The role of bureaucratic rules is being played out in the border wall dispute. Concerned residents across four counties are showing up in force to the normally sedate groundwater conservation district proceedings, questioning the loopholes sought by federal contractors trying to obtain much-needed water for their construction projects.
Under Texas law, groundwater conservation districts are the state’s preferred method of groundwater management. They are charged with balancing private property rights and groundwater development with conservation, using locally adopted rules and the best available science to decide on how much water usage to permit. Most meetings revolve around well meter monitoring and permit renewal. The public rarely attends. The immense amount of water required for construction has changed that.
Routine well permits have come under scrutiny. The proposed border wall will need a lot of water for the man camps, and concrete for hundreds of miles of roads, steel bollard settings, and security camera pole footings — all of which will demand millions of gallons of water.
In the desert, the contractors are getting creative. Pecan Grove Farms in Culberson County requested a waiver of its agricultural permit to sell an unused portion of their historical water allocation allowed by the local water district to an RV park being built in Lobo for Barnard Construction, a federal contractor for the border wall. At the Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District on Tuesday, over a dozen residents from three counties spoke during the public comment sessions.
“Be Texas heros,” one resident urged the water board. Multiple people questioned if the permit allocation loopholes requested by the border wall contractors could open up the community to further requests from data centers and other projects.
“I didn’t move out here to be overrun by corporate interests,” said a Lobo resident during public comment.
The Culberson County water district declined to move forward with a settlement that would have allowed Pecan Grove Farms to use its permitted agricultural water for a residential man camp. The district was under intense scrutiny by anti-wall activists who decried a change in the district’s rules that would have facilitated wall construction. The district board twice tabled a decision on the matter until Tuesday’s denial. The decision forces the RV park to use the existing permit application process, effectively denying the water request as Lobo does not have new water permits available. A representative from Cushing Terrell, which is building the RV park, could not be reached.
A new well in Jeff Davis County was recently approved for Wineglass Holdings LLC, owned by Jeff Davis Groundwater Conservation District Secretary Jim Dyer. Dyer applied for a permit from the district for a production well for the sole purpose to sell water to Barnard. By the Texas Groundwater rules on production wells, he would be permitted to sell 600,000,000 gallons of water from his property. Jeff Davis County did not reply to questions regarding any differences in their rules on production wells. Dyer recused himself from the decision and has been cooperative on water data collection on his property. He was unavailable for comment.
Dyer is not the only area groundwater district board member to have entangled interests. The board president of the Culberson district works for Pecan Grove Farms, although he has recused himself from all discussions on that permit decision.
Fernando Juarez has served as the city of Presidio representative for the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District Board while also leasing his property to be used by federal contractor Fisher Sand and Gravel. Juarez declined a motion to table a permit application for an RV park in Presidio that was administratively incomplete. Juarez insisted during the June 18 groundwater meeting that it was just a paperwork issue.
“I feel like when you bend the rules like that, and look the other way on little issues, it undercuts the integrity and credibility of your organization,” said Trey Gerfers, the general manager for Presidio County Underwater Conservation District. Juarez’s seat on the district board was opened to letters of interest by the city of Presidio on June 22. Interested applicants should contact Gerfers or City Secretary Brenda Ornelas.
In Hudspeth County, Sierra Blanca residents were left high and dry when the taps turned off for four days in early June. After an aging well pump went out, reserves for the town were depleted within a day. The emergency fueled rumors that the true cause of the outage was backdoor water sales to Barnard.
“It had nothing to do with anyone taking water. It had to do with the infrastructure,” said Michael Rose, a former member of the Sierra Blanca’s Water Control and Improvement District.
Water resources have always been a frontline issue in Texas. Groundwater conservation districts were created in the 1940s as a local management tool in response to a crushing drought. Interest in groundwater rules is unlikely to wane as the West Texas region confronts border security, data centers, mining companies and continued economic development.
