INDEPENDENT TEXANS PAC 

If you live in East Texas, pay close attention and if you know folks who live there, send them this message posted here. Citizens in 6 cities (Cleveland, Big Sandy, Fairfield, Bryan-College Station, Tyler and Beaumont) are holding their own hearings in East Texas — starting on Tuesday!  See below. A national CBS News report last Tuesday exposed the faulty construction problems identified months ago by East Texas landowners with the Keystone XL pipeline. Keystone XL (owned by

Contacts:  Debra Medina, We Texans, 512.663.8401, Linda Curtis or Jessica Ellison, Independent Texans, 512.657.2089 and 512.653.9179, Julia Trigg Crawford, 713.443.8789, Laura Ehrlich, Jim Hightower & Associates, 512.477-5588 Cross-Partisan Coalition Calls on Lt. Governor and House Speaker for Interim Study and Full Public Hearings on Eminent Domain Abuse Starting in East Texas, to include Public Safety Concerns Related to Potential Water Threats from Tar Sands Crude and Hydr

Congratulations for all those involved, especially the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and the Brown family of Lee County, for standing tall against the water profiteers.  This could turn out to be a landmark fight for Texans, if the marketers keep pushing it, which is likely. Read today’s Statesman piece, appropriately printed on Memorial Day. On an even more difficult note, the Legislature has passed $2B to be taken from the Rainy Day Fund for a water bank.  Th

Folks, we were so stunned last night by the stand of the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District to ratchet back two of the three permits for groundwater from the Simsboro Aquifer, it took us a few minutes to realize what a HUGE victory it was! Click here to read Environmental Stewardship’s cogent analysis of the Board’s truly courageous stand last night. Please get a note to the Lost Pines Board and to our two County Judges below and give them a BIG THANK YOU!  Let them

PERMIT THIS NOT BANKRUPTCY-RecycledDear Lost Pines GCD Board of Directors, (Please forward to Board ASAP) The coalition of below named organizations have developed what it believes would be a reasonable outcome of your deliberations regarding the groundwater permit applications before you at this time.  We find that the production limits sought by Forestar, End Op, and LCRA applications will harm existing permitted wells, the environment, and are far in excess of the DFC and

You are receiving lots of emails from us — only because the legislative session is in its final days (May 27th is the last day) AND we have a strategically important TEST CASE on groundwater protection in Bastrop & Lee Counties coming to a head NEXT WEDNESDAY.  Be sure to share the flier below this message. Here’s what you need to know and do now! 1.  Write a letter to the editor of your local paper(s) and tell them the Governor’s threat to hold a Special Session on water is

This bill comes up on the House floor TODAY, so if you get this in time, call your Texas House member and tell them to vote NO on HB 3234 (details below). We’re going to see lots of last minute bad stuff coming between now and the last day of the session, May 27th, so do what you can. BASTROP/LEE COUNTY Reminder:  Meeting this Wednesday, 6 pm at Elgin First National Bank, 1312 US 290 –  map here.  We will prepare you for the May 15th hearing on pending groundwater permits AND

Just moments ago a bad bill on eminent domain and pipelines was pulled on a point of order in the House. Nice! ON THE WATER FRONT: Read this piece in the Austin-American Statesman, then call or contact your legislators and ask them to stand tall on this issue.  Legislators can focus on conserving water first!  For pennies on the dollar, fixing leaky pipes and getting everyone — the municipalities and large agricultural entities, in particular — to conserve, must be done now. 

Two important items for protection our groundwater require your participation! Lee County Reminder this Monday night, April 8, 6 pm, Giddings Library! Flier attached here. Independent Texans and Environmental Stewardship will prepare you information for the CRITICAL Lost Pines Groundwater District Hearing on the 17th.  Spread the word, please!  You can also call or email your county commissioners here and Judge Fischer here. Bastrop County please come to the Bastrop County Co

We all know that water profiteers have had their eyes on the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer, underlying Bastrop and Lee counties, for some time now. (Make sure you’ve read our media release here.) Last week the Texas House passed HB 4, lining up $2B from the Rainy Day Fund to fund pipelines to move water around the state, despite the House analysis stating that not enough money was allocated to conservation!  (More soon on this topic.) Please come to these t

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8th, is election day on 10 statewide Texas constitutional changes. In our estimation, the big money and related water grabs by the “growth lobby” are Propositions 2 and 4. No matter how you vote on the remainder of the propositions, these are the most important to defeat to protect your water and wallets.  All the info you need is here: http://www.indytexans.org/november-propositions/ It became clear at the Water Forum held by Aqua Water Supply Cor

We have just set up a list at Independent Texans for “GMA 12”, Groundwater Management Area 12: Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Falls, Fayette, Freestone, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Madison, Milam, Navarro, Robertson, and Williamson counties. On Monday, July 25th, GMA 12 meets in Milano, Texas at 1 pm at the Milano Civic Center (details below).  GMAs are part of the maze of bureaucracies established to manage Texas groundwater.   Please consider attending this critical meeting. Environm

CONFEREES MEETING ENDS WITH NO RESOLUTION – Quorum Report "The Buzz". Texas House and Senate members are locked in a stalemate on what to do about funding (or, more accurately, cutting) public education. Your typical member, Republican and Democrat, is catching absolute and deserved hell from their constituents. Because both parties lied to the people of Texas by not making the $27B deficit a front and center issue in the last Governor's race. Carole Strayhorn was right in h

The water sources of these counties are finite and protecting them now is vital to the sustainability of our quality of life. Read on . . . http://www.elgincourier.com/news/article_d2c99f0e-0e07-11e0-af48-001cc4c002e0.html #Bastrop #JoeCooper #Lee #Water

TWDB approves plan to funnel water out of Bastrop and Lee counties, despite presentation from concerned and informed citizen presentation opposing the plan http://www.elgincourier.com/news/article_d2c99f0e-0e07-11e0-af48-001cc4c002e0.html #BastropCounty #LeeCounty #Water

Thanks to the hundreds of you who signed petitions and/or who showed up today at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) meeting. While the Board got our message – that we organizing — we also got out-maneuvered. The Simsboro Project was approved once again — but we expected that. However, what we didn't expect is a claim by the TWDB that because the Groundwater Districts still have the right to deny permits to private water vendors, we should have nothing to fear. What th