Watch this 1-minute excerpt of Rep. Lyle Larson at the April 8th hearing on House Bill 3298 in the Natural
Resources Committee. Larson lays out why he thinks Texas needs a “study” on a statewide grid to conduct large-scale movement of groundwater to the Texas triangle — DFW, San Antonio and Austin. HB 3298 is just one bill to move Texas towards the California model — a man-made disaster in water mismanagement.
The problem: The nation now watches the painful results of a policy deployed just 50 years
ago in California to move groundwater to population centers. Now those big cities have a water crisis, but so too does California’s Central Valley — a critical breadbasket for our country. This should give pause to our legislators — especially those who appear ready to employ a similar strategy in Texas. House Bill 3298’s groundwater grid map has the “water heart” of Texas in the middle of the state. Instead of the Texas Water Grid, we have a better idea. Keep reading…
A solution.
Conserve Now, Convey Later. Though we understand the problems and solutions are complex, Texas can move now to marshal our water funds towards a massive conservation effort for Texas — to save water, not consume ever-greater quantities of water. Mining our aquifers will only make things worse.
ACTION PLAN: Send this letter now to key legislative leaders (add your own comments at the end) then do the rest of our action plan below it. [emailpetition id=”9″]
We hope you’ve already sent the letter — if not, back up and do it now. Then — THIS IS CRITICAL! — reach your own State Representative and Senator with the same message. Find them here.
Send your own letter to the editor, call community leaders you know — get this out for us.
Come to hearings next week and/or join us for tomorrow’s 9 am conference call. Reply for details.
This entire message is posted here in our news section — share from there and post a comment.
For a deeper understanding, read testimonies on Larson’s grid bill (HB 3298/SB 1907) from Environmental Stewardship, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and us here at the League.
Read Alyssa Burgin’s “California Water Story” for a deeper understanding of the history of the problem.
P.S. Don’t forget — Larson hails from San Antonio, the city that once made conservation their cause and reversed course last October with the groundwater movement ‘game changer’ — the Vista Ridge water grab.
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