Updated January 5, 2025. By Harold “Skip” Connett and Steve Box As more development converges in Bastrop County’s Wilbarger Bend, landowners are increasingly alarmed by its potential harm to the Lower Colorado River and the aquifers beneath it that they depend on for their livelihoods. A recent administrative court ruling in a requested contested case…
Comparison of impacts of Current DFCs vs. Proposed DFCs on Colorado River. Click on graphic to hear discussion of these impacts by Steve Box at GMA-12 Meeting on April 20, 2021.
Environmental Stewardship requests Desired Future Conditions be adopted to protect the Colorado River and its tributaries from impacts of groundwater pumping Environmental Impact of Groundwater Pumping on the Colorado River and its Tributaries Environmental Stewardship’s Executive Director, Steve Box, presented a power point review of its request that Groundwater Management Area 12 establish standards to…
Environmental Stewardship gave a presentation at the December 15, Virtual Meeting of Rotary Club of Bastrop County December 15, 2020 program “Water Exporters and Their Impacts to our Area.” by Steve Box, Board President, Environmental Stewardship, a WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE Affiliate https://environmental-stewardship.org. Click here for the presentation slides Water Exporters and Their Impacts to our Area Groundwater and surface…
Having filed supplemental testimonies of George Rice and Joe Trungale, moved to strike the LCRA’s prefiled testimonies of Brian Cook and Leonard Oliver, and responded to LCRA’s objections and attempt to strike the testimony of George Rice and Joe Trungale — our case is strong. On September 27th, after months of work, a new pumping file that will be used to adopt…
Environmental Stewardship provides scientific information on impacts on the Colorado River, aquifer formations, and exempt domestic wells. Groundwater pumping in the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer group affects the Colorado River and its tributaries, the Carrizo, Calvert Bluff and Hooper formations, other aquifers, and landowners’ domestic wells. Environmental Stewardship has been working with George…
We are pleased to share our enthusiasm as Environmental Stewardship (ES) finishes 2018 having made significant advanced in attaining several of its primary goals. We are excited to be going into 2019 well positioned to provide best available science into several critical public policy considerations and decisions.
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Melanie Phillips, Founding Board Member.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Melanie P. Phillips, Director and Secretary of Environmental Stewardship. Melanie’s love of the natural environment led her to advocate for preservation of rivers, bays, and trees for ecological as well as recreational purposes. She was passionate about the symbiotic relationship we have with our natural environment, and she worked hard to educate other to come to the same understanding — that when we harm our natural environment we harm ourselves. She emphatically believed that there is a way to sustain all of life if we will work together toward that common goal.
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Bastrop County Courthouse
In our last post I left you with the comment:
“After nearly an hour of closed discussion in executive session the Board returned to public session where they openly asked questions of their lawyers and engaged in a discussion with the members of the public who were present. They then retired to a second executive session before taking any action, apparently in reaction to the public’s comments … all firsts in our 10+ years of experience with this Board. “
We told you we were assessing the implications of those discussions and that we would be back to you on this in the near future. …
The Aquifer Protectors! From L to R, Eric Allmon (attorney for Environmental Stewardship), Michele Gangnes (pro bono attorney for landowners Meyer, Hanna and Brown), Andy Meyer (Paige landowner), Darwyn Hanna (Bastrop landowner), Ernie Bogart (pro bono attorney for landowners Meyer, Hanna and Brown), Betz Brown (Lee County landowner), Don Grissom (pro bono attorney for landowners Meyer, Hanna and Brown), Steve Box (Executive Director Environmental Stewardship)
In an ironic twist, having denied Landowners a seat at the table in the original 2014 contested case hearing involving End Op’s application for a massive groundwater permit, the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors essentially did it again Thursday night. The Board voted 4 to 2 to appeal Judge Campbell’s decision favoring the Landowners. This time, saying they are appealing because they want to be sure they have … A SEAT AT THE TABLE.
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Environmental Stewardship Executive Director Steve Box on Wednesday urges the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District board not to appeal a court decision allowing a group of Bastrop County landowners to challenge a permit for Recharge Water to withdraw 15 billion gallons of groundwater annually from the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. MARY HUBER/BASTROP ADVERTISER
January 25 2018.
