by Melissa del Bosque
Published on: Friday, April 23, 2010

The City of Laredo has joined the battle against wealthy oil and gas man Clayton “Claytie” Williams Jr’s bid to extract 41 million gallons of water a day which the city believes could ultimately affect the Rio Grande.

Williams plan is to sell the water to Midland, according to the City of Laredo, potentially threatening water supplies downstream and further complicating the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty.

You may remember Williams. He ran a good ol’ boy campaign as the Republican candidate for governor against Democrat Ann Richards in 1990. The Williams family have been longtime farmers in the Fort Stockton area. Williams Sr. is infamous for drying up the Comanche Springs because of the copious amounts of water needed for his farming operation. He won a landmark case in the ‘50s reaffirming his right to pump water under Texas’ archaic “Rule of Capture” law.

Laredo is, understandingly, serious about its protection of the Rio Grande its sole source of drinking water. “Water is life. No one is going to cut our lifeline or take away our natural resources, not from us, or anyone else along the border,” Mayor Raul Salinas said in a press release.

Under the “Rule of Capture” anyone who has a well can pump as much water as permitted regardless of the affect on his neighbors. Williams has applied for the permit from the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District in Ft. Stockton. Currently, local groundwater districts are the only entities that can prevent someone from depleting an aquifer.

Jay Johnson-Castro, director of the nonprofit Rio Grande International Study Center, worries that extracting water from the Edwards/Trinity aquifer zone will ultimately deplete water supplies in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo watershed. He’d like to see a moratorium on the permit until science can prove otherwise.

“This is a major issue. The border region is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States and it deserves every drop of water that comes its way,” he says.

Johnson-Castro, and cities along the border including Laredo, are appealing to officials at the state and federal level to put a moratorium on William’s bid to export water. The city of Fort Stockton has also passed a resolution supporting the moratorium.

Last year, Williams filed a civil suit alleging liable and slander against Fort Stockton’s Mayor Ruben Falcon. Among other things, Williams took issue with Falcon stating during a Dec. 14, 2009, commissioners meeting that Williams wanted “to roll right over several landowners by their abuse of condemnation power to condemn easements.”

According to Texas law, though, Williams has every right to pump under the rule of the capture. The devil in the details is whether he can export the water and sell it rather than use it for irrigation on his 13,000 acre alfalfa farm. This is not a minor amount of water. The amount of water that Laredo and Nuevo Laredo use equals 100 million gallons a day, while Williams wants to pump 41 million gallons a day, according to the Texas Tribune.

The privatization and marketing of water is a recurring issue that the State Legislature keeps punting to local groundwater districts. Back in 2005, some private water marketing interests had the idea of pumping water out of Kinney County, which lies on the Rio Grande, sending it downstream toward Brownsville and then piping it up to San Antonio.

The ensuing battle between water marketers and county residents was nasty and prolonged and spilled out into the Texas Legislature. As a legislative staffer in the committee where the bill was heard in 2005, I can tell you I will never forget it. It was like the Hatfield and McCoys -- at times heated and ugly and it went on for days and days. Jay Johnson-Castro and his brother Tommy Castro penned a tune about the rule of capture based on that 2005 battle – it’s appropriately enough, a blues number.

That bill finally died, thank God, but the issue never will.

If Williams is allowed to export and sell his water it will open the floodgates (pun intended) for other water marketers in the state. This is a huge issue for Texas and something that is deserving of statewide policy instead of being hashed out piecemeal by groundwater districts which don’t have the legal firepower or scientific background to grapple with such a contentious issue.

The state Legislature is going to have to muster the intestinal fortitude and a number of special sessions to tackle the “Rule of Capture.” But we all know that intestinal fortitude is something the Legislature is short on these days.

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Laredo, Texas - Developing news in the debate over extracting water from the Pecos River.

The City of Laredo will announce its opposition to a water project supported by Midland businessman Clayton Williams.

According to the Laredo Sun newspaper, Mayor Raul Salinas says the resolution will be presented at the next city council meeting.

He is quoted as saying that the project is harmful and negative for those who depend on the Rio Grande.

The Pecos River feeds about 80-million gallons of water per day into the Rio Grande.

Williams says he has the right to extract underground water from his property near Fort Stockton and he plans to sell it for industrial use in Midland.

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Now, on to Claytie Williams. This item appeared on 21 April 2010 in the Texas Tribune. Williams hasGMA rights to pump 47,000 acre-feet annually from beneath his Pecos County land under a permit from the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District (MPGCD) which lies mostly within GMA 7 with its northern part in GMA 3.

So what's the problem? Well, Williams' water is to be used for irrigation, and he wants to sell it to cities such as Midland more than 100 miles away from his land holdings. So he needs a waiver from the MPGCD. His request may come before the board as early as May 2010.

Not everyone is enthused about Williams' desire to sell the groundwater. From reporter Julian Aguilar's story:

The citizens of Fort Stockton, says Mayor Ruben Falcon, “feel that the future water supply is threatened by having a large amount of water transferred out of the aquifer.” Others believe allowing Williams’ transfer would set a dangerous precedent for all communities in the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo Watershed, which supplies Laredo and the entire Rio Grande Valley.

“There is going to be a whole set of dominoes where people are going to be extracting or attempting to extract water from the watershed … at the risk of the Rio Grande Community,” said Jay J. Johnson Castro, the executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center in Laredo. The center and the City of Fort Stockton entered into a joint resolution seeking a moratorium to prevent the transfer of the water.

The 11-member conservation district could decide the issue as soon as May, though contested hearings may push the decision into the fall. The clash underscores the increasing scarcity of water in Texas — and the resulting standoffs between profit seekers looking to mine and sell the water and the municipalities trying cling to their rights to local supplies. In the balance hangs the health of the Rio Grande, which is already included on the World Wildlife’s list of most endangered rivers in North America, Castro said. Williams’ attempted removal of the water could harm the rivers that eventually drain into the Rio Grande, which in prior years has failed to make it the Gulf of Mexico due to low water levels.

Williams wants to draw more than 47,000 acre-feet of water annually from the watershed. An acre–foot is about 325,820 gallons, potentially bringing Fort Stockton Holding’s haul to exceed more than 15,449,780 gallons annually and total more than 463 trillion gallons over the life of the 30-year permit.

Here is more:

Williams already has a permit in place that allows him to drill the same amount he is requesting — but solely for irrigation purposes. He asserts in his current libel lawsuit that the “rule of capture” makes the water under his property his to pump, use or sell. The rule asserts that the landowner holds the right to capture the water beneath his property without considering the effects to neighboring properties.

In court documents, Williams cites previous case law — including a 1954 case involving his father, Clayton Williams Sr. That case, Pecos County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 v. Williams, reaffirms the rule of capture in his favor, Williams Jr. claims in court documents. In that case, an appellate court decided the elder Williams owned the water beneath his land, which fed into Comanche Springs. Williams Jr. also cites Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code, which reads, “ownership and rights of the owners of the land and their lessees and assigns in groundwater are herby recognized.”

So yes, the 'rule of capture' still rules in Texas.

Williams’ opponents, meanwhile, are counting on the fact that he wants to change the use of the water from what's in his existing permit. They argue that current law supersedes Texas’ rule of capture. Johnson and Falcon are banking on the Texas Supreme Court decision rendered in Guitar Holding Co. LP v. Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District to bolster that argument.

Johnson litigated the 2007 case on behalf of the Guitar family, who owned a large swath of land over the Bone Springs-Victorio Peak Aquifer in Hudspeth County. In that case, the court overturned a lower court’s decision that, under the district rules, “production from a grandfathered well, historically used to irrigate crops, can in the future be sold for transport out of the district as a preserved historic or existing use.” Instead, the higher court determined that the “amount of groundwater used and its beneficial purpose are components of ‘historic or existing use.’” So the district exceeded its rule-making authority by ignoring changes in the amount and purpose of water use in decisions to grandfathering existing wells, the higher court ruled.

“The Guitar case stands for the proposition that, just because Mr. Williams has the right to produce 46,000 acre-feet for irrigation purposes, that does not mean he has the right to convert that amount to some new use,” Johnson said.

But some people are persistent, even invoking international issues:

It is ultimately up to the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District to approve or reject the permit. But Castro argues that because the surface waters of the Rio Grande are governed by the Treaty of Feb. 3, 1944, which is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission in El Paso, the federal government should consider intervening in the dispute.

“We think there are higher laws that should be in consideration here. The Environmental Protection Agency should look into this because this is the future,” he said. “Our thought is, the growth should be where the water is. The water shouldn’t be moved where you want the growth. That’s where Texas is going to get into trouble.”

Castro has written the international water commission and four border congressmen: U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, and Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. The IBWC acknowledged receipt of the letter, but commission spokeswoman Sally Spener declined to comment in detail, saying the agency has yet to respond its claims.

I will be very interested in seeing how this case and the Pickens case are resolved. The one similarity is that like Pickens, Williams does not have a buyer for his water. Midland apparently does not want it, and there is talk of using it for a 'clean coal' power plant that is supposed to be built in the Midland-Odessa area. And Williams' water would need to be blended or purified to be used for drinking water.

So why is Williams is trying to do this if there are no buyers? A friend of mine suggested that 'personalities' are involved here. I'll say.

Ah, Texas groundwater! I was under the impression that after passing the GMA legislation, Texas had its act together with groundwater. Let me make a real stretch here and say that Boone and Claytie may soon be laughing all the way to bank (which they will probably do anyway, win or lose).

And you can thank Wayne Bossert of the NW Kansas Groundwater Management District 4, for 'encouraging' me (unbeknownst to him) for posting this.

