News
Blanco landowner concerned about stormwater runoff from Kinder Morgan pipeline construction
Following severe weather in Central Texas Friday night into Saturday morning, a Blanco landowner said her property has continued to be impacted by runoff from nearby construction of Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline. The pipeline will be 42 inches wide and is...
Making strides – Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District names general manager
Kodi Sawin has been named general manager of the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District — another step closer to becoming a fully functional organization... Voters across southwestern Travis County in November approved the district’s Proposition...
Congress could put Americans back to work through conservation
Why post-COVID economic recovery efforts should include investments in our public lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation infrastructure Across the federal government, there are a suite of habitat restoration programs designed to benefit fish and...
Flood Infrastructure Fund abridged application deadline reminder and new on-demand presentations
Press Release: Texas Water Development Board – For Immediate Release: May 13, 2020 The Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) abridged application period will close at 5:00 p.m. on June 15. Please visit the FIF webpage to learn more and download the application. Abridged...
The Trailist: 4-mile extension connects Mission Reach and Medina River trails
Mile by painstaking mile, the City, Bexar County, and the San Antonio River Authority have made incremental progress on expanding concrete paths along local waterways, such as the San Antonio River and Leon and Salado creeks. However, the completion of 4.1 miles on...
Montana judge upholds ruling that canceled Keystone XL pipeline permit
A federal judge in Montana on Monday upheld his ruling last month that canceled an environmental permit for the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline and threatened other oil and natural gas pipeline projects with delays... Morris said that the Army Corps did not...
Covid-19 crisis could decimate water utility revenue, worsen affordability problems
The widespread closure of restaurants, manufacturing facilities, theaters, dentist offices, and universities will reverberate not only in jobs reports. The shutdown will also have immediate and potentially long-lasting consequences for America’s water utilities and...
Fort Worth is moving forward to buy land despite the coronavirus budget crunch
The city expects to close this month on a $610,000 deal to buy the 53-acre Broadcast Hill property adjacent to the Tandy Hill Natural Area in east Fort Worth. It is the first step in a broad plan to buy open space ahead of urban sprawl, with the goal of preserving the...
As food supply chain breaks down, farm-to-door CSAs take off
From California to Maine, the movement known as community supported agriculture (CSA) is booming. Members buy a share of a farm's often organic harvest that gets delivered weekly in a box. CSA programs almost everywhere report a surge in memberships and growing...
Opinion: Hays County’s watersheds are under attack
It is undeniable—the Austin area is booming. More people have moved to Travis County and its surrounding area, including Hays County. As populations grow, so must infrastructure, but matters become complicated in ecologically sensitive areas like the one we call home....
Our need for the outdoors: The role of nature during COVID-19
Research on the connection between human health and exposure to nature started to get a foothold in the early 1980s. The renowned biologist E. O. Wilson hypothesized that humans had an innate connection to nature. At the same time, Roger Ulrich, a professor of...
Quarantined for the very first time
Nearing the line of demarcation for achieving "octogenarian," it has been a shock to the system to face the necessity of "quarantined." Even as a youngster in a household of several children and on a city block populated by many more suffering from measles I remember...
Agriculture science looking downward for the future of feeding the world
Healthy fertile soil. It makes the grass and plants grow, which feeds people as well as livestock, which in turn are eaten by people. Dr. Nicole Wagner, assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture at Texas State University, doesn’t mince words when it comes...
New Braunfels Utilities anticipates stage one drought conditions
Rising temperatures, lack of significant rainfall and increased demand for water have caused the Edwards Aquifer to drop nearly a foot per day over the past 10 days. As of May 7, the 10-day average of the J-17 well was 665 feet, which is five feet above the trigger...
Food supply anxiety brings back Victory Gardens
“Small things count,” read a headline in the tiny, insistent pamphlet published by the National War Garden Commission in 1919. The pitch made gardening a civic duty. The victory garden movement began during World War I and called on Americans to grow food in whatever...