The Lost Pines District “tabled” any action on Judge Carson Campbell’s ruling earlier in January. We did not want the District to appeal the Judge’s ruling in favor of four landowners, but we did not want the District to create a vacuum either.
The District’s failure to move forward with a hearing in adherence to the judge’s order has left uncertainty in the District’s position, creating an opportunity for End Op to continue the litigation for now through an appeal. As such, yesterday End Op acted on that opening and filed an appeal of the Judge’s Final Judgement in the Court of Appeals for the Third District of Texas (Austin).
The District should respect the judge’s ruling and expeditiously grant a hearing to Landowners (Plaintiffs), thereby putting an end to the District’s enabling of End Op’s recent appeal.
Sitting-on-their-hand makes the District complicit in the appeal that End Op has now filed.
To clearly move in adherence to Judge Campbell’s ruling, the District needs to take two affirmative public actions: 1) immediately direct their attorneys not to appeal, and 2) affirmatively granting a hearing on the End Op permit application that includes the Landowners as parties.
Article by Mary Huber, Bastrop Advertiser
READ ON AND TAKE ACTION
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The Lost Pines’ Board was unable to make a decision on appealing Judge Carson Campbell’s ruling favoring landowners at its January 17 meeting. Read today’s article in the Bastrop Advertiser/Statesmen The Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors declined to make a decision on its option to appeal Judge Carson Campbell’s January 4,…
Bastrop County Courthouse
This Wednesday, January 17, 2018, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District (District or Lost Pines District) will consider and possibly act on its option to appeal Judge Carson Campbell’s January 4, 2018, ruling to the state court of appeals. (Click here for agenda)
Judge Campbell’s order ruled that the District erred in denying party status to four landowners and REVERSED the District’s decision. Campbell also REVERSED the permit to pump 46,000 acre feet of groundwater per year that was given by the District to Recharge Water, L.P. and REMANDED the case back to the Lost Pines District for proceedings consistent with the Court’s decision.…
The Board will meet on Wednesday January 17, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. at Bastrop City Hall, 1311 Church Street, Bastrop,TX. We request that you attend and/or write to the District urging it NOT TO APPEAL the trial court ruling upholding private property rights. This Wednesday, January 17, 2018, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District…
Bastrop County Courthouse
BASTROP January 4, 2018 – A state district judge in Bastrop has ruled in favor of Environmental Stewardship and three other landowners in their suit against the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District (District). Judge Carson Campbell’s order rules that the District erred in denying party status and reverses the District’s decision. The order further reverses the permits for 46,000 acre feet per year of groundwater given by the District to End Op (now Recharge Water, L.P.) and remands the case back to the District for proceedings consistent with the Court’s decision.
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BASTROP – A state district judge in Bastrop on Wednesday heard arguments for and against the contention that four landowners are entitled to a new hearing because they were wrongfully excluded by the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District from participating in a 2013 administrative hearing.
The 2013 hearing resulted in a permit to water marketer End-Op LP (now known as Recharge Water) that allows massive amounts of groundwater to be pumped and exported from Lee and Bastrop counties. The Oct. 18 hearing was part of a legal challenge to that permit.
Judge Carson Campbell ruled in favor of the landowners from the bench Wednesday on the question of whether he even has the authority to review the District’s decision to exclude them. A ruling on the landowners’ right to protest the permit is pending from Judge Campbell.
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Environmental Stewardship became a Waterkeeper Affiliate organization on September 23, 2016. As a new Waterkeeper Affiliate, Environmental Stewardship works to protect and preserve the Texas Colorado River, associated aquifers, and the bays and estuaries of the Texas Gulf Coast by combining its first-hand knowledge of the waterway with an unwavering commitment to the rights of the community, to ecological health of waterways and aquifers, and to the rule of law.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Steve Box in Austin, TX.