“Nobody has stepped up to the plate. Nobody has foreseen this. Nobody is dealing with this directly. There are millions of people downriver from him. Once they know, (they) are going to have more power than he ever imagined.” -- J.J.J. Castro, quoted in the article.

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Acuña, Coah.- Ante la grave amenaza que se cierne sobre la cuenca del río Bravo por la pretensión de la empresa Fort Stockton Holdings, el Distrito del Agua Subterránea celebró en esa pequeña comunidad este martes su primera junta pública integrando un bloque de defensa por la intención de lograr se les autorice extraer 15 mil millones de galones anualmente durante 30 años, para comercializar el agua en varias ciudades de Texas.

Fort Stockton Holdings, es propiedad del magnate texano Clayton Williams Jr., político, ganadero, empresario banquero y quien fue candidato a Gobernador de Texas.

Ante la Corte del Distrito Oeste de Texas, con su grupo de abogados, Williams ha interpuesto una demanda afirmando que tiene la autorización para extraer 41 millones diarios de la cuenca compartida del río Bravo y el Pecos, que inicialmente destinaría a uso agrícola pero que ahora busca vender a ciudades como Dallas, Midland, Odessa, Austin y San Antonio.

El activista ambiental delriense Jay Johnson Castro, director ejecutivo del Centro de Estudios Internacional del Río Grande, afirma que se han unido organismos y autoridades en la lucha por evitar que se dé esta aprobación para extraer masivamente agua de la cuenca, lo que afectaría a unos diez millones de habitantes de ciudades fronterizas de cinco estados como son Texas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León y Tamaulipas.

Estas comunidades, tienen en el Bravo su principal fuente de supervivencia por ser su mayor fuente de abasto del vital líquido.

Este miércoles habría otra junta en Laredo para tratar el caso, afirmando Johnson que este sería un acto discriminatorio en perjuicio de los fronterizos, quizá legal pero no justo, además de que su autorización violaría el Tratado Internacional de Aguas de 1944 entre México y Estados Unidos que prohibe extraer agua con fines privados o de lucro.

Dijo que el potentado Williams busca que se aplique la antigua ley británica que tiene el estado de Texas de “derecho de captura”, donde quien tenga el mayor equipo de bombeo es quien obtiene toda el agua que pueda extraer, siendo 47 mil pies acres por año los que éste está demandando, incluso ya en la Corte, afirmando que su empresa está actuando legalmente, que ha invertido ya más de un millón de dólares y pidiendo, inclusive, que se sancione a las autoridades de Fort Stockton por no darle la autorización.

Fort Stockton es una pequeña comunidad de apenas 7 mil 500 habitantes y de aprobarse esta petición se afectaría a ciudades desde Acuña hasta Matamoros, desde Del Rio hasta Brownsville, afirmándose inclusive que equivaldría a un ecocidio por los graves e irreversibles daños que se causaría además a la flora y a la fauna.

“El agua es ahora el petróleo azul”, dijo Jay Johnson, ejemplificando que hace cinco años el pie de acre de agua se pagaba en apenas 125 dólares pero actualmente este mismo volumen vale cinco mil dólares, de ahí la ambición de esta empresa por buscar este multimillonario negocio, pero a costa de afectar a millones de residentes fronterizos.

Se viene exhortando a legisladores, agencias ambientales de Coahuila y Texas como la EPA, SEMARNAT, CONAGUA, Departamento del Interior y la CILA, en cuya jurisdicción geográfica entran las cuencas compartidas del Pecos y Bravo, a unirse para evitar esta aprobación.

En México organismos señalan que el país “no se puede quedar cruzado de brazos” y se disponen a participar ante esta amenaza.

Johnson citó también que hace unos ocho años a consecuencia de una intensa sequía el Bravo sin extracción alguna no llegó a desembocar al Golfo, por lo que sería catastrófico que esto ocurriera cuando se aprobara la extracción de una cantidad enorme como son 14 billones de galones de agua, con una concesión criminal por treinta años, que es lo que se busca impedir.

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Pioneer Staff Writer

The word for the day is “justiciable.”According to Merriam-Webster, the word means “capable of being decided by legal principles or by a court of justice.”According to the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District Board of Directors, it means you get to be a part of the process of determining whether the production permit for Fort Stockton Holdings is approved.A total of nine parties were found to have a justiciable interest by the MPGCD Board of Directors during a nearly six-hour meeting and hearing Tuesday at the Large Community Hall.“These are people with a real interest,” MPGCD special legal counsel Bill Dugat said, “or could be potentially adversely affected.”Eleven parties were not qualified. They included a number of groundwater districts south and east of Pecos County, as well as the City of Del Rio, the City of Menard, the Brewster County Groundwater Conservation District and Brewster County.
The Rio Grande International Study Center, which recently formed an alliance with the City of Fort Stockton to fight Fort Stockton Holdings' plan to export about 47,000 acre-feet of water per year from 18,000 acres Clayton Williams controls in the Leon-Belding area west of Fort Stockton, was also found to not have a justiciable interest and was not qualified.Dugat, who was retained by the MPGCD board earlier in the meeting, said the parties who were admitted during the hearing had easily-identifiable links to the district. He said the board's focus must be on the MPGCD and the sustainability of desired future conditions for the district, not on issues outside the district's jurisdiction.Those who were granted party status at the meeting will advance to the hearing on the merits, Dugat said. That hearing - which is yet to be determined, according to MPGCD board president Glenn Honaker - will include sworn testimony before the board.

The nine qualified at the hearing were:

>> Fort Stockton Holdings, which has its amended application for a production permit and transport authorization before the board. According to the application, Fort Stockton Holdings plans to withdraw water from 46 existing wells currently permitted for irrigation purposes to market to potential municipal or industrial users in as many as 22 counties.

>> The general manager of the MPGCD, Paul Weatherby.

>> The City of Fort Stockton, which has four wells in the Leon-Belding area.

>> Pecos County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, which has wells in the Leon-Belding area it uses to supply potable water to about 900 families in Pecos County, according to Harvey Gray, chairman of the PCWCID No. 1 board.

>> Mark Bradley Davis, a Pecos County landowner who has about 3,400 acres about 20 miles away from Leon-Belding, according to his attorney Charles Myers of Midland.

>> Gregg McKenzie, a former Pecos County Commissioner who ranches and owns land in Pecos County. McKenzie also briefly served as an MPGCD director before resigning due to a conflict of interest. McKenzie also said he has a well-lease with Williams that only allows for agricultural withdrawls.

>> Dan Piercy, a Pecos County landowner who owns land adjacent to land controlled by Williams in the Leon-Belding area

>> Tom Beard, a Brewster County rancher, who owns land in a small part of southern Pecos County

>> L.B. Ryan, a Pecos County landowner with property in the area of Leon-Belding. Ryan said he has a lease with Williams similar to McKenzie's.

MPGCD officials stressed early and repeatedly the meeting was not a forum to debate the merits of the application. The nearly-full Large Community Hall at the start of the meeting was only half-full a little more than an hour in, and was nearly empty as the session moved into the afternoon.The meeting and hearing was for process and procedure - the process and procedure of who may formally protest or support Fort Stockton Holdings' application. Some speakers, who comprised potential parties and public commenters, did make their views known, however, and most either came out against or signified they were against the application.Several speakers admitted confusion about the process, specifically regarding the qualifications required to be admitted as a party.

During the regular meeting of the board, it approved the accounts payable, the treasurer's report for March 31 and the line item transfers.The board also discussed possible agenda items for the board's next regularly-scheduled meeting at 1 p.m. May 18, including the restructuring of board offices, the status of a director for Precinct 1, and applications from SandRidge Energy and the City of Iraan.

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El agua del río Pecos llega hasta el Bravo y es derecho de los fronterizos, de acuerdo al Tratado de 1944 entre EU y México.

NUEVO LAREDO.- El agua del río Pecos, y sus afluentes subterráneos alimentan al río Bravo.

Una empresa privada adquirió derechos sobre extensos territorios y ha solicitado la extracción del agua de esos lugares para transportarla y venderla a entidades públicas y privadas en condados cercanos.

El agua del Bravo ha sido considerada patrimonio de la comunidad fronteriza de EU y México, a raíz del tratado binacional de 1944.

El Estado de Texas ha regulado sus aguas sobre la arcaica “regla de captura”, o “derecho de captura”. Esencialmente, el propietario del mayor bombeo obtiene el agua que se puede extraer.

La petición de una moratoria se solicita para proteger el agua, y realizar estudios de impacto ambiental, si se aprueba la extracción del agua solicitada por la empresa privada.

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Se proyecta extraer agua del río Pecos, uno de los afluentes más importantes de Estados Unidos que llegan al Bravo
NUEVO LAREDO.- La Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas (CILA) en Nuevo Laredo están a la espera de que llegue la solicitud de apoyo por parte de las autoridades ambientales, para intervenir en el caso de Fort Stockton en el que se proyecta extraer agua del río Pecos, uno de los afluentes más importantes de Estados Unidos que llegan al río Bravo.

"Vamos a analizar el caso, es muy importante porque es agua dentro de la cuenca del río Bravo. Se tienen que hacer los estudios porque al parecer se está hablando de extraer aguas subterráneas.

Tenemos que ver hasta dónde podemos intervenir porque es en territorio de Estados Unidos y no tenemos un tratado de aguas subterráneas", destacó David Negrete Arroyos, representante de la Cila en Nuevo Laredo.

El último tratado binacional fue acordado en el año de 1944, en que el agua del Bravo fue considerada patrimonio de la humanidad, tratado entre México y Estados Unidos que surgió a raíz de un problema.

Negrete Arroyos, dijo que la situación que se está presentando en el vecino país podría ser punta de lanza para llegar a un tratado binacional de aguas subterráneas y entonces sí poder actuar de forma inmediata.

