Galen Scott gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com Unanimous votes in the Texas House and Senate ushered enabling legislation for the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk Monday. Pending the Governor’s approval, voters in Montague, Wise, Parker and Hood Counties will have the opportunity to approve or reject the district, which the State has threatened to create on its own terms if local authorities fail to act. The election is expected to take place during the next appropriate cycle, and required to take place before September 2009. Language included in Senate Bill 1983, sponsored in the House by Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford), stipulates the new district would have no tax authority or eminent domain power. A combination of permit and production fees is designed to fund district operations. Municipal and commercial water wells are expected to bear the brunt of the district’s fees. Wells used solely for domestic purposes, as well as agricultural wells incapable of producing more than 25,000 gallons per day, are exempt. “This is a huge win for our counties, and will help to ensure the availability of water in the hot, dry summer months,” King said. Language in the bill allows the Upper Trinity District to charge oil and gas producers certain fees, a power King said is unique among districts in Texas. The final version of the bill also gives the district’s board of directors the authority to require water well production data from oil and gas operators and other industrial users. “Without this reporting on water use, the conservation district cannot effectively plan for the future,” said Craig Estes, Parker County’s state senator and the bill’s author. However, the district would not be authorized to limit the quantity of groundwater consumed during drilling operations, a provision Remuda Ranch Estates resident Jack Cavenah doesn’t like. “I’ll vote for it because it’s better than nothing,” Cavenah said. “But as long as we’ve got the representative we’ve got — from Weatherford — he is not going to do anything about the rule of capture law.” Without a groundwater conservation district, counties in the state of Texas may not legally limit the amount of water pumped from the ground. Depending on a district’s enabling legislation, a variety of aquifer protections are made accessible, but oil and gas producers enjoy a long-standing immunity in the Texas Water Code. Though a flurry of recent studies have show natural gas production in the North Texas Barnett Shale region is responsible for about 1 percent of total water usage, drillers rely more heavily on groundwater in counties like Parker, where surface water is not always available, or the most cost-effective alternative. According to a recently-completed study commissioned by the Texas Water Development Board, drilling operations in 2005 were responsible for approximately 5.6 percent of Parker County’s total groundwater consumption, almost twice the average rate among 20 counties examined. If natural gas prices remain high, drilling could make up as much as 16 percent of Parker County’s total groundwater consumption by 2025, the study suggests. Even though King’s bill includes a provision which gives the Upper Trinity District’s board of directors authority to levy fines ten times greater that the amount stipulated in Texas Water Code, Cavenah remains skeptical about whether or not operators will comply with the new rules. “That doesn’t impress me a lot,” he said of the increased-fines provision. “What year was it that the Exxon Valdez dumped oil all over Prince William Sound? They haven’t paid one dime’s worth of that fine yet.” East Parker County resident Kathy Chruscielski, a local activist who supports forming the new district, commended the bill’s passage on the final day of the legislative session. She said she was ecstatic when she heard the bill passed, and especially pleased that oil and gas operators will have to adhere to well spacing requirements and production data rules. Chruscielski also applauded the passage of Senate Bill 714, authored by Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay), which amends the Texas Water Code to give all 87 Texas groundwater conservation districts the power to demand production data from oil and gas operators. “I think the political process has responded to the voters and the concerns of the people who have pressed them to take action where we have had concerns about the use of groundwater,” she said. “The fact that it was a unanimous vote is a victory of the voters over the powerful oil and gas lobby.” The Upper Trinity District’s eight directors (two from each county) would serve staggered, four-year terms without compensation. If voters decide against the district’s creation, a subsequent confirmation election may be held.