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Joe Cooper, general manager for the the
Middle Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, announced the
resignation of director Boyd Waggoner during the district’s most
recent board meeting, Thursday, March 1.
Cooper said that his office had received
a hand-delivered letter on Wednesday afternoon, at 4 p.m., announcing
the resignation, and that the item would be addressed at the next
monthly meeting.
“Yes,” said Rodney Stephens, board
chairman, “we’ll have this as an agenda item, to both accept the
resignation and (how to) fill in the vacant spot on the board.”
In Sunday’s edition of the Stephenville
Empire-Tribune Waggoner was quoted as saying he was stepping down
primarily because the MTGCD is not conserving nor protecting our
groundwater -- nor preventing waste.”
According to the E-T report, Waggoner
also said the MTGCD was “allowing the exploitation of groundwater for
private profit and unnecessary exportation, also for profit.”
Within a few hours of the announcement of
Waggoner’s resignation, e-mails went out from one of the organizers of
the group “Worried About Water” calling the news “shocking and
disturbing.”
In other business, the need to plug
abandoned wells was discussed at some length by the board.
“We see a lot of coverage given to oil and gas waste injection wells,”
Cooper said, “and rightly so. But I would just almost beg the
newspapers to get on board with us and help us get the word out --
it’s just as important or probably more important -- about the number
of abandoned, unplugged and uncapped wells that we have within our
district. They’re direct straws. Many of them are not concrete encased
like a waste injection well. These are a bigger threat, in my opinion,
just because of the sheer number of them.”
Cooper went on to say that his office had
released an article to the Dublin newspaper regarding abandoned wells,
but did not release it to other area papers at the same time for fear
that his staff would be overwhelmed with requests for assistance.
“That article resulted in one call,”
Cooper said, “and then through word of mouth we got one more. We were
underwhelmed, so now we’ll be putting the word out in other papers as
well. And you people who care enough to come to the meeting, we
appreciate your help as well on getting the word out on how important
it is to find these things and get them taken care of.”
Cooper said he didn’t want expense to be
a deciding factor on whether someone sought help with an abandoned
well.
“We don’t have all the money in the
world,” he said, “but we do have a budget item that will allow us to
buy...the materials necessary to help someone plug a well, if they
just don’t have the means to do it. If they’re generous enough to go
ahead and pay for the materials then we’ll take their money, because
that will allow us to continue on and plug even more.”
Sharon Mainord, MTGCD administrative
assistant, pointed out that if someone did wish to pay for the
plugging, all they’re paying for is the materials. “Yes, we’re
supplying the labor to do the work,” Cooper said.
In other business, directors:
• Approved the minutes from the February
meeting.
• Approved payment of the bills.
• Reviewed the income and expense
comparison, where Joe Cooper noted that “everything was balanced to
the penny.”
• Conducted a Rulemaking Hearing to
adopt, by resolution, by-laws of the Middle Trinity GCD (just prior to
the regular meeting.) The by-laws are available for viewing on the
MTGCD website at wwwmiddletrinitygcd.org.
• Heard a report from Cooper (during his
manager’s report) on a “Driller’s Workshop” held February 20, 2007 in
Dublin. “It was a workshop between drillers (Dowell, Fronterhouse,
Davis, etc.) and their staff and our staff,” Cooper said, noting that
it was a very positive meeting. One of the issues addressed was a need
“to better track test holes” in the future.
“Test holes, when they’re drilled, can be
an open conduit to the aquifer for pollution if they’re not plugged,”
Cooper said, adding that the district plans to have a form to register
the test holes, just as it does for wells.
In a brief permit hearing prior to the
regular board meeting, directors approved four well permit
applications (a total of 17 wells) with Director Jerry Fronterhouse
abstaining. Fronterhouse, a well driller, abstained due to recent
concerns from “watch dogs” of a perceived conflict of interest.
Prior to approving the well applications,
Director Cooper offered a bit a information regarding the process for
reviewing and approving permits.
“I’d like to make a few comments,” Cooper
said, “just for the benefit of people who wonder what we do when we
get these (permits.) The Ken Wearin well is on 30 acres, this will be
their sole well for domestic and livestock watering and for on-site
irrigation. They had initially requested 80 gallons per minute, under
the maximum pumping limits that the district has in place that 30
acres would support only 55. We contacted the well owner and the
driller, and the well-owner came in and amended his application...and
it does now meet the requirements of the district.”
Cooper noted also, that another permit
applicant had originally asked for 17 wells, but that due to district
requirements they changed their application to request 13 wells. |