Sin embargo están a la espera de que llegue el oficio de petición de ayuda por parte de las autoridades ambientales.

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El cauce fronterizo se ubica entre los 10 afluentes con poca vida; buscan frenar extracción de su agua

NUEVO LAREDO.- El río Bravo se ubica entre los 10 afluentes en peligro de desaparecer, debido al agua que se extrae de ellos, según un estudio realizado en el 2007 por el Fondo Mundial de la Vida Silvestre.

Es por ello que las autoridades civiles buscarán detener, o por lo menos pausar el proyecto de extraer agua de los mantos acuíferos del Bravo para uso privado, en una región de Fort Stockton, Texas.

"Son 41 mil galones de agua al día lo que está solicitando por parte de la empresa estadounidense. Imagínate si se saca tanta agua por día, dónde vamos a estar dentro de 10 ó 20 años", destacó Sandra Luz Tejada Vallarta, presidenta del Centro Internacional de Estudios del Río Bravo CIER, AC en Nuevo Laredo.

El CIER AC buscará el apoyo de las autoridades competentes de los tres niveles de gobierno mexicano, como CILA, Conagua, Semarnat, entre otras dependencias, para trabajar en conjunto con el Centro de Estudios Internacionales de Río Grande, hasta obtener los estudios hidrológicos sobre el impacto que generaría al extraer agua del río.

"Todos unidos podemos alzar la voz y poner un poquito de presión. De lo que se dio cuenta el RGISC, es de que se estaba haciendo de forma muy discreta el trámite por parte de la empresa, aunque conforme a la ley; pero somos una asociación pendiente de lo que está sucediendo y que la ciudadanía esté informada de los peligros que está registrando el río Bravo y por ello mismo tenemos que cuidarlo", puntualizó.

El martes habrá una reunión en el Condado de Fort Stockton entre las autoridades y los representantes de la empresa, para considerar la preliminar del proyecto.

Una empresa privada de Fort Stockton tramita la autorización para poder extraer del Bravo, millones de metros cúbicos de agua para uso privado, situación que ha alarmado a las autoridades de dicho condado.

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Iniciamos el noticiero con el rio bravo el cual ambientalisatas locales dicen esta en peligro. Asi es angel. El millonario empresario texano Clayton Williams ha solicitado la autorizacion del distrito de conservacion de agua del condado de pecos para extraer 45-trillones de galones, de agua del Rio Pecos durante un periodo de 30 años. Williams se dice pagaria por el agua, para luego venderla. Esto a puesto en alerta a autoridades de ambas fronteras, por el impacto que podria tener al rio bravo, porque el rio pecos de donde sacaria el agua se conecta con lo que es la principal fuente de agua de las comunidades fronterizas. Wendolyne Rivera nos amplia la informacion en exclusiva.

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El cauce fronterizo se ubica entre los 10 afluentes con poca vida; buscan frenar extracción de su agua

NUEVO LAREDO.- El río Bravo se ubica entre los 10 afluentes en peligro de desaparecer, debido al agua que se extrae de ellos, según un estudio realizado en el 2007 por el Fondo Mundial de la Vida Silvestre.

Es por ello que las autoridades civiles buscarán detener, o por lo menos pausar el proyecto de extraer agua de los mantos acuíferos del Bravo para uso privado, en una región de Fort Stockton, Texas.

"Son 41 mil galones de agua al día lo que está solicitando por parte de la empresa estadounidense. Imagínate si se saca tanta agua por día, dónde vamos a estar dentro de 10 ó 20 años", destacó Sandra Luz Tejada Vallarta, presidenta del Centro Internacional de Estudios del Río Bravo CIER, AC en Nuevo Laredo.

El CIER AC buscará el apoyo de las autoridades competentes de los tres niveles de gobierno mexicano, como CILA, Conagua, Semarnat, entre otras dependencias, para trabajar en conjunto con el Centro de Estudios Internacionales de Río Grande, hasta obtener los estudios hidrológicos sobre el impacto que generaría al extraer agua del río.

"Todos unidos podemos alzar la voz y poner un poquito de presión. De lo que se dio cuenta el RGISC, es de que se estaba haciendo de forma muy discreta el trámite por parte de la empresa, aunque conforme a la ley; pero somos una asociación pendiente de lo que está sucediendo y que la ciudadanía esté informada de los peligros que está registrando el río Bravo y por ello mismo tenemos que cuidarlo", puntualizó.

El martes habrá una reunión en el Condado de Fort Stockton entre las autoridades y los representantes de la empresa, para considerar la preliminar del proyecto.

Una empresa privada de Fort Stockton tramita la autorización para poder extraer del Bravo, millones de metros cúbicos de agua para uso privado, situación que ha alarmado a las autoridades de dicho condado.

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By Zach Lindsey
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
Published: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:25 AM CDT

A company’s plan to pump 14 billion gallons a year from the Rio Grande watershed in Pecos County could affect drinking water for dozens of border communities, according to Jay Johnson Castro of the Rio Grande International Study Center.

Rancher Clayton Williams wants to export the water, which runs through property he owns, to an industrial customer in Midland.

But environmental groups fear the impact on the watershed, and Texas State Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio is afraid of the legal precedent that the water exportation would create.

Now, an April 20 hearing with the Pecos County Water District could decide the fate of Williams’ plan.

To many in Ft. Stockton in Pecos County, Clayton “Claytie” Williams, who made a failed run for the governor’s seat in 1990, is a hometown kind of guy.

But his plan has many people worried, and Uresti hasn’t softened on the issue.

“Sen. Uresti fought this plan when it first came up during the legislative session last year, and he will continue to do so,” said Mark Langford, media spokesman for Uresti.

Williams filed an application to export the water, which all sits on land he owns, in April 2008. Initially, the district called his application administratively incomplete.

They since have ruled the application complete.

Currently, Williams uses about that much water irrigating his alfalfa crops, but much of that water may return to the aquifer, meaning the use does not place a burden on the river downstream.

Johnson-Castro said there has been no scientific assessment of the impact that taking that water away from the Rio Grande watershed will have on downstream drinking water.

“Nobody downriver has a clue,” Johnson-Castro said.

The amount of water Williams plans to pump out equals about 41 million gallons a day, which is more than half the amount that Laredo’s 65 million gallon plant typically produces.

Although the impact will be spread out along the Pecos River and the Rio Grande, Johnson-Castro worried about the combined impact of a serious drought and the increased drain on the river’s sources.

In 2001, a drought drained so much river water that the river didn’t make it all the way to the ocean, but, instead, dried up around 20 to 30 miles from its confluence with the ocean.

With no long-term scientific research on the effects of pumping so much water from the river, Johnson-Castro worries the combination of pumping and a drought could cause even more profound problems, especially for Brownsville.

“We want to go all the way to the top,” Johnson-Castro said. He plans to talk to representatives of the International Boundaries and Water Commission, as well as Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.

He was not too concerned with local agencies at this point.

Until a thorough scientific study is mandated by federal agencies, Johnson-Castro is uncomfortable with Williams’ plan.

Johnson-Castro also worried about the possible “domino” effect that success for Williams would create.

“If he succeeds, it’s going to be the first domino (of) robbing from the natural flow of the Rio Grande,” Johnson-Castro said.

The Williams family actually has a history with water-related legalese.

In the 1950s, Clayton Williams’ father was involved in a lawsuit because over-pumping on his part caused the springs that lead to the Pecos River to dry up.

That court case, which Williams won, defined the rule of capture, a law that Williams Jr. is evoking in this instance.

A hearing examiner out of Austin will preside at the April 20 meeting at the Large Community Hall in Ft. Stockton.

The hearing examiner will hear public comment and determine the next step for Williams.

(Zach Lindsey may be reached at 728-2538 or zach@lmtonline.com)

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The Fort Stockton City Council is looking for allies in its battle against Fort Stockton Holdings.

They found another one recently when the board of the Rio Grande International Study Center in Laredo voted unanimously to support efforts to protect Pecos County groundwater as part of a larger campaign to protect the Pecos River watershed.
Tuesday night, the Council reciprocated, passing Resolution 10-111R, which commits the City of Fort Stockton to joining forces with RGISC in its campaign for a moratorium on the transport of water from the Pecos and Rio Grande watersheds.

The resolution also asks, in concert with RGISC, for a hydrological study of the groundwater flows of the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer to determine impacts.

“It's being said that water is being wasted and going down into the Pecos River,” Fort Stockton Mayor Ruben Falcon said. “Well, south-southeast of us, there are millions of people that rely on that water from the Pecos River and the Rio Grande. There is a beneficial use for this water.”

The Council's action follows a presentation by Jay Johnson-Castro Sr. of RGISC at Council two weeks prior. Johnson-Castro proposed the city join RGISC in the building of an alliance to protect the entire Rio Grande watershed, which extends into several Mexican states and as far north as Colorado.

RGISC, which is a nonprofit organization headquartered at Laredo Community College, and the city plan to jointly write the International Boundary and Water Commission, the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Comision Internacional de los Limites y Agua.

The city and RGISC also plan to contact several congressmen whose districts lie on the U.S.-Mexico border, including U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas), who represents the 23rd District.

The alliance also hopes to gather input from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, among other agencies and organizations.

