After months of opposition by communities along the Llano River, the former CEO of Houston-based energy company Phillips 66 has withdrawn his permit application to build a private dam on his ranch in Edwards County, according to state environmental regulators.
Greg Garland’s Waterstone Creek LLC had sought state permission to dam the South Llano River in an application filed five years ago. The permit, if approved, would have allowed the LLC to create a pond roughly equal to six olympic-sized swimming pools.
The dam would have been the first private dam built in the Llano River watershed since 1976 — and the first built for recreational purposes like swimming, boating and fishing. At a public meeting about the application that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held in August, Garland said the pool’s purpose was to promote more wildlife and fish on his property.
The agency received a letter from Peter T. Gregg, a representative for Waterstone Creek LLC, with a formal request to withdraw Garland’s application on Oct. 18, a day after The Texas Tribune published a story on the dam controversy.
Gregg and Garland did not respond to requests for comment.
“The dam is dead, the dam is dead,” said Linda Fawcett, president of the Llano River Watershed Alliance and a resident of Junction who lives about 60 miles southwest of Gregg’s property.
Fawcett and others along the river had expressed concerns about the proposed construction of a private dam along the South Llano River. They said it would start a domino effect of property owners building more private dams, which could alter the river’s natural flow and send less water into the Highland Lakes.
Up and down the Llano River, local officials also had spoke out against the possible privatization of a section of a public river.
See here for the background. I had drafted a post based on that October 17 Trib story, but hadn’t had the chance to publish it yet because there’s been so much damn news lately. That post is beneath the fold, and there’s a lot of interesting history about private dams and this project in particular. I’d call this an unequivocal win for everyone who was at risk by this proposal. Read on for more about that.
This continues to be a wild story.
Linda Fawcett’s ancestral home in this West Texas town holds a 6-feet-by-4-feet oil painting depicting her biggest fear: the Llano River going dry.
The painting features a waterfall cascading at the top, an hourglass marking the passage of time in the middle, and a barren desert with a skeletal figure below, symbolizing life when a body of water disappears.
“In my mind, we are transitioning that way. The skeleton represents death,” Fawcett, a 68-year-old artist turned activist, said of the canvas she painted in 2003. “I’ve long worried about us running out of water.”
The Llano River begins in Kimble County, where the North and South Llano rivers meet, then flows roughly 100 miles eastward, passing through Mason and Llano Counties before feeding into the Colorado River.
About 60 miles southwest of Fawcett’s home, Greg Garland, the former CEO of the Houston-based energy company Phillips 66, is seeking permission from the state to dam the South Llano River on his ranch in Edwards County.
Five years after Garland filed an application for the dam — which would create a pond roughly equal to six olympic-sized swimming pools — the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is evaluating the proposal. At a public meeting about the application that TCEQ held in August, Garland said the pool’s purpose was to promote more wildlife and fish on his property. He did not respond to requests for comment.
The TCEQ said earlier this summer it would schedule a second meeting for residents to share their opinions about the proposed permit, but has yet to pick a location, date and time for the meeting. Concerned residents can still submit public comments to the agency.
And lots of people are concerned. Residents living along the river, environmental advocates and local officials are fighting the dam permit, which they say would set a precedent that could start a domino effect of property owners building more private dams, which could alter the river’s natural flow and send less water into the Highland Lakes.
“The river is literally life blood to the community,” said Fawcett, who’s also the president of the Llano River Watershed Alliance. “This could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The state already has thousands of private dams, including five on the Llano watershed, all built before 1980 for irrigation. The watershed also has four public dams used for recreation and to supply water to local residents. But Garland’s would be the first private dam built on the Llano River and its main tributaries since 1976 — and the first built for recreation purposes like swimming, boating and fishing.
Garland’s application through Houston-based Waterstone Creek LLC has requirements that ensure the environment is not harmed, said Victoria Cann, a TCEQ spokesperson.
[…]
Texas has about 8,000 dams, according to the TCEQ, and about 62% are privately owned. Of the private dams, nearly 600, or about 12%, are on the state’s 14 major rivers such as the Rio Grande, Colorado, Pecos, Nueces, Brazos, Trinity and Guadalupe; the Llano River is considered a secondary stream by the state.
Some of the first private dams in Texas were built on the Nueces River in 1911 for irrigation purposes. Since then, about 21% of private dams built in Texas list recreation as their main purpose.
Before approving a new private dam, the TCEQ’s role is to determine whether the proposed dam would affect residents or the nearby environment. Although a final permit has not been issued, a state draft permit for Garland’s project shows that if it’s approved, Garland’s Waterstone Creek LLC would be allowed to take up to 12 acre-feet of water per year — or nearly 4 million gallons — from the South Llano River.
Garland’s Waterstone Creek LLC has entered a contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority, a nonprofit that manages water resources in the lower Colorado River watershed, that would charge it $155 per acre-foot of water annually.
Clara Tuma, a spokesperson for the LCRA, said a contract is required because Waterstone Creek would take water that would otherwise flow into the Highland Lakes. It would only take effect if the TCEQ approves the permit application.
Garland would need to check the stream flows of the river each season and if the river’s flow is too low he would need to let some water out of his pond, according to TCEQ’s draft permit.
But Nathan Glavy, a technical director at the environmental nonprofit Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance said the TCEQ doesn’t check that a private dam owner is actually releasing water when they should.
“We’d have to put our trust in him,” he said.
Cann, the TCEQ spokesperson, said the agency isn’t required to regularly inspect private dams and their water flow, but does inspections “as needed, typically in response to complaints.”
See here for the background, and the Llano River Watershed Alliance has an information page about this that you might find useful. I had no idea there were so many private dams in the state. That’s the city boy in me, I guess. This one is different, and I think there are lots of reasons to be wary about it. I’ll keep an eye on the story and we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, this calls for a tune:
I do love a pretty song about a doomed romance. You could also use it to study for your 7th grade TEKS test. Either way, enjoy.