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For Immediate Release
TESPA Files Suit To Stop Electro Purification in Hays County District
Court
March 20, 2015
The Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA) filed suit in
Hays County District Court Friday morning seeking to stop any further work by
Electro Purification unless and until they obtain groundwater use permits from
the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. TESPA filed suit on behalf of
members living within ½ mile of the Electro Purification project. The suit names
Electro Purification and the landowners who leased the groundwater to Electro
Purification as defendants.
The suit was filed under provisions of Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code
that allow landowners to sue over water well construction on adjacent property
when the wells were constructed without appropriate permits. The suit also
complains that the rule of capture applicable to groundwater in Texas under older
case law violates the new property right in groundwater established by the Texas
Supreme Court in the case of Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, particularly given
the extensive well drawdown anticipated on adjacent properties due to the
Electro Purification project.
According to Vicki Hujsak, a founding incorporator of TESPA, “TESPA was
formed to take action to protect our aquifers and springs. It feels good to be
fighting back.”
Jeff Mundy, lead trial lawyer for TESPA summarized the main points of the
case. “First, our legal research revealed that the Legislature already passed
legislation which attempts to protect all of the groundwater in Hays County
through groundwater conservation districts. The Legislature gave the Hays
Trinity Groundwater Conservation District default jurisdiction over groundwater
in all of Hays County, to the extent jurisdiction has not otherwise been given to
another groundwater conservation district. The HTGCD has a legislatively
mandated duty to protect groundwater to assure it is used wisely and in a
sustainable manner.
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Second, if for some reason the courts find that the HTGCD does not have
jurisdiction to protect this groundwater, TESPA is requesting the Supreme Court
of Texas to review and overturn the ‘rule of capture’ as it applies to groundwater,
which will have statewide impact in areas not protected by groundwater
conservation districts or other water conservation districts. We hope to bring the
common law of Texas into accord with the laws promoting groundwater
conservation as passed by the Legislature and as mandated by the Texas
Constitution.”
According to Vanessa Puig-Williams, an environmental attorney helping
TESPA, “The rule of capture is harsh and archaic, dating back to a 1904 decision
that referred to groundwater as secret and occult. We are well beyond the occult
in our understanding of groundwater today, and we feel that the time is ripe to
challenge this doctrine that has long outlived its usefulness.”
As filed, the suit seeks a temporary injunction to stop Electro Purification
until the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District decides how to respond
to the allegation that they have regulatory responsibility for these contested
wells. The Hays Trinity District was served Tuesday with a letter giving them
notice that they had 90 days to determine what action, if any, they wished to
undertake.
TESPA is holding a public meeting at the Wimberley Community Center on
March 21 at 6:30 where members of the legal team as well as other community
leaders will speak on the litigation and the challenges that lie ahead in moving
toward effective action to protect our aquifer and our springs.
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