Among other business, the Council:

>> approved the consent agenda, including the accounts payable of $384,046.44

>> approved Ordinance 10-102, which allows for the inclusion of a portion of Beverly Square Addition to the city

>> approved Ordinance 10-103, which closes, vacates and abandons a portion of East 13th Street between Gatlin and Schlegal streets

>> tabled Ordinance 10-104, which would amend Chapter 2 of the city's Code or Ordinances to change the time of Council meetings; Councilwoman Brenda Tipton, who was absent from the meeting, is seeking to move Council meetings to an earlier time, according to Falcon; several councilmembers said such a time change may be problematic and Councilman Billy Espino said he would like additional time to reflect on moving Council meetings to an earlier time

>> received a presentation from Charlie Spence, a recruiting specialist out of Midland for the U.S. Census Bureau; Spence said the Census Bureau is looking to hire about 150 people in Pecos County for the decennial census; Spence said the jobs are expected to begin in April and will pay $13.25 per hour and offer 50 cents per mile for mileage reimbursement; employees must be 18 years old and must be U.S. citizens

View from Source Here.

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Millones de metros cúbicos de aguas que alimentan al río Bravo provenientes del Pecos serán extraídas, transportadas y puesta a la venta, si es aprobada la solicitud de una empresa privada, en el condado texano de Pecos
NUEVO LAREDO.- En un oficio, del que El Mañana tiene copia, el Centro de Estudios Internacionales del Río Grande solicita al Congreso de EU que intervenga y se declare una moratoria urgentemente, para evitar que proceda esta autorización.

Aunque autoridades de la ciudad de Fort Stockton se oponen, poco puede hacer pues es una ley estatal la que permite que una empresa explote mantos acuíferos y no hay restricción para que el agua sacada sea puesta a la venta en otros condados.

El próximo martes 20 de abril se realizará una audiencia pública en esa ciudad.

Los organismos ambientales temen que si se autoriza la extracción y traslado de los mantos acuíferos sentaría un precedente y permitiría que cualquier entidad pueda extraer, transportar y comercializar el agua del Bravo sin importar el impacto que pueda causar a la población fronteriza que depende del agua de este afluente.

“Desde hace más de un siglo, el Estado de Texas ha regulado sus aguas sobre la arcaica “regla de captura”, o “derecho de captura”.

Esencialmente, el propietario del mayor bombeo obtiene el agua que se puede extraer. A partir de esta “regla”, una solicitud ha sido hecha por un particular para extraer 47 mil pies de acre por año de la cuenca del Río Grande- Río Bravo, explica Jay Johnson, director ejecutivo del Centro de Estudios Internacionales del Río Grande (RGISC por sus siglas en inglés).

Si se autoriza la extracción, significa que podrán sacar el equivalente a 57 millones 973 mil metros cúbicos de agua. Esto es el equivalente a vaciar 20 veces el agua del Laguito de Nuevo Laredo en un año aproximadamente.

En la misiva enviada al congresista estadounidense Henry Cuéllar, le exponen el riesgo potencial que representa y solicitan interceda para que se apruebe una moratoria que proteja el agua, hasta que se realicen estudios sobre el impacto que tendría aprobar a la empresa privada a extraer el agua.

“Le escribimos como nuestro representantes del Congreso, con un llamado urgente para su ayuda en la obtención de una moratoria (contra) la explotación propuesta por una (compañía) privada de las aguas de la cuenca del río Grande”, escribe Johnson.

“Nunca antes una cantidad masiva de agua se ha extraído y transferido fuera de la cuenca y los límites de la CILA. Este es un caso que sienta un precedente.

¿Cómo impacta el espíritu y el propósito del Tratado de 1944?”, enfatiza.

Los representantes de la ciudad de Fort Stockton, una pequeña comunidad con 7 mil habitantes, han sido presionados para que aprueben la solicitud, revela Johnson, debido a que la ley lo permite.

Sin embargo, han unido esfuerzos con el Centro de Estudios Internacionales del Río Grande para pedir ante autoridades federales se proteja el agua, hasta que se realicen estudios ambientales sobre el impacto que tendría esta extracción.

“Juntos, el Consejo Municipal de la Ciudad de Fort Stockton y el RGISC pedimos intervenir y prevenir, este peligroso precedente hidrológico.

Si este permiso es autorizado, otros lo seguirán. El desvío de aguas del Río Grande-Río Bravo –que da vida a 10 millones de habitantes dentro de los límites CILA- sería para desviar el agua lejos de la región de mayor crecimiento en nuestros dos países que depende de este río.

Esta acción se realiza con fines de lucro para una entidad.… Tal acción pondría en peligro el crecimiento a lo largo de la frontera”, expresa Johnson.

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McALLEN, April 17 - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar says the proposed extraction of 41 million gallons per day of groundwater from the Pecos River watershed is a matter of “the utmost concern.”

The Laredo Democrat made his views on the issue known in a letter his office sent to the Laredo-based Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), elaborating further that his staff has contacted Gov. Rick Perry and the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Cuellar’s response followed a call by RGISC Executive Director Jay Johnson Castro for a moratorium on the removal of water from the aquifer until geological studies and environmental impact studies have been conducted.

At stake is the extraction for private sale of 41 million gallons of water per day from the underground springs that feed the Pecos River, a tributary that provides the Rio Grande River with approximately 80 million gallons of water per day.

According to Johnson-Castro, former Republican gubernatorial candidate, developer and rancher Clayton Williams wants to pipe the water to the Midland-Odessa region. Williams, Johnson-Castro said, has applied for a permit to extract 41 million gallons of water a day, or about 15 billion gallons of water per year, for 30 plus years, out of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed.

If approved, the permit would allow 45 trillion gallons of water to be taken out to the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed as a result of this one application alone, Johnson-Castro said. The application is from Williams' Fort Stockton Holdings to the Middle Pecos County Groundwater Conservation District,” Johnson-Castro explained.

Extracted water would then be sold to developers in the Midland-Odessa area and transported by aqueducts to that area. Johnson Castro is fearful that this extraction would be one of several more to come that would threaten the ecology of the Rio Grande and the very existence of the cities and communities down river from the confluence of the Pecos and Rio Grande/Bravo rivers, a growing area with over ten million inhabitants on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Major metropolitan areas that could be affected by the loss of water from the aquifer would be Laredo-Nuevo Laredo, Roma-Miguel Aleman, Rio Grande-Camargo, and both sides of the Border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

“For over a century, the State of Texas has regulated its waters based on the archaic ‘rule of capture,’ or ‘right of capture.’ Essentially, the biggest pump and pumper owns the water that can be extracted,” Johnson Castro wrote, in his letter to Cuellar.

“As an advocate for the protection of the Rio Grande, Congressman Cuellar takes these matters seriously. Staff also contacted the International Boundary and Water Commission regarding this specific proposal and today Congressman Cuellar’s staff called the office of Governor Perry to learn more about this issue,” reads a communiqué from the Congressman’s office to the Guardian.

The preliminary hearing for the permit application will be held this coming Tuesday, April 20, in Fort Stockton. The final decision will be rendered on May 18. Attempts to reach Clayton Williams or his company for comment were unsuccessful at press time.

Read from source Here.

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On the Mexico side of the international boundary, the Rio Grande has historically been called the Rio Bravo. In this appeal, we refer to this 1885-mile long international river as the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo.

The watershed of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo covers eight states in our two countries. In the United States, that would include Colorado, New Mexico,and Texas. In Mexico the watershed includes Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

For their agricultural, industrial, commercial,and residential existence, millions of US citizens and millions of Mexican citizens have historically relied on the natural hydrological flows of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo and its tributaries, from its headwaters in the Colorado Rockies all the way to its mouth as it flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

Due to drought, just a few years ago, the waters of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo dried up before it could reach the Gulf.

In this era of global climate change, the likelihood of more drought seems imminent. In this past year Texas just came out of a period of the worst drought on record. Yet, new threats are looming on the horizon for the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo, especially on the Texas-Mexico portion of the river.

The Mexico side of the border is the fastest growing region in Mexico. Similarly, the Texas side of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo is the fastest growing region in the United States. Such growth will continue to put a lot of added pressure on the waters of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo, both in the terms of consumption as well as contamination.

As it is, according to American Rivers, the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo is one of the most endangered rivers in North America. According the World Wildlife Fund, the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo is the seventh most endangered river in the world.

The newest endangerment to the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo is upon us. This threat is somewhat stealth, as it is under the radar of most state, federal and international agencies and organizations. For over a century, the State of Texas has regulated its waters based on the archaic “rule of capture,” or “right of capture.” Essentially, the biggest pump and pumper owns the water that can be extracted.

Based on this “rule”, an application has been made by a private party to extract 47,000 acre feet per year out of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed. An acre foot is equal to roughly 326,000 gallons of water.

The application is from Clayton Williams, Jr.’s Fort Stockton Holdings to the Middle Pecos County Groundwater Conservation District (MPGCD). The application proposes to extract 41,000,000 gallons of water a day, or about 15,000,000,000 gallons of water per year--for 30 plus years--out of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed.

If approved, the permit would allow 45,000,000,000,000 gallons of water to be taken out to the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed as a result of this one application alone. Others will follow. The preliminary hearing will be held this coming Tuesday, April 20, 2010, in Fort Stockton. The final decision will be rendered on May 18, 2010.

With all this in mind, the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), a non-profit organization based at the Laredo Community College on the banks of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo, along with our sister organization in Mexico, el Centro Internacional del los Estudios del Rio Bravo (CIER), has allied with the City of Fort Stockton.

We are also allying with not only the citizens of Pecos County but also the millions of citizens of the international community who reside within and depend upon the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo for their existence. On their behalf, we are appealing to US Congressmen to help us prevent such an unprecedented action that would be taken without adequate science.

We request that Congressmen please utilize your office and position of authority to call for a moratorium on any extraction of waters from the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed. Approval of such extraction of billions of gallons of water a year should NOT be granted.

There is a need for time, time for an adequate hydrological study to be performed that would reveal what impact such a diversion away from the international watershed would have. Our concern is that there is insufficient science that would show the impact on the natural hydrological cycle of the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed, on which millions of bi-national citizens downriver depend.

