A rare bill that might do some good.
The Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill in an attempt to save a popular state park from permanent closure and development into a private community. The measure now moves to the state Senate.
Fairfield Lake State Park, about 70 miles east of Waco, was closed to the public at the end of February, after almost 50 years in operation. It has since temporarily reopened but is slated for permanent closure later this summer.
The House approved House Bill 4757 Friday by a vote of 131-8, a show of bipartisan support.
The bill would require the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission to approve any application for new or amended water rights related to Fairfield Lake, as well as adjoining Big Brown Creek. Parks and Wildlife officials had previously raised concerns about how the developer planned to use the water.
Right now, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is responsible for evaluating and approving applications to change water permits. If signed into law, the bill would mean changes to the permits would have to be approved by Parks and Wildlife in addition to the TCEQ.
The land in question is not owned by the state, but is instead leased from Vistra Energy, which formerly operated a power plant near the park. Vistra is in contract to sell the land to Todd Interests, a Dallas-based developer, which plans to turn the site into an exclusive gated community with multi-million dollar homes and a private golf course.
The water permit for the lake is currently for industrial use. Vistra says it has not used the water since 2018, when the power plant closed. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Chairman Arch ‘Beaver’ Aplin previously told lawmakers that Todd Interests wants to change the water permit from industrial to consumptive, residential and recreational, and send thousands of acre-feet to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
“They want to be able to move 14,000 acre-feet, which is over a third of the water at the conservation pool level,” Aplin told lawmakers in a March 9 committee hearing. “The lake will not be the lake as we know it when you stick a straw in it and take a third of the water out of the lake. It just won’t.”
Shawn Todd, CEO of Todd Interests, pushed back in a statement provided to KXAN. “The State had multiple opportunities over the last four years to lawfully purchase the land under Fairfield [Lake] State Park,” Todd said, alluding to months of negotiations which ultimately failed. “Taxpayers would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars if Texas Parks and Wildlife had acted responsibly.”
“Today, the same politicos who failed the State are now resorting to brazen and surreptitious actions to cover up their inactivity by abusing governmental powers to unlawfully take water and property rights from a Texas landowner,” Todd said. “These same politicos hypocritically proclaim they are pro-business and strong private property rights advocates. These undemocratic actions should be alarming to any Texas landowner or voter. The proposed bill is a direct attack on private property rights and, if enacted, will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.”
See here, here, and here for the background. I shouldn’t laugh, but Shawn Todd’s belief that the Lege acts in a “pro-business” fashion is adorable. I mean, sure, they love some businesses, but the lists of anti-business actions they’ve taken just this session, let alone the past decade or so, is too long to even summarize. The Lege, as now ruled by this batch of Republicans, is all about the id. If they don’t like something, they’ll do whatever they want to get rid of it, regardless of any other consideration. If you haven’t figured that out by now, maybe get some better news sources. (Speaking of, the DMN’s lament about the lack of respect for the “free market” is the kind of thing that could only be written by someone who also regularly emails Santa Claus. I mean, come on.)
As it happens, in this one case, I think the action they’re taking is in pursuit of a worthy goal. Whether it will work, beginning with whether the Senate will go along and then later if it will survive litigation, is another question. But for now, it’s a good day for Fairfield State Park. I’ll take the good news where I can get it.