Will Conley
Commissioner Hays County, Texas
512-847-3159
Un-
Regulated Well Field Development in
Hays County
Fellow Citizens,
It has been brought to
my attention that there is a large un-regulated well field being developed
in mid-western Hays
County near FM 3237.
The company developing this
project is a Houston-based
company called Electro Purification LLC.
They propose to
deliver to potential customers
around 6,000 acre feet of water per year out of this area
of the Trinity
Aquifer. As the representative of Precinct
3, this gives me a great
deal of concern. Firstly, I am worried about the potential impact on residential and commercial wells in the nearby area.
Secondly, I am wary of
the overall health of the Trinity Aquifer
in Hays County. Some
actions have been takenout of the Precinct
3 office that I would
like to bring
to your attention.
Commissioner Whisenant, Representative Isaac, and I met with the principals of Electro Purification around January, 8th 2015. We each expressed our concerns over this amount of water being distributed out of this area. Electro Purification and their representatives ensured us that the proper studies have been done and that they felt confident their project wouldn’t negatively impact the surrounding area or the Trinity Aquifer. I asked them to consider five points.
1.
An exit strategy to
the project;
2.
A binding
agreement that protected area well owners,
should the project
negatively impact their water supplies;
3.
Sharing
their costs in the
project at this point in
time;
4.
sharing the
data associated with the
project;
5.
Providing
copies of any contracts or letters of intent
they may have with potential customers
Electro Purification stated that
they would provide the information
requested in items 4 and 5.
However, they asked for
more time to consider their
level of comfort
on requests 1, 2
and
3. At this time, I
have received no information.
I have asked in two different
emails that they at least provide the well data to my office. I am hopeful that
they will respond to
these requests, as it
would provide us with
an opportunity to
have a real conversation
about the impact of
their proposed operations.
I, along with many of my colleagues, have
discussed this issue with the
groundwater districts
in Hays County.
We have asked that they
get
together and see if they can develop some reasonable legislation
that might cover this gap in groundwater
regulatory authority in our community.
To my knowledge the groundwater districts
are working
together and will try
to deliver something to Representative Isaac
in the
near future. This is
a complicated issue
that will warrant a
tremendous amount of
discussion. However I am optimistic
that our groundwater districts, working with Representative Isaac can come up with
a good solution. The rule of capture should
not be the only rule that applies
to
a corporate entity with
the intentions of commercial distribution of water resources. I believe there must be some accountability
on this whole
process beyond free market principles that will protect the
private property rights of land owners
in an impacted area.
As of yesterday, the Precinct 3 office has filed Public Information Act requests with the following political subdivisions: the City of Kyle, Mountain City, the City of Buda, and Goforth Special Utility District. We filed these requests to ensure we have all information available in order to make the best decisions moving forward in our representation of the citizens of Hays County. We need to understand the entirety of the issue. If any information has been shared or discussed with these political subdivisions, access to that information will allow us to better assess the situation. I do not want to imply that these political subdivisions aren’t cooperating with informal request. I believe that implementing formal requests was simply the best way to move forward in a timely manner. Hopefully, the Precinct 3 office will receive information from these entities in the near future that helps us better understand the issues at hand.
Commissioner Whisenant
and
I have placed an agenda item on
the Commissioners Court agenda
for next Tuesday, January
20th. In this Court
session I plan to share with the Court the
information we may have
about this project.
We will also discuss next steps.
I assume this will
be
one of many meetings
that we will have on this issue.
In closing, this is
a very
difficult and complicated issue. This
proposed project may also have
a direct impact on many people
throughout Hays County. It is important in this
time of tremendous change in Hays
County that we do
things wisely and carefully. We must also maintain our core principles
and beliefs. As difficult
as that can be, it is the challenge
that is before us
today. I am confident with hard work, good government,
and principled positions we will
meet these challenges and leave Hays County and its people a better
and brighter future.
Sincerely,
Will Conley
Hays County Commissioner, Precinct
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