On the House floor today, the state water grid amendment by Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio was stripped off an unrelated water bill, SB 1301, under threat of a point of order that could have killed the bill itself. In response to this development, Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair of Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, issued the following statement.
“The monstrous water gridzilla was dealt a strong but not yet fatal blow today in the Texas House. Gridzilla was thrown from the vehicle it was trying to ride to ultimate victory when the sponsor withdrew his water grid amendment from a hijacked bill. However, the legislator pushing gridzilla announced that other vehicles for his beast are coming. One of those vehicles is SB 1337, set for House floor action this coming Sunday. Texans should contact their House members to be on the lookout for attempts by gridzilla to hop on board that or other vehicles.”
Background:
The so-called state water grid – an elaborate, costly, and environmentally questionable system of water reservoirs, pipelines, pumping stations, and other infrastructure to move massive volