express-News article, “Carlson sold the leases to Layne Water Development of Texas, a subsidiary of a Kansas company, which later sold them to Ross Cummings , an Austin real estate investor who formed a company called Blue Water Systems. Cummings, who in April 2004 paid $500,000 in bond money to free Carlson from jail, said he believed the leases gave landowners a fair shake.” Do you think the vast majority of citizens in Burleson, Milam, Lee, Bastrop and Brazos Ross Cummings, President, Blue Water Systems counties, who rely on the same aquifer, got a “fair shake” when the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District granted Blue Water Systems a permit to pump 50,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year (over 44 million gallons per day) for Vista Ridge? What about the vast majority of citizens in Burleson and Milam who never signed a lease? Or what about communities who don’t want to be over-built in dry areas? And what about hundreds of landowners who will face eminent domain for this 142-mile pipeline? Did they get a “fair shake”, hmmm…Mr. Cummings? Is it the job of the San Antonio real estate lobby to make San Antonio into the water warlords of central Texas? When San Antonio ratepayers finally learn the truth about their water rates and that this water is for developers outside their city, how do you think they’re gonna feel? We’re going to get the answers on our Vista Ridge meetings tour, starting on August 18th at ground zero, Burleson County at the Caldwell Civic Center (6 pm to 8 pm). Then on to Elgin, Lockhart, San Marcos, Seguin, San Antonio, Bryan and more! See schedule here . Isn’t it time to ride these water hustlers outta town? Do this! Sign this petition :  ask Governor Abbott to stop Vista Ridge and to make growth pay for itself! Share it or print it out here and take it to folks.) Come to a local meeting — schedule here and get a yard sign. DONATE ! We need money for room rentals, advertising, and large signs. We got to these dynamite followup comments as quick as we could, due today, to the Texas Water Development Board. Today’s new comments are here . Last week’s are here with the video of the hearing. PS We know this is a long email, but try to read the Express News piece we reference. It’s chock full of important and revealing information. PPS If you click on the map on this page, it opens to better more detailed map of Vista Ridge. We’re working on getting an even better one. #GregAbbott #VistaRidge