Under the 1944 Treaty with Mexico, the waters of Fort Stockton and Pecos County, Texas, are within the geographical boundaries of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC). Never before has a massive amount of water been extracted and transferred out of the watershed and IBWC boundaries. This is a precedent-setting case. How would this impact the spirit and intent of the 1944 treaty?

The City of Fort Stockton is a small community of some 7,500 population. The total population of Pecos County is about 20,000. Alone, they are hard-pressed to handle the magnitude of this challenge. The residents there already have a historic natural spring, Comanche Springs, that is dried up most of the year due to high impact pumping of the aquifer for irrigation by the same businessman who now wishes to export water out of the watershed to Midland, Texas, for profit.

Find below a resolution drafted by the City Council of the City of Fort Stockton. Together , the City Council and RGISC appeal to you to intervene and prevent, this dangerous hydrological precedent. If this permit is allowed, others will follow. Diverting Rio Grande-Rio Bravo waters away from almost ten million inhabitants within the IBWC boundaries would be to divert water away from the fastest growing region in our two countries that already depends on this river.

This action is being done for one entity’s profit. It is also being done so that other areas outside the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed region could experience economic growth. That such an action would jeopardize the growth along the border seems discriminatory against those who live on the US-Mexico border.

We are also writing the IBWC, the Council on Environmental Quality-Office of the Whitehouse, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Water Development Board, and Texas Parks and Wildlife.

We are writing all the members of Congress who have border districts. We are writing the Governor of theState of Texas as well as all the members of our Texas Legislature that represent the border.

In Mexico, we are writing the Comision Internacional de los Limites y Agua, Comision Nacional del Agua, Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturals, and the governors of the five states within the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo watershed.

Editor's Note: Article adapted from letter to Congressman Cuellar from Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr., Executive Director of the Rio Grande International Study Center--gm


RESOLUTION NO. 1O-111R

A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT STOCKTON JOINING FORCES WITH THE RIO GRANDE INTERNATIONAL STUDY CENTER IN ITS PLEA FOR A MORATORIUM & INTERVENTION TO PREVENT WATER FROM BEING TRANSPORTED, EXPORTED OR PUMPED FROM THE PECOS RIVER AND RIO GRANDE RIVER WATERSHEDS & REQUESTING THAT A HYDROLOGICAL STUDY BE PERFORMED OF THE SUBTERRANEAN WATER FLOWS OF THE EDWARDS-TRINITY AQUIFER TO DETERMINE WHAT UNFORESEEN ADVERSE IMPACTS COULD OCCUR ON THE FLOW OF WATER INTO THE INTERNATIONAL BODY WATER OF WHICH MILLIONS OF INHABITANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DEPEND ON FOR EXISTENCE.

WHEREAS, The Pecos River is an integral part of the Rio Grande watershed, which is an international body of water under the 1944 treaty between the United States and Mexico; and

WHEREAS, Downriver from the mouth of the Pecos River in confluence with the Rio Grande is an international community of some 6-10 million inhabitants that solely rely on the Rio Grande as a source of existence; residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural usage; and

WHEREAS, Pecos County is confronted with an enterprise that is attempting to extract approximately 15 billion gallons of water per year from the Pecos watershed under the Texas "rule of capture"; and

WHEREAS, If successful, that would become a precedent for other water marketing enterprises; and

WHEREAS, The Rio Grande International Study Center is a non-profit organization with the stewardship of protecting the Rio Grande watershed; and

WHEREAS, The board of directors of the RGISC has voted unanimously to support Fort Stockton in attempting to protect the Pecos River watershed; and

WHEREAS, RGISC and the City of Fort Stockton will jointly submit correspondence to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), Environmental Protection Agency, Comision Internacional de los Lirnites y Agua (CILA), CONAGUA (Comision Nacional del Agua), SEMARNAT (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturals), Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), along with the four Congressional representatives from Texas bordering Mexico; Congressman Silvestre Reyes (Dist. 16), Congressman Ciro Rodriguez (Dist. 23), Congressman Henry Cuellar (Dist. 28) and Congressman Solomon Ortiz (Dist. 27); and

WHEREAS, A request will be sought for a moratorium and an intervention regarding plans to transfer, export or pump water out of, along with the protection of, the Pecos River and Rio Grande River watersheds until additional hydrological studies of the subterranean water flows of the Edwards-Trinity aquifer can be made to determine what unforeseen adverse impacts could occur on the flow of water into the international body water of which millions of inhabitants in the international community depend on for existence; and

WHEREAS, Input will also be solicited from the Texas Parks and Wildlife, National Parks Service, US Fish and Wildlife, as well as other local, state, national and international organizations and agencies; and

WHEREAS, A joint press conference will be held to inform the media about our request for intervention; and

- - NOW THEREFFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE FORT STOCKTON CITY COUNCIL, THAT IT HEREBY ENDORSES: JOINING FORCES WITH THE RIO GRANDE INTERNATIONAL STUDY CENTER IN ITS PLEA FOR A MORATORIUM & INTERVENTION TO PREVENT WATER FROM BEING TRANSPORTED, EXPORTED OR PUMPED FROM THE PECOS RIVER AND RIO GRANDE RIVER WATERSHEDS & REQUESTING THAT A HYDROLOGICAL STUDY BE PERFORMED OF THE SUBTERRANEAN WATER FLOWS OF THE EDWARDS-TRINITY AQUIFER TO DETERMINE WHAT UNFORESEEN ADVERSE IMPACTS COULD OCCUR ON THE FLOW OF WATER INTO THE INTKRNATIONAL BODY WATER OF WIllCR MILLIONS OF INHAB1.TA.""I!TS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DEPEND ON FOR EXISTENCE.

PASSED AND APPRGYED by the Fort Stockton City Council on this 23rd day of February, 2010.

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By
Jim Earhart, Ph.D.
Director of the Rio Grande International Study Center Cane Control Project

Unfortunately for the vegetation and wildlife of the riparian habitat along the Rio Grande this American heritage river was made part of the border between the United States and Mexico. The historic economic disparity between the two countries, coupled with the recent “war on terrorism,” has created a “war” on water quality and habitat for native plants and animals along the river.

The United States Department of Homeland Security is spending large quantities of tax dollars to stop the flow of illegal traffic across the border. This expenditure includes a proposal to eradicate giant river cane (Arundo donax, A. donax) by mechanical removal with heavy equipment and by aerial application of a broad spectrum herbicide by helicopter.
We agree that this invasive plant provides concealment for illegal activity, replaces indigenous plants that provide habitat for native species, and uses large quantities of water that could be used by farms and cities, but we believe the means suggested by the federal government will be highly detrimental to the ecology of the Rio Grande.

River cane has replaced willow and other riparian trees that serve as sources of food and nesting for important bird species. Small U. S. populations of Groove-billed Ani, Altamira Oriole, Elf Owl, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Brown Jay, Gray Hawk, Chachalaca, Ringed Kingfisher, Hook-billed Kite, and White-tipped Dove are confined to a relatively small area in South Texas, mostly along the river. Increasing acreage of A. donax will be detrimental to these species. Cane should be controlled, but aerial spraying, the method of choice by Homeland Security, will kill native vegetation that serves as habitat for native species.

Giant river cane was introduced into the Americas by the early Spanish settlers who used it to construct crude housing, weave baskets and mats, make musical instruments, and, very likely, to feed livestock. Because of its prolific growth in warm, moist environments that lack natural enemies, A. donax has been far more successful in America than in its native Mediterranean region. Dense stands of the cane extend for hundreds of miles along the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande International Study Center, in conjunction with Laredo Community College (LCC), is investigating the potential use of this invasive species of giant grass as food for livestock. Most local ranchers along the U. S. river bank do not graze livestock on the cane for fear of theft or for fever tick infestation or because they believe animals will not eat the cane.

Our work was stimulated by reports that goats have been used with some success in controlling cane growth in California. Furthermore, we have seen horses, goats, cattle, and donkeys drinking from the river in Mexico across from the LCC Campus and concomitantly we have observed very little cane growing on the Mexican river bank. Rather than cane the Mexican bank is lined with large trees that shade the flowing water.

These observations prompted two of our members, Tom Miller, Director of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center and Dr. Tom Vaughan, Texas A&M .

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Greetings to all…

Whether you are located in the Rio Grande~Rio Bravo watershed… or are dedicated to some part of it.

The Rio Grande International Study Center…and our counterpart in Mexico…el Centro Internacional de los Estudios del Rio Bravo…are going to be making contact with your organization within the next month.

In early 2009, RGISC-CIER undertook the project of building a web portal of everything Rio Grande~Rio Bravo. As a bi-national environmental non-profit organization, it is our mission: To preserve, protect and foster respect for the Rio Grande~Rio Bravo, its watershed, environment and cultures, through research, education and bi-national stewardship and alliances with individuals agencies and organizations.

So, the goal of this communiqué is to continue to build our awareness of, ally with, and build an eight state bi-national stewardship with any and all individuals, entities, organizations, institutions and agencies that care about the Rio Grande~Rio Bravo, from the headwaters in San Juan Valley of the Colorado Rockies, along with the many tributaries on both sides of the Rio…all the way to the mouth at the Gulf…at Boca Chica and Baghdad. This of course includes all the tributaries and their respective watersheds, such as Rio Conchos with headwaters in the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua and the Pecos River with its headwaters in New Mexico.

So far, we have identified some 500 entities such as yours. Some 350 on the US side and 150 on the Mexican side. We contacted you once last year and we already have you on our Rio Grande~Rio Bravo watershed Google Map at www.rgisc.org.

Beginning this next week, someone from our staff will be calling you to verify your contact information. We would just like to make sure it is correct and current. We are also aspiring to build additional watershed-wide data bases of information and share regional research, news, photographs, maps, concerns and challenges. We are also open to suggestions on how to build a better network and web presence that serves the needs of each region of the watershed.

