(Press Release) The men who currently serve on the Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater District board are honorable men of well earned high standing in the community. As elected officials they have the responsibility to set policy, supervise employees and make themselves accountable to the voters.
In each of these responsibilities, the board members have failed.
The most recent failure occurred during the Feb. 15th District meeting when they failed to honor promises made regarding renewal of the Rockin J pumping permit.
On March 16th, 2006 the District issued a landmark water production permit to owners of the Rockin' J. In the face of overwhelming concern and opposition by the public, the District board announced a "compromise". The permit to pump 185 million gallons a year was limited to 1 year, as opposed to the standard 3. The board promised a full investigation during that year of concerns about the effect of such high volume pumping on nearby wells, about run-off pollution, and reliable sustainability of this level of pumping.
At a Public Hearing held August 15th, 2006, Bobby Wilson, presiding in the absence of board President Ron Zunker, promised renewal of the Rockin' J permit would be subject to a Public Hearing. During that same meeting the board voted to adopt sweeping changes in the District rules. One was wholesale transfer of decision
making authority, including permit renewals, to their employee the General Manager.
This rule change came in spite of well researched and documented objections by Preserve Our Water and numerous private citizens. Transfer of authority was one of the most objectionable provisions. This rule grants enormous power to an employee not subject to public accountability and blocks District actions from public view.
The General Manager exercised those new powers on Feb 12th, 2007. He renewed the Rockin' J permit for 3 years. On Feb 15th, despite numerous written protests of this action from individuals and Preserve Our Water and in the face of oral protest, the board chose not to respond to those complaints. When asked to exercise board
authority and take this decision into their hands and honor promises to the pubic for a proper hearing, the board's reaction was stony silence. Our elected officials refused even the courtesy of a response.
Those complaints were possible only because Preserve Our Water has closely followed these developments. Citizens should not have to rely on a "watchdog group" to learn of such critical decisions.
Nowhere in the General Manager's report to the board in support of his decision was any mention of the calls he has received from well owners in the vicinity of the Rockin' J reporting production or quality problems. Preserve Our Water had investigated and found several such calls were made and that in each instance, without investigation, the General Manager denied any possible relationship to the Rockin' J.
The comments submitted clearly described how the Rockin' J has, repeatedly, allowed water to flow off their property as a result of golf course watering. State law and District rules prohibit waste; allowing ground water to flow off of a well owner's property is defined as one type of waste.
The General Manager's report documents only one of these situations, one that occurred in July. He did very little to investigate beyond discussions with Rockin' J management. His report to the board after the permit was renewed appears to be the first time the board received such a report. In that report he dismissed the waste of over 21,000 gallons as trivial. In all promised research, the General Manager was the party responsible for investigations and was sole judge of completeness, accuracy and whether it properly addressed public concerns.
Our elected officials have failed us.
