This article published last week in the Austin American-Statesman pretty much says it all about why the V
ista Ridge/San Antone Hose is doomed. Hays County already has its own plans for water pipelines to build out central Texas, thank you very much.
The Hays County project, and other planned regional water projects in the Hill Country, will mean Vista Ridge is even more unnecessarily expensive. SAWS itself could have done a regional project. It also explains why there are no customers for excess Vista Ridge water! (Never you mind, Hays Countians and others along IH-35, as to whether you want to fuel this growth by paying for it.)
This Thursday, December 7, the San Antonio City Council will vote on water rate hikes – some of which are needed for legitimate projects. The real question is whether they’re going to rein SAWS in and put them on notice to find a way out of Vista Ridge.
The previous Mayor, Ivy Taylor (who got the boot) and Council repeatedly refused to pull back on this disastrous $3.4 billion mistake. They even have yet to force SAWS to account for the $120 million meant for the pipeline that disappeared when their previous private partner, Abengoa, predictably went bankrupt! If you think Garney Construction, the new private partner, will absorb this debt without figuring out how to pass it on to ratepayers, think again.
Please share this video with your San Antonio friends. (This is the same one under the picture above — please share it widely.)
Be sure to ask them to call Mayor Ron Nirenberg and their city council member before this Thursday, December 7th, at 210-207-7040 to urge them to:
Oppose water rate hikes for Vista Ridge,
Call for a thorough independent financial audit of Vista Ridge, and
Demand that the Mayor and City Council find a way out of Vista Ridge.
Want to know more about this? Join our conference call this evening at 8 pm. Reply for details.
We will be back very soon with some big news for independent voters in Texas — so keep an eye out.