Also, for 15 years, RGISC and CIER have maintained a bi-national celebration of the Rio Grande~Rio Bravo during the third week of October, culminating in Dia del Rio on the third Saturday. At one time, Dia del Rio was celebrated up and down the watershed. We hope that you will join us for the 16th anniversary celebration…this year in 2010 in reviving this watershed wide celebration.

Please feel free to contact us at any time…and help us build and galvanize an alliance to protect our watershed and the waters that allow us to exist here.

Together we can give voice to the waters of the Rio Grande~Rio Bravo…

Jay J. Johnson-Castro Sr.

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ANTHROPOLOGY & WATER: Spa Cultures, Dreaming & Healing Waters – Dr. Jonathan DeVierville, St. Philips College.
Our ancient ancestors knew Dreams as mirrors and windows of their Souls. Sumerians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans as well as indigenous Peoples around the Planet frequented thermal-mineral springs, wells and pools for re-creation, dreaming and healing. Designed for rest, sleep and relaxation, these naturally watered sacred sites helped encourage, facilitate and integrate creative wellness and regenerative deep dreaming. Participants will be introduced to this ancient healing legacy.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 9:00 am)

ARCHITECTURE & WATER: Architecture & Water: A Critical Balance into the Future! – Gabriel Durand-Hollis, FAIA, Principal with DHR Architects and Adrianna Swindle owner of ASA, Accessibility Specialist.
The two presenters offer different perspectives on how water has impacted the formation of cities, both in a historical sense and in the context of modern architecture. Important attention is given to new developments in water conservation, storage and recycling in current architectural practice and exciting research forecast what is in our future. Obviously architecture deals with water in its various states. When we are building spaces there must strike a balance between too much water and too little water.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 1:00 pm)

ART & WATER II: An Exhibit & Experiment – Liz Ward, Trinity University along with students.
(Ongoing throughout the Symposium.)

ART & WATER III: Ebru - A Turkish Form of Painting on Water
Ebru is a process of dripping dyes upon water, shaping the colors in every which way with various tools and finally, transferring the final composition to paper that is laid over the water. Upon contact the dyes cleave to the paper, leaving the water blank as in the beginning, thus, each print is one-of-a-kind. This on-going expression of art will continue throughout the WATER Symposium and is available for participation by all those in attendance. (Ongoing throughout the Symposium.)

ART & WATER IV: Water as an Inspiration in Contemporary Art – David S. Rubin, The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art, San Antonio Museum of Art.
A visual exploration of the ways in which contemporary artists have used water as an image, often for symbolic or metaphoric purposes, in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, and digital media. The presentation will include works by San Antonio artists recently featured in the San Antonio Museum of Art exhibition, Waterflow. (Monday, February 15 at 1:00 PM.)

CIVICS & WATER: Who Controls Your Water – Sally Bolster, League of Women Voters, along with Mr. Robert R. Puente (President/CEO, SAWS); Suzanne B. Scott (San Antonio River Authority General Manager); Velma Reyes Danielson (Edwards Aquifer Authority General Manager); Brad Groves (Trinity-Glen Rose Water Conservation District President of the Board); Kerry McCollough (District Planner for BexarMet). Panel discussion.
(Monday, 15 February at 7:00 pm)

CIVIL ENGINEERING & WATER: From Rain to Drain – Lynne Christopher & Greg Wukasch, San Antonio Water System.
Ever wondered where your water comes from when you turn on the tap or where it goes when you’re finished with it? Find out about the workings of a water system. Learn how your water gets to you and where it goes after the flush. How is wastewater “recycled” and what happens to the bi-products of the process? Experience first hand some of the challenges that SAWS faces daily from main breaks to the GREASE MONSTER!
(Monday, February 15 at 9:00 a.m.)

COSMOLOGY & WATER: The Deep History of Water - Sr. Linda Gibler, OP, PhD
The story of water from the Beginning, 13.7 billion years ago to now, including how hydrogen was formed in the first milliseconds of creation, to how long it took for oxygen to form in stars, to their combination as water in space and water’s subsequent role in star birth, including our Sun. (When we look at Orion, we are looking at millions of oceans of water.) I could say something about how water drenches our Solar System and how we come to have so much of it on Earth. I could end with the role water played in the first life on Earth and all life ever since. Linda Gibler, OP, is the Associate Academic Dean at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio and the science editor of the Collins Foundation Press. Overwhelmed by the first Hubble deep field picture, Linda, a Dominican Sister of Houston, became enchanted with the magnificence of the universe and intrigued by the images’ significance for a Catholic understanding of God. In 1999, she began formal study of cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she completed a MA and then a PhD in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness
(Monday, February 15 at 9:00 a.m.).

CREATIVITY & WATER: Flowing from Expression to Empowered Action - Dianne Monroe
This highly experiential workshop combines two fields new to San Antonio. Expressive Art is a way of opening our creativity to explore our inner worlds. The Work that Reconnects (developed by internationally acclaimed systems theorist and environmental scholar Joanna Macy – www.JoannaMacy.net) is a form of group work that reconnects people with our planet and one another in a way that strengthens their ability to act on behalf of meaningful change. This workshop combines elements of both to offer participants the opportunity to explore their personal connections with water in a way that enlivens and enriches their sense of passion and purpose. Dianne Monroe is a writer, photographer and Expressive Arts Facilitator who offers a range of experiential and transformational-learning based workshops. Her workshops flow from the power of creativity and are rooted in our connection with the natural world and its wisdom. Dianne has studied with Joanna Macy and now brings her internationally recognized approach to South Texas.
(Monday, February 15 at 1:00 PM.)

ECOLOGY & WATER: Conservation From Rain Catchment to Gray Water – Elise Garcia & Carol Coston, Santuario SisterFarm.
Santuario Sisterfarm is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by Latina women and Dominican Sisters and co-directed by Adrian Dominican Sisters Carol Coston, OP and Elise D. García, OP. Located in the Hill Country of south-central Texas and rooted in the rich multicultural legacy of the Borderlands, Santuario Sisterfarm is dedicated to inspiriting the work of transforming human relationships with Earth and among ourselves, from dominance to co-creative partnerships.
(Monday, February 15 at 11:00 a.m.)

ECONOMICS & WATER: A Local Perspective – Carol Patterson, Director of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (District 1), and Kirk Patterson, attorney & EARIP Steering Committee member.
The San Antonio/Edwards Aquifer Region is facing critical choices on how to meet future water supply and springflow needs. Achieving an efficient, affordable, and fair balance of these goals requires looking at alternative solutions. We will cover the major plans and proposals of the region, including SAWS, the EARIP, and the Region L part of the Texas Water Plan.
(Monday, February 15 at 5:00 p.m.)

ELECTRICITY & WATER: Playing for Keeps – Dr. Lauren Ross, Director of the Glenrose Project.
Every person on the planet is part of a global bet on water and electrical infrastructure and the stakes are high. Yet, in the midst of growing awareness around climate change and water shortages, as a culture we are largely ignorant of the intersection of these challenges. Workshop participants will compete for cupcakes in a fast-paced, educational, and winner-take-all game to meet global energy and water needs without bankrupting natural resources.
(Monday, February 15 at 7:00 pm)

ENERGY & WATER: New Ways of Deriving Energy from Water- Panel Discussion: Dr. Kyle Murray, UTSA, along with Janet Abbott Spa Waters of the Americas 501c3. Alyssa Burgin moderating.
Texas has a long history as an energy provider through agriculture and oil. During the oil exploration era, hot mineralized waters were found and many of these resources became health destinations and famous for thier healing waters. With current interest in geothermal - heat from the earth- as considered the best renewable energy resource, we will discuss how geothermal mineral waters are becoming a geothermal direct use consideration for wellness facilities, greenhouses, aqua culture to name a few. We will also discuss the geology of Texas heated earth, aquifers and water chemistry.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 1:00 p.m.)


FASHION DESIGN & WATER:WATER FALLS FASHION SHOW
CoCo and ReyBey Productions present The Water Falls Fashion Show. In this exhibit you will see high school designers from all over San Antonio showcase their talent - inspired by water.
(Sunday, February 14 at 5:30 pm.)

GEOPOLITICS & WATER: Trickle Down from Source to Ocean - Headwaters Coalition
Every river has a source, and all rivers flow through many natural and human communities, to the ocean that connects us all. Using the San Antonio River as an example, session leaders will explain the "anatomy" and "biology" of rivers, especially how a river begins at its headwaters, how tributaries flow into a mainstem, and how that mainstem river progresses to its end. Through dialogue, participants will explore what this may mean to all of us in terms of social justice, natural resource management, and to or moral obligation to earth care.

GLOBALIZATION & WATER: The Story of the Thirsty – Paul Darilek, Living Water International.
883 million people lack access to clean drinking water. A child dies of diarrhea every fifteen seconds. But the hope of the matter is that you can do something about it--and have a blast doing it. The Story of the Thirsty is a multi-media presentation--part education, part film, part poetry, part advocacy opportunity, all fun--featuring the work of Living Water International, a non-profit that provides clean drinking water to the world's poorest people in 25 countries. It's a chance to learn, to be moved and, if you like, to get involved.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 5:00 pm.)

HISTORY & WATER: Chronology of Efforts to Manage the Edwards Aquifer – Dr. John Donahue, Trinity University.
The presenter draws upon his involvement as a stakeholder in water management issues over the Edwards Aquifer in Central Texas in which local actors participate with state and federal agencies to manage groundwater withdrawals.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 3:00 pm.)

