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November 25, 2008

Groundwater district picks firm for independent study

By Kelly Young Jacksonville Daily Progress

JACKSONVILLE — The board of directors of the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District met last week and selected a firm to conduct a hydrological study concerning well applications submitted by New Gulf Energy.

LBG Guyton Associates, a Houston-based company, was unanimously chosen by the directors for the job.

Prior to the vote by the board, General Manager Roy Rodgers made his recommendation from among three firms that submitted proposals.

“We had three replies to our RFP (request for proposals) — LBG Guyton of Houston, the Thornhill Group out of Roundrock and TCB out of Austin. They had proposals running from $12,875 to $43,000,” Rodgers said. “It is my recommendation to the board that we accept LBG Guyton’s proposal for $12,875, based on their known knowledge of the area, the recommendations from everyone I have talked to about them and their ability to get on it right away and get it done quickly.”

New Gulf’s proposed plan is to use the district’s groundwater to create a large cavity in the Bethel Salt Dome for the purpose of storing natural gas. The storage cavern, intended to house 20 billion cubic feet of gas, will be located in northwestern Anderson County.

While company representatives purport the project will not have an adverse effect on any neighboring water-users, the district decided to hire its own expert to confirm New Gulf’s findings.

“There is no date in the agreement as to when this will be done by, but we did agree that we would do it as quickly as possible so that we don’t hold their plans up. Guyton said he could start today, and he anticipates the entire study will take 30 days,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers said he is hopeful the document will be ready for board approval by the December district meeting, but he said it is more likely that a special meeting will need to be called so that the data can be reviewed and acted upon before January.

The board also voted to donate $500 to the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts in that group’s efforts to file amicus curiae briefs in two cases coming before the Texas Supreme Court in the near future.

District President Bart Bauer said the topic of financial support for TAGD had come up before during board meetings, but couldn’t be acted upon because it was not an agenda item.

According to Rodgers, two Texas appeals courts have made recent decisions which, if allowed to stand, will significantly weaken the ability of groundwater districts to function.

Rolling Plains GCD v. City of Aspermont ruled a municipality can’t be forced to pay its fees if it doesn’t want to. EAA v. Day & McDaniel successfully challenged the universally accepted rule of capture — which states groundwater doesn’t belong to anyone until it is pumped to the surface.

“We feel the appeals courts erred in these two cases. The first case basically made a city immune to a lawsuit, which has implications for all political subdivisions in the state if the state can’t enforce its own rules,” Rodgers said. “The other case said that everybody has a vested right in the water underneath their property. If both of these aren’t overturned it would totally disrupt all water conservation efforts throughout the whole state.”

Action was also taken to approve drilling and operating applications for five Elmwood Bradley Oaks wells in Anderson County. EBO had previously been given permits to drill two large wells, and the board’s decision Thursday altered that plan to instead use a series of smaller wells, Rodgers said.

“This change is not supposed to increase the amount of water they want, it is just increasing the distribution and saves them some money on pipelines. They will still meter their wells, report all pumping, report the amount used for agriculture and then deduct and pay for the difference,” he said.

An action item to reach a legal settlement with Eagle’s Bluff Country Club was tabled by Bauer when the signed proposal was not ready to be presented at the meeting. Once prepared, Rodgers has been given the authority to review the settlement and accept it if he deems it adequate. The district took the country club to court after several years of failing to provide production reports and paying fees. Although now in compliance with the district’s rules, the country club still owes back fees for the years when it was non-compliant, administrative penalties and the district’s legal fees.

The board also tabled approval of the 2009 financial budget pending more information. The district must approve next year’s budget by the end of this calendar year.

In other business the board approved:

- the minutes from previous meetings;

- discussion of district reports; and

- paying the bills.

The NTV Groundwater Conservation District meets at 1:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at their offices at 212 S. Main St. in Jacksonville. The public is invited to attend all meetings.

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