“Waterkeeper Alliance is thrilled to have Steve Box, Executive Director, to be the eyes, ears, and voice for this vital watershed and community,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Every community deserves to have swimmable, drinkable, fishable and flowing water, and Mr. Box is the right leader to fight to protect the surface water and groundwater supplies in the Colorado River basin.”
For more information on see our webpage ES’ Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliation. …
New Group Launches Fight To Protect Local Groundwater and Aquifers
Bastrop County Court House
ELGIN – Veterans of a long-standing fight to protect the area’s groundwater have joined forces and launched a new organization to help lead that effort.
The new group, the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF), includes volunteers from the League of Independent Voters, Environmental Stewardship, Sierra Club and Neighbors for Neighbors.
SEE END OF THIS POST FOR LINKS TO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
SAWDF response to Bastrop Advertiser’s misleading article on July 21, 2016.
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Groundwater Availability Model improvements will include groundwater-surface water integration for the Colorado River and the Central Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer
After seven years of advocating for action on groundwater-surface water interaction 
issues in Central Texas, we are on the verge of a major step forward in our efforts to protect the Colorado River and its tributaries from over-pumping of groundwater. A recent contract between the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and INTERA Incorporated will play a vital step in helping planners understand and manage this important ecological and hydrological relationship, thereby achieving one of our major goals – to establishing a science link between groundwater and surface water to inform policy and management decisions. …
Lawyers for Environmental Stewardship and Landowners will make oral arguments before the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Board of Directors on August 13, 7:00 p.m. at the Bastrop Convention Center. ES and Landowners are requesting that the decision by the ALJ to deny party status be reversed and remanded back to SOAH for contested case hearing.
The public is encouraged to attend. Though public comments will not be heard, the face of the people needs to be seen. This is a very important hearing about your rights to defend your interests in the groundwater beneath your land.
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Environmental Stewardship (ES) and Landowners (Andrew Meyer, Bette Brown, and Darwyn Hanna) have filed an appeal of the decision by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to deny party status in the End Op contested case hearing. The request was filed with the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Board of Directors on August 1, 2014 and will be heard at a special meeting on August 13, 2014 in Bastrop, TX. The time and location of the meeting has not yet been established. …
Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group, Inc. has filed suit in the 335th Judicial District in Lee County against the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and its Board of Directors (Case No. 15,369). The suit is 1) an appeal of the Boards’ decision to deny Forestar’s application for 33,000 acre-feet per year of the 45,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater it requested, and 2) a claim for the taking or damaging of its property, and for its damages and attorney’s fees due to the District’s actions (a takings claim).
Click here for copy of the petition.
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An Open Letter to the
Lost Pines GCD Board of Directors from its Constituents
STAND STRONG!
RE: Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group, Inc. Motion for Rehearing
Dear Board of Directors,
Forestar’s request for a rehearing on the permits LPGCD granted earlier this year was on the agenda for the Board’s September 18, 2013, meeting, but was postponed until the October 16, 2013,Board meeting. Several events pertinent to this permit have occurred since that postponement, but the message from the coalition of landowners and citizens who want to protect the future of Lee and Bastrop Counties remains the same: Stand strong in your duty to protect and conserve the aquifers under our two counties.
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Landowners in Bastrop and Lee counties who were recently denied the right to be heard in a contested case hearing are appealing the decision.
The landowners had sought “party status” in the End Op contested case hearing being held before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH). This administrative decision has broad, significant implications throughout Texas for landowners wanting to protect the groundwater in place beneath their lands. Click here for decision
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Press Release Environmental Stewardship Given Green Light to Challenge TCEQ’s Management of the Lower Colorado River Bastrop, TX. February 9, 2024. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CONTACT: Steve Box, Executive Director, Environmental Stewardship, 512-300-6609, info@envstwardship.org. Richard Martin, a long-time Bastrop County angler, and Environmental Stewardship (ES) moved a big step closer this week to arguing their…
Two bills are circulating in the legislature right now to re-authorize the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to continue to regulate air and water pollution delegated to the state of Texas under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts.
