We finished the contested case hearing on merits today right at the closing bell. Using the baseball analogy, we had the bases loaded and our home run hitters at bat (The Environmental Stewardship Legal and expert witness team). They hit what could be a fly ball to the outfield and caught for an out — or an out-of-the-park grand slam. The ball is now in the air.

We won’t get an indication on where the ball lands until early next year. That is how the laws of justice grind slow! Judges Rebecca Smith and Ross Henderson will weigh all of the evidence presented and write a “Proposal For Decision”. That PFD as it is called, will be sent to the Lost Pined Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors for a decision. They have several options — and we will fill you in on that in the next few weeks — but are the final decision-makers.

No matter how it turns out we have achieved our fundamental goal — to have a seat at the table and bring forward the science that is sending up red flags and the legal arguments behind our case on what could happen to the health of the Colorado River, its tributaries, and Matagorda Bay. If it is a grand slam, then we will likely win our ultimate prize — a surface water-groundwater (SW-GW) monitoring system on the river and its tributaries that will provide the information needed to protect the freshwater inflows to the river and the bay.

Stay tuned.

Steve Box

Board President and Executive Director

Environmental Stewardship

You can read further here at Environmental Stewardship’s website.