August 4, 2000

Texas Farm Bureau offered legislators their first glimpse at our organization’s thoughts on new state groundwater policy at a July 11 hearing in Brownwood.

At the request of the House Natural Resources Committee, TFB outlined the policy recommendations being considered by county Farm Bureaus in advance of our statewide annual meeting in November. Lawmakers were reminded that voting delegates to the Arlington meeting will have final say on all policy positions heading into the 77th Legislature.

TFB State Directors Anton Haner, District 10, and Regan Kirk, District 7, testified on the findings and recommendations of our organization’s own Natural Resources Committee, which was charged earlier this year with studying “other concepts or plans that could modify or replace the rule of capture to protect agricultural and individual groundwater rights.”

Here is a summary of the TFB committee’s recommendations outlined at the Brownwood hearing:

The committee agreed that Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) should continue to be the appropriate and preferred entity in the state of Texas to manage groundwater and that management should be based upon the principle of correlative rights.

The committee recommended that Texas Farm Bureau strengthen its support for creating GCDs as the alternative to the rule of capture.

If GCDs are to be the preferred alternative of our organization to the rule of capture, the committee felt it was important to provide specific policy recommendations on the type of management TFB expects of GCDs.

Therefore, the committee made five recommendations to the state board that set out these expectations.

First, the Texas Water Development Board, or other appropriate state agency, should be required to designate areas of single-source aquifers where coordinated management between GCDs is needed. The GCDs in those management areas should be required by law to develop and follow a cooperative management plan for the area.

Second, the committee recommended that TFB support streamlining the petition process for creating a GCD to make it a more desirable option than creating a district through the Texas Legislature.

Third, the committee supported the adoption of rules by GCDs which are “science-based,” follow the correlative rights principle where practical and feasible, and respect the private property rights of landowners to capture and market groundwater.

Fourth, the committee recommended requiring domestic groundwater wells on small acreage (lots of typical size for ranchettes and subdivisions) to be permitted. However, domestic wells on 10 acres or more, and all livestock wells, should still be exempt from the permitting requirements.

And finally, the committee recommended that any property-tax-exempt governmental entity that purchases property for a well field be required to pay a production fee in lieu of a property tax.

For the complete text of TFB’s testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, or other TFB testimony provided during the interim, log onto TFB’s web site at www.tfb.org and click “Legislative Updates.”

This information is compiled by the TFB legislative staff in Austin—Gary Joiner and Billy Howe. They may be reached at 512/472-8288.