Central Texas Gardener: PBS show producer offers tips
Your garden need not be cancelled! Central Texas Gardener producer Linda Lehmusvirta offers pandemic-proof advice for growing food and sprucing up your yard. Spring and early summer are always a good time to get out in the garden—but of course, our notion of “getting...
Opinion: In Permian Highway Pipeline fight, property rights are the answer
There are few things Texans value more than property rights and few things closer to our collective imagination than iconic Texas landscapes and the wildlife that fills them. An ongoing battle over a pipeline in the scenic Hill Countrythreatens both – and represents a...
Austin’s Tom Spencer: ‘It’s time to plant trees’
“Austinites are the people I love,” Spencer said not long before the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. “But they feel terrible because of the times. It’s hard to see the future, but trees are a part of that future. It’s a good time to think about rebirth and to...
COVID-19 relief for farmers, ranchers
The Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University in College Station has developed a briefing paper that identifies provisions most applicable to agricultural producers in the three recent Congressional interventions to stimulate the economy and...
Sierra Club lawsuit challenges construction of Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline
The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for permitting the ongoing construction of the 428-mile Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline, despite a federal court order vacating the nationwide permit on which the pipeline’s 449 water...
Central Texas farmers survive selling directly to customers
Central Texas farmers are adjusting to the new reality and in some cases thriving at farmers markets from Cedar Park to Southwest Austin. Even with strict access requirements and cones to keep customers 6 feet apart, sales are high, albeit with fewer customers who are...
NRCS invests more than $1.1 million in partner-driven Comanche Springs project in West Texas
USDA’s Natural Resources Service (NRCS) today announced that it is investing $1.1 million in Texas for a partner-driven conservation project through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). NRCS will leverage nearly $1.6 million in partner contributions...
As a billion birds fly through Texas, they find a landscape quiet and still
Once the stay-at-home orders were in place and the sounds of traffic and business dimmed, the birds seemed louder. There seemed to be more of them. It’s not clear if birds have really raised their volume (more on that in a bit), but there are more in Texas these days....
Supporting local Hill Country producers
During these unprecedented times, it’s especially important to support and invest in our local communities. One way to do this is with our food choices. You can help local businesses bounce back from economic downturns and invest in the overall resiliency of your...
Hill Country Alliance Board Member: A view from the Hill Country
The world has changed. In the span of 90 days, an unlikely viral emissary from Mother Nature has issued forth from a market in Wuhan, China and spread across the globe with dizzying speed and crushing effect. Who could have thought such a tiny, invisible strand of RNA...
KXAN investigation uncovers safety concerns over pipes used in Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline
A tip led us to a storage yard holding hundreds of pipeline segments in Blanco. The segments will become the Permian Highway Pipeline. The group fighting the pipeline is concerned the anti-corrosion coating on the pipes has been outside, uncovered for far too long....
Supreme Court gives environmentalists partial water law win
The U.S. Supreme Court gave environmentalists a partial win on the scope of the Clean Water Act, ruling that the law applies to some pollution discharges that don’t go directly into a major body of water. The 6-3 decision Thursday told a federal appeals court to...
Speak now please! Together we can save our Hill Country future, not pave it!
The next Hays County Commissioners’ Court meeting is TUESDAY, April 28th at 9:00 AM - please contact the following elected officials in advance to state your views! judge.becerra@co.hays.tx.us (512) 393-2205; mark.jones@co.hays.tx.us (512)...
Permission revoked by County for pipeline to cross under roadways
The commissioners court on Tuesday voted to revoke permission for the energy giant to cross any roads in the county. The unanimous vote came after a lengthy executive session and the motion was made by Pct. 3 Commissioner Lon Shell. It was in Shell’s precinct that...
State and regional flood planning: the future of flood resilience in Texas
Starting in 2020, Texas stakeholders will have the opportunity to determine the best flood mitigation strategies for their region through a process called “flood planning.” Regional Flood Planning Groups (RFPG) will lead this effort, as prescribed by Senate Bill 8...