Updated: June 5, 2022 Project Collaborators and Participant Environmental Stewardship’s interest is to have an ongoing monitoring program to ensure that the surface water and groundwater interests of the communities and environment of Bastrop and Lee Counties are protected. We are grateful to our collaborators and participants who bring additional resources, skills, outreach, and educational…
We are outfitting a trailer to serve as a mobile field laboratory. Updated May 15, 2022 We are re-purposing “Dale’s Toolbox” to serve as a mobile field laboratory. Dale Morrison, Master Trail Steward, was instrumental in the layout, design and construction of the granite hike and bike trails, concrete and wooden picnic tables, and pavilions…
We have purchased state-of-the-art instruments to bring science to decision-making. Updated May 14, 2022 Rather than continue to wait, and rely upon government entities to do the field studies that are needed to validate the groundwater availability model and provide empirical data to decision-maker, Environmental Stewardship has used the public funds from our individual and…
Our case is strong, has prevailed, but is being challenged … again. After prevailing though the contested case hearing where two administrative law judges found in favor of Environmental Stewardship, the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors issued a decision on the LCRA’s groundwater permit that requires the LCRA and the District to…
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Figure 1. Graphic provided to the Lost Pines Board of Directors to demonstrate the concerns and requests from WaterDefenders Coalition (November 8, 2021, based on Scenario S-15)
We want to thank the Lost Pines Board of Directors for taking a strong stand in its recent vote to adopt conservation based Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) for the Simsboro aquifer. At the November 30th GMA-12 meeting we were able to confirm that the District will be able to adopt DFCs that are 10% more conservative for all aquifers as soon as they get certification back from the Texas Water Development Board that the adopted DFC are administratively complete, that their is agreement on the results of the pumping file, and Modeled Available Groundwater has been calculated for each aquifer.
Here is a brief summary of what happened over the last month.
After a major victory for conservation and consideration of domestic/livestock wells and surface waters by Lost Pines GCD Board (see below), the Groundwater Management Area 12 (GMA-12) representatives voted against Lost Pines’ request at the November 12th meeting.
With the recent victory in hand, WaterDefenders went to the November 12th meeting hoping that all the member districts of GMA-12 would accept the “reasonable” actions taken by Lost Pines. However, we ended up with a decision by GMA-12 representatives that is a compromise.
General Manager, Jim Totten, made a motion to accept a pumping file [Scenario S-20] which would results in a new DFC of 183 feet average drawdown and about 30,300 acre-feet per year of pumping in the Simsboro formation for Lost Pines GCD. While the motion was seconded by Post Oak Savannah GCD, it failed on 2-3 vote, yay-nay.
A second motion was made to accept a pumping file [S-19] which results in a new DFC of 240 feet average drawdown, and about 82,800 acre-feet per year (AFY) of pumping in the Simsboro formation for Lost Pines GCD. This motion passed 4-1, yay-nay.
However, this is a significant victory for WaterDefenders, stakeholders, landowners and surface waters in Lost Pines District. Overall, this leaves us substantially ahead when compared to the Scenario S-12 that was initially proposed. The reductions gained through WaterDefender efforts will result in a 54% reduction in pumping from the originally proposed DFC, and a 31% reduction in drawdown from the originally proposed DFC.
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Griffith League Scout Ranch, Bastrop, TX.
In another major victory for Environmental Stewardship, a final decision and operating permits have been issued on the LCRA’s Griffith League Ranch groundwater permit application that requires the LCRA and the District to monitor the impact of groundwater pumping on surface water as a enforceable condition of the permit.
For nearly a decade, Environmental Stewardship has had three primary objectives in protecting the Colorado River. The first objective has been to get a surface water-groundwater monitoring network installed in the river basin in Bastrop, Texas. The second objective has been to protect the river and its tributaries from over-pumping by limiting the amount of pumping allowed in the Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) within the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and Groundwater Management Area 12, The third objective has been to get a surface water specific DFC adopted for the river.
With this decision, and the progress made by our WaterDefenders coalition in limiting the amount of pumping allowed under the DFCs, key elements of Environmental Stewardship’s primary objectives regarding protection of the Colorado River and its tributaries are set to be met in the next few years.
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