HYDROLOGY & WATER I: The Hydro-illogical Cycle in Texas - Raymond Slade, Jr.
Raymond Slade, Jr. retired from the U.S. Geological Survey with 33 years of experience as a hydrologist, serving the last 6 years as the Surface-Water Specialist for Texas. During his career with the USGS, he authored about 75 reports on Texas water resources, with subjects including floods and droughts, hydrology of rural and urban watersheds, and water quality of surface and ground water. In cooperation with the City of Austin, he developed and supervised a long-term investigation of Barton Springs and associated Edwards aquifer and authored about 25 reports on the hydrology and water-quality of the springs and aquifer.

HYDROLOGY & WATER II: Intro to South-Central Texas – George Ozuna, Deputy Director, USGS Texas Water Science Center.
Learn the basics from a hydrologist who has worked in this area his entire career. This educational offering includes an overview of the water cycle, a discussion of flood and drought in Central Texas, and basic hydrology of the Edwards Aquifer.
(Monday, February 15 at 11:00 AM.)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & WATER: Texas-Mexico Water Issues – Jay Johnson-Castro, Director, Rio Grande International Study Center.
Along the banks of the Rio Grande, from the Colorado Rockies to the Gulf of Mexico, millions of inhabitants, and within the Rio Grande watershed, there are literally hundreds of governmental agencies from the local to the international levels, as well as institutions and non-governmental organizations that have some focus on the Rio Grande as a source or resource. Equally, there are hundreds of entities that endeavor to exploit and threaten the quantity and quality of the very waters that millions of people depend on for survival. Yet, in 2010, there is only one initiative to form an alliance that would to protect the waters of the Rio Grande, its watershed, environment and cultures from such threats and exploitation. We will discuss some of the treats to the Rio Grande, including major threats that originate from prominent and wealthy sources within the State of Texas and the Texas laws that, if left unchallenged, would ultimately prevent the Rio Grande from reaching the estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 9:00 am)

LAND USE & WATER: Human Impact on the Edwards Aquifer – Annalisa Peace, Executive Director, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and David K. Langford, Vice President Emeritus, Texas Wildlife Association.
The Edwards Aquifer presents a special challenge in that it is a “karst” aquifer. Learn all about why our regional groundwater supplies are particularly fragile, how they are being compromised, how this wonderful natural system works to provide us with one of the world’s cleanest and most reliable water supplies and what we need to do to ensure that we have good quality water for years to come. Plenty of opportunity for Q&A to discuss aquifer related to current events.
(Monday, February 15 at 1:00 pm)

LANDSCAPE DESIGN & WATER: Xeriscape - Water Saving Plants in Texas – Melissa Miller, Chair of the Native Landscape Certification Program of the San Antonio Native Plant Society.
If you want to conserve water in your landscape, first consider what part of Texas you are in, as the state has eleven major ecoregions. Then consider the micro-climates you have. Plants native to your ecoregion have evolved there for eons and know best how to survive the extremes on their own. Learn about the native plants that have already been in cultivation, some for hundreds of years, or are easy to grow, that will work on your property.

(Monday, February 15 at 5:00 pm)

LAW & WATER II: Hot Issues in Recent Cases – Mary Q. Kelly, Greg Ellis (TX Alliance of Groundwater Districts), and Steve Kosub (SAWS Legal).
According to Mark Twain, "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." This is especially true here in Texas . Learn why from a panel of three of the top legal experts in the field of water law in a discussion of legal issues that determine how water is allocated in Texas and within our region. Mary Q. Kelly (Gardner Law Firm) will present a Basic Overview of Texas Water Law; Greg Ellis (Director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts) will discuss Hot Issues in recent cases; Steve Kosub (Legal Counsel for SAWS) will guide us through Legal Applications of Future Water Planning. The presentations will be followed by a spirited Q & A session moderated by Mary Q. Kelly .

(Tuesday, February 16 at 11:00 am)

LAW & WATER I: Water is a Birthright– Larry Joe Doherty, environmental attorney.
Larry Joe Doherty, an attorney and civic activist well-versed in matters related to ethics, takes on the ethics of water consumption, and, specifically, water commodification. Is water a human right, as believed by water activists, or is water a commodity, like oil, which some can profit from at the expense of others. A very timely presentation as companies jockey to privatize your water rights.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 9:00 am)

MUSIC & WATER: Music IN Water – Brother Mike Sullivan, S.M., DMA, St. Mary’s University.
A survey of music compositions inspired by water, in all its forms, beginning with Medieval chants, symphonic literature, folks songs, works songs, popular music, and all points in between. The presentation will include numerous recordings and video.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 3:00 pm)

OCEANIC STUDIES & WATER: Environmental Freshwater Inflows and Salinity in Coastal Bays – John S. Adams, Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science & Coastal Bend Bays
The demand for freshwater is an issue that has been part of the public discussion for at least 150 years. A famous quote, attributed to Mark Twain, asserts the “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.” As human populations expand, the various enterprises and activities that come with that expansion, including agriculture and ranching operations, steam based power generation, municipal and industrial demand, and recreational uses, all depend on a limited and finite water supply. The environmental flows of freshwater that are left over may reach the bays and estuaries along the coast, assuming that they are not captured by dams and reservoirs. The importance of freshwater reaching the estuaries has traditionally taken a back seat to the importance of freshwater reaching coastal communities for their industrial, municipal, and agricultural needs.
(Monday, February 15 at 3:00 pm)

OUTER SPACE & WATER: From Earth & Beyond! Jacqueline Havelka, NASA’s Life Sciences Data Archive
This presentation will observe water from the unique perspective of outer space. Participants will learn about NASA’s discoveries about water on Earth and other planets. Over the last decade, new observations of our Milky Way galaxy show that water is more abundant than expected. Other learnings will be about the crucial importance of water as a life support system in spacecrafts, and unique ways astronauts will ensure that they have water to live and work. A visual presentation with some of the spectacular pictures that have been taken in outer space and on other planets will be shown.
(Monday, February 15 at 9:00 a.m.)

PEACE & WATER: Flowing Toward Nonviolent and Sustainable Communities –
Dr. Randall Amster, Prescott College; Executive Director, Peace & Justice Studies Association
Against the seemingly intractable trends of militarization and resource conflict stand examples of people and communities managing scarce resources peacefully and sustainably. In the desert southwest, in fact, one of the last great “common pool resource” systems in North America provides irrigation water and open grazing land to farmers and pastoralists alike. Derived from the imported culture of Spanish settlers and combined with the best practices of the native peoples of the region, this acequia system serves as a powerful example of how we might envision people working together not only with each other but with the land itself, thus demonstrating the potential of effective techniques for conflict transformation at levels of engagement ranging from the interpersonal to the environmental. This interactive workshop will present an alternative acequia-inspired vision for managing resource conflict, with an eye toward generating concrete plans of action for use in local communities everywhere. The lesson is that if relatively “poor” people confronted with extreme scarcity in arid regions can create a stable, cooperative, and nonviolent system for managing water, then certainly we can likewise find ways to do so with all of the tools at our disposal.

(Monday, February 15 at 5:00 pm)

POETRY & WATER: Water as Refuge & Reunion – Cyra Dumitru, poet & instructor at St. Mary’s University.
This interactive session combines the reading of original poems by Dumitru with writing exercises. We will explore water as a source of inspiration for our own flow of words. We will tap into our memories and imagination as sources of content. The emphasis will be upon the process of playful, quick writing followed by shaping, and opportunities to share. Designed for anyone who loves water and words.
(Tuesday, February 16 at 1:00 pm)

POLITICAL SCIENCE & WATER I: Whose Water Is It? Urban vs. Agricultural Water Use – Mike Mecke.
Mike Mecke recently retired as the AgriLife Extension water programs specialist at Fort Stockton, Texas. (Tuesday, February 16 at 11:00 am)

POLITICAL SCIENCE & WATER II: Water & Conflict – Dr. Celine Jacquemin, Amir Samandi & Leona Pallansch, St. Mary's University
Challenges of water and conflict in the Middle East and on the African continent.

(Tuesday, February 16 at 3:00 am)

PSYCHOLOGY & WATER: The Living Waters of the Psyche – Alan Drymala, LPC, LMFT, Jungian psychotherapist.
Water is the pre-eminent symbol for the unconscious. We will reflect together on our watery relation to this psychic wellspring, examining our language and our dreams, as well as fairy tale and alchemical images. C.G. Jung believed that the fate of humanity rested on how many individuals would establish a conscious and living relationship to this source.

PUBLIC HEALTH & WATER: Biologic, Organic and Inorganic Contaminants – Geary Schnidel, P.G..
The US EPA has recognized karst aquifer as one of the most vulnerable aquifer types. The Edwards Aquifer is a highly developed karst aquifer containing caves, sinkholes, sinking streams, rapid groundwater velocities and a wide diversity of aquifer fauna. In 1984, an outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis, caused by a water borne pathogen, occurred in the community of Braun Station near San Antonio affecting approximately 200 people. Learn about water quality from a public health prospective including a discussion on water quality sampling, water quality parameters, maximum contaminant limits, why and how we treat water, the importance of access to clean drinking water, and common threats and case histories.
(Monday, February 15 at 11:00 AM.)

SPIRITUALITY & WATER: Barbie Gorelick, Sylvia Maddox, and Narjis Pierre of the Tri-Faith Dialogue of San Antonio.
The Abrahamic Faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all view WATER in a most sacred way. Come hear members of the Core Team of the Tri-Faith Dialogue of San Antonio share information and thoughts on the role of WATER in their faith traditions. There will be plenty of time for questions, and of course, dialogue! (Monday, February 15 at 3:00 p.m.)

