R. Gonzalez

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

M. R. Gonzalez Secretary/Treasurer, Precinct 2 Janet Groth Precinct 1 Merrell Daggett Precinct 2 Weldon Blackwelder Precinct 3 Alvaro Mandujano, Jr. Precinct 4 Ronald Cooper Precinct 4 Vanessa Cardwell City of Fort Stockton Terry Whigham At Large Quorum Present. Member Absent: Evans Turpin Others present: Paul Weatherby, Mike Gershon, Allan Standen, Gail Reeves, Ty Edwards, Harvey Gray, Melissa Mills, Edmond McCarthy, III, Ed McCarthy, Jr., Brock Thompson, Mike Thornhill, Jeff Williams, James Cravens, Gary Harrell, Darrell Peckham, Glenn Honaker, David Hess, Neill Woodward, Mayor Bill Lannon, and Polly Taylor with the Fort Stockton Pioneer. I The workshop was called to order at 1:02 p.m. by President Jerry McGuairt. II Workshop to review impact of the USGS Study on Pecos County Public comment was taken at the beginning of the workshop. Ed McCarthy, on behalf of Fort Stockton Holdings, gave statements with regards to the USGS study report on the Edwards Trinity Aquifer in Pecos County: • Believes that the USGS report confirms the hydrogeologic analyses and conclusions that Fort Stockton Holdings has previously presented to the Board through the studies performed by the Thornhill Group at the Williams Farm in Belding; and by LBG Guyton, R. W. Harden and the Thornhill Group on the larger regional scale. • The USGS report does not say that there is no local recharge, or that once all the "old water" is used up that the region will be out of water. • Locally, recharge is limited by the geology. The clay layers do not allow local deep recharge of irrigation return flows. Middle Pecos GCD Minutes for March 17, 2014 Page 2 • The fact that the water is old, and comes from far away supports the conclusion that the aquifer has a lot of water and contains a drought proof sustainable supply - the opposite of the prior thinking of MPGCD. • We have experienced an extreme drought over the past 5·6 years - MPGCD has documented no problems; - Aquifer levels remain healthy despite heavy pumping • The USGS Model does not appear to be well-documented in the report • The USGS report concludes that there is a hydrogeologic boundary or barrier running through the middle of the Belding Farms area. If it exists, the Report indicates that the barrier cuts off the flow of groundwater recharging from the mountainous regions and flowing from the south and west in a north-easterly direction. Assuming this is true, then pumping in the 1950's in the Belding area had zero impact on Comanche Springs. • USGS never contacted Williams Farms regarding pumping data even though it is one of the largest pumpers in the region. • Unfortunately, the USGS Report does not acknowledge or take advantage of the extensive work conducted by LBG Guyton, RW Harden and the Thornhill Group reported in early 2011. A copy of the report was provided to USGS, but no comment or follow-up from USGS occurred. • The only conclusive statement in the USGS Report is that it raised more questions (in USGS's opinion) than it answered and, therefore, additional studies (preferably conducted by USGS ·per USGS) are needed to get the answers • The USGS work is not, by its own terms, a "predictive model." There were no further comments for this agenda item. III Review developments at stakeholder workgroups or committees of the Texas Water Conservation Association and/or Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts focusing on permitting; brackish water development; well construction, enforcement and registration and associated TDLR regulation; water use by the oil and gas industry; contested case hearing procedure; aquifer storage and retrieval/recovery; and associated legislative developments Mike Gershon presented the following to the Board: • Summary of the legislative interim work on groundwater by Texas Water Conservation Association (TWCA) and

This motion is scored as RESTRAINS_GOVERNMENT (Impact Weight: 4.7/10). Under the Bastiat Liberty Watchdog Index, voting YES on measures that cap or reduce ad valorem tax burdens, expand taxpayer exemptions, retire debt early, enforce competitive bidding caps, or remove regulatory/zoning barriers to private property rights earns a positive Pro-Liberty score.