HENDERSON COUNTY–At the June 10 meeting of the Henderson County Commissioners’ Court, speakers turned out to protest the proposed drilling of 22 groundwater wells in eastern Henderson County between Moore Station and Coffee City by private companies with a Dallas address that plan to extract more than 5 billion gallons of water per year, which the court opposes.
The official action taken June 10 by Henderson County was to authorize County Judge Wade McKinney to represent Henderson County to file a request with the Neches and Trinity Valley Groundwater Conservation District contesting the application for a groundwater well permit related to Pine Bliss, LLC and Red Town Ranch Holdings, LLC, with the assistance of legal counsel.
The water numbers come from the permitting authority, the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District, which serves Henderson, Anderson and Cherokee counties. The district has a June 19 meeting at Jacksonville City Hall (which includes a public hearing) to consider “approving notices, setting hearing dates and other related actions.” That date is the deadline to contest the permit.
The company also wants to drill 21 groundwater wells in extreme southwestern Anderson County, which would extract more than 10 billion gallons of water per year. Henderson County has two representatives on the groundwater conservation district’s board of directors who are appointed by the commissioners’ court, Board Vice President Sam Hurley and Board Treasurer Donald Foster.
One speaker at the Henderson County Commissioners’ Court meeting, Danny Crossley, who is from north of Chandler, said if this water is going to a high-population growth area such as the Dallas-Fort Worth area, “but for them to take this water and deplete us of our water is, I mean, that may be helping them, but it’s hurting us and we need to stand up for that.”
After the line of speakers opposing the issue finished, Assistant County Attorney Kenneth Strawn said the court should consider whether it has standing to contest the permit. Because of the number of speakers from unincorporated areas of the county against the wells, Strawn said he believes that standing has “probably” been established and there’s “an effect on the county.”
Stated Precinct 3 Commissioner Chuck McHam, “I think just with the amount of people we have here today, and the passion and engagement that we have, that it’s something that we’re going to have to do, is engage with (the law firm) Allison Bass. I mean, water is fixing to quickly become our most precious resource. And it’s not like, just like a guy spoke earlier, it’s not like when they’re pumping oil and they got to pay everybody that lives above it, they go to pumping this water, they don’t have to pay anybody. They just have to have enough money to drill these high-capacity wells.”
McHam added, “There’s not a lot we can do except protest and let them know that we don’t want this, and let these people know we don’t want these people hedging our water,” adding, “We have to engage with them.”
Other officials have gone on the record about the issue. In a June 6 letter to the groundwater conservation district, State Sen. Robert Nichols “urge(s) the Board to carefully consider the cumulative impact of this application and to prioritize the long-term sustainability and equitable use of our region’s groundwater resources. Denying this permit would be consistent with the District’s responsibility to prevent waste and ensure the conservation of groundwater for all stakeholders.”
June 9, State Rep. Keith Bell also sent a letter to the groundwater conservation district, in which he “formally express(es) my strong opposition to the pending permit applications,” later in the letter urging the board “in the strongest terms to deny them.”
Bell, who states in the letter that he’s a member of the House Committee on Environmental Regulation, also says in the letter that he is “coordinating closely with my colleagues in both the Texas House and Senate who represent East Texas, and we stand united in our intent to protect our shared water future.”
County Judge Wade McKinney spoke about his personal wells running dry in the past and talked about the legal case involving Ozarka drilling for groundwater northeast of Eustace, which was decided in 1999 and which reaffirmed the rule of capture.
McKinney also said metropolitan areas now have more power than rural Texas. “We have to be louder, we have to be smarter, we have to be more determined,” McKinney remarked.
In other business, the court:
• Approved a request from the Henderson County Tax Assessor-Collector to refund tax overpayments, issuing four checks totaling $25,626.79.
• Approved a request for overtime from the District Clerk’s Office for scanning projects to be paid from the district clerk’s Records Management Fund, which McKinney said are not property taxes but instead, filing fees that accumulate.
• Approved a request to hire part-time employees for the County Clerk’s Office for scanning projects to be paid from the county clerk’s Records Management Fund.
• Approved the setting of 2026 sheriff and constable fees, which includes no changes.
• Approved requesting bid proposals on the county’s health plan.
• Approved expending funds from the Courthouse Security Fund with AIO Security Solutions related to panic buttons at county facilities.
• Approved the Henderson County Emergency Service District (ESD) 3 (based in LaRue) 2023-24 annual financial statement in accordance with House Bill 3764, for filing purposes only, which Precinct 4 Commissioner Mark Richardson said claims an exemption because of financial limitations allowed by law.
• Approved the Henderson County ESD 11 (based in Shady Oaks) 2023-24 annual financial statement in accordance with House Bill 3764, for filing purposes only, which also claims an exemption explained above.
• Approved paying fiscal year 2025 bills of $459,197.25.
• Approved a request for bid specifications for the 2025 asphalt bid.
• Approved the fiscal year 2025 haul and transport bid specifications.
• Approved the 2025 bid specifications for bulk fuel.