Specifically, per page 6 of the July Texas Press Messenger, I'm talking about state Sen. Charles Perry, who was given the unchallenged open mic time to promote the water plan constitutional amendment he authored.
Beyond the actual problems with Perry's amendment (and it has them, and I'll be voting against), is the ethics problem. NO politico should get free, unchallenged airtime at ANY state's — or national — newspaper convention on a specific political issue.
Period.
As for those problems?
No. 1, as I noted early this summer, is that it doesn't regulate groundwater pumping.
No. 2 and related is that it doesn't really say anything about conservation.
Forest Wilder at the Monthly threw it way under the bus this spring.
A few takeaways:
Perry, a Lubbock Republican, envisions a multibillion-dollar statewide “water grid” to make sure Texas never worries about the resource again. He is proposing investing in desalinating salty Gulf water, cleaning up the chemical-laden fracking water used to coax oil from the ground in the Permian Basin, and injecting fresh water underground for later use.
Yeah, produced water, chemical-laced even after cleanup, and often radiation-laced, too.
The price? (This was about Perry's overall big dream, not just the amendment, but still):
The whole shebang could cost $162 billion, according to an estimate by the Texas Water Infrastructure Network (TXWIN), a trade association. That’s a staggering figure—about equal to the state’s total annual spending. And it dwarfs the $80 billion worth of projects recommended by the state’s own official water plan, last updated in 2022.
He didn't tout THAT at TPA.
He also didn't talk to Wilder for his article.
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