THEOLOGY & WATER: What’s in the sacred texts? – Dr. Norm Beck, Texas Lutheran University, moderator.
Panel Discussion
(Monday, 15 February at 7:00 pm)

URBAN STUDIES & WATER: San Antonio Running Dry! – Char Miller, W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis, Pomona College, California.
As the WATER Symposium’s featured speaker, Char will set contemporary San Antonio and Water in a wider context along with select readings from his just-released 2 companion volume books, Water in the 21st-Century West and River Basins of the American West published by Oregon State U Press. Book-signing to follow. (Sunday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m.)

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In December, the Justice Department announced a settlement in one of the largest environmental bankruptcies in U.S. history.

The American Smelting and Refining Company, known as Asarco, will pay a record $1.79 billion to settle claims for hazardous waste pollution at 80 sites in as many as 20 states.

Cleanup will begin this year on one of Asarco's most notorious properties — the copper smelter in El Paso, Texas.

Icon Of A Bygone Era

Driving through El Paso on Interstate 10, you can't miss it: There on a bluff, a stone's throw from the Rio Grande, the old iron and copper smelter sits like a moldering Soviet factory.

Time was, the 120-year-old smelter — where metals are extracted from ore — was a pillar of El Paso's economy and one of the best jobs in town.

"You can't get [a] job here in El Paso compared to Asarco," says Miguel Beltran, 82, a former maintenance worker. "Asarco is the best place to work. We were just like a family."

Asarco was part of the mining empire of the storied Guggenheim family, which made the steel that helped the U.S. military win two world wars. But the world changed.

Smokestacks that once represented power and progress became symbols of industrial pollution. Today, many people remember the smelter as an environmental outlaw for contaminating central El Paso with dangerous metals, and for secretly and illegally burning hazardous waste.

Jim and Debbie Kelly stand on the smelter's slag field looking up at an 800-foot smokestack emblazoned with "ASARCO." They belong to an anti-smelter group called Get the Lead Out.

"It was the largest smokestack in the country, and there were people in town who proudly proclaimed we live in a place with the largest smokestack," Jim Kelly says.

"They marketed it very well," says Debbie Kelly. "And the people of El Paso were brainwashed to believe that this was the most wonderful thing El Paso could possibly have ... this tall, polluting, contaminating smokestack."

'A Bookmark In History'

Although the smelter shut down in 1999, as recently as last year, Asarco sought to renew its air emissions permit to restart the blast furnaces. Widespread opposition in El Paso and across the river in Juarez, Mexico, became a case study of a community's fight for environmental justice.

"Maybe stick them out in the middle of nowhere, but to be right in the heart of a city is not a good thing," says El Paso Mayor John Cook, who opposed the permit.

The Environmental Protection Agency finally told Asarco "no." The company, then a bankrupt subsidiary of the mining giant Grupo Mexico, abandoned its efforts to reopen the El Paso copper smelter. In December, the state appointed a trustee to clean up the site, which is contaminated with a periodic table of heavy metals: lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium and zinc.

Asarco paid $52 million to a custodial trust as part of its bankruptcy settlement. The plan now is to sell off the plant for scrap, isolate the contaminated soil, treat the poisoned groundwater so it doesn't flow into the Rio Grande, and finally, cap the whole 400-acre site with asphalt. A big question is what to do with the iconic brick smokestack?

"I would love to leave the smokestack there as a reminder, sort of a bookmark in history," Cook says.

But whose history: El Paso's or Mexico's?

Mexico Suffers Asarco's Waste

Cook and other longtime El Pasoans remember when the wind would shift to the south, the smelter would crank up production, and the smokestack would gush dirty yellow smoke directly into Juarez.

"They could basically pollute as much as they wanted, because it was going into another country that had no ability to stop us," Cook says.

It was the largest smokestack in the country, and there were people in town who proudly proclaimed we live in a place with the largest smokestack.
- Jim Kelly
As a result, sulfur dioxide and heavy metals fell on the colonias and schools and playgrounds of El Paso's sister city, where federal and state regulators had no jurisdiction.

"It is very clear that a majority of what came out of that flue and was deposited over 100 years landed in Mexico," says Texas state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, one of those who led the fight to close down Asarco.

Colonia Ladrillera, in Juarez, is located less than a half-mile from the smelter. People here complained of skin rashes, allergies and asthma when Asarco was operating.

When longtime resident Consuelo Renteria is asked what she thinks when she sees the great chimney to the north, she answers with fire in her voice: "I think it's a symbol of our rage, because it hurt many people here," she says. "The people of the United States, they will fix everything over there. And here, what will happen? Nothing."

Company Loyalty

The corporate office of Asarco in Tucson, Ariz., did not respond to an interview request. With the bankruptcy settlement, the company has a new CEO and has turned its attention to its remaining three copper mines in Arizona and a copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas. A statement on its Web site says at Asarco, environmental considerations are "a way of life within the company."

To this day, some former workers remain angry at the public thrashing the company endured.

"Everybody was healthy," says Pat Escandon. "My uncles were there; they passed away in their late 80s. My dad was 87. I've never had a headache." He and all the men in his family worked at Asarco most of their adult lives.

Despite Escandon's enduring company loyalty, Asarco's impact on public health in El Paso is irrefutable.

Lasting Effects

A landmark study by the Centers for Disease Control in the early 1970s found that more than half of the children living within a mile of the smelter had levels of lead in their blood four times today's acceptable limit.

The lead study was so influential that it contributed to the EPA's decision in 1973 to phase lead components out of gasoline.

A similar study in Juarez found a mirror image of elevated blood-lead levels in Mexican children.

A follow-up U.S. study was even more troubling.

"We found in these children who seemed to be healthy that they had reduced IQ, slowing of their reflexes, impairment of their motor coordination," says Dr. Philip Landrigan, the epidemiologist who led the research nearly 40 years ago. "This was one of the very first demonstrations that lead could cause toxicity on the human brain in children who appeared to have no symptoms."

Landrigan is now chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and an acclaimed children's health advocate.

After these findings, Asarco discontinued its lead smelting operation in El Paso.

To date, more than 1,000 properties surrounding the plant have been "remediated," or cleaned up. One of them was the home of Yvette Ramirez Ammerman, whose daughter, Alisa, was found to have lead in her blood.

"She's 9 now," says Ammerman. "She had some issues. She's had some trouble with math. She has some behavioral issues. It's hard to know whether or not that's as a result of the lead."

Ammerman, who now lives with her family in Albuquerque, N.M., is asked how she feels about Asarco today.

"There's a part of me that would like to say, 'In your greed, you allowed this to happen,' " she says.

After more than a century of ore smelting and decades of conflict with regulators and the community, Asarco is about to become history. El Paso must decide what to do with the prime real estate after the remediation is completed.

In Tacoma, Wash., and Omaha, Neb., toxic industrial sites belonging to Asarco were cleaned up and reused for condos, office buildings and a convention center. In El Paso, once the poison has been buried, they can begin to look to the future.

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After a week’s worth of contentious debate, LCC, Border Patrol and the environmental community have reached a consensus on the expansion of the river road that runs through the pristine Paso Del Indio. However, it’s an unusual agreement because it’s based on trust, something not commonly seen nowadays, especially among governmental entities. “This is our roll of the dice,” said Jay Johnson-Castro, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC). “RGISC is wanting to weigh on the side of trust.” Austin Skero, assistant Laredo Sector Border Patrol chief, said he discussed a written agreement with RGISC members earlier this week. But “that’s not possible because (RGISC members) aren’t engineers,” he said.“However, we have provided them with a set of plans and they marked the most sensitive areas,” he added. “We will be careful.” Skero joined Johnson-Castro at the podium Wednesday for a special called Laredo Community College board meeting. As part of a verbal agreement, RGISC members will take the onsite manager of the road project on a walkthrough of the trail, pointing out and prioritizing the most sensitive areas. “If at any time during the course of construction, (the manager) needs to make a decision, he can make an educated decision, which improves transparency,” Skero said. At issue is a temporary work area easement that will give Border Patrol an additional 20 feet around the river road. The additional 20 feet would allow the agency to move in large construction equipment to complete the 36-foot-wide road. Currently, the dirt road, which will be surfaced with caliche, is about 10 to 12 feet wide. A consultant for Border Patrol estimated that fewer than 227 trees and an unknown amount of vegetation will have to be removed during construction. However, the agency has a legal responsibility to replace the trees and vegetation. Wednesday marked the second time LCC trustees have discussed the temporary easement. After a lengthy discussion Jan. 28, LCC trustees voted to grant the temporary easement to Border Patrol on the condition that the agency’s officials visit with RGISC members. The members said they had a legal right to be involved in the process because RGISC has a resolution with LCC that gives them joint use of the Paso Del Indio. But Skero said Border Patrol was unaware of the resolution. “Now we know,” he told the board Wednesday. “This has been an education. “This was nothing more, in my opinion, than a communications problem. And it has been resolved.” Johnson-Castro agreed. “It has not been the easiest thing to do because we came at this from two different angles,” he said. “But we need to be united on things if we want the best results.” RGISC members met with Border Patrol officials for almost 2½ hours Monday. But they didn’t reach a consensus, Johnson- Castro said shortly after the meeting. By Wednesday, though, an agreement had been reached. And to ensure everything was OK between the two groups, the board held a special called meeting to again discuss the temporary work area easement. LCC President Juan L. Maldonado prefaced the meeting by saying the entities had had a healthy discussion during the past several days, noting that in remediation, neither side gets 100 percent of what it wants. At the end of the meeting, trustees unanimously approved a one-year temporary work area easement with a possible extension of another year. The extension is at the discretion of the LCC president. The construction, which has already begun, is expected to take 30 to 45 days to complete. Maldonado said the one-year-plus-long temporary easement is needed for mitigating the environmental issues, such as replacing the trees and vegetation destroyed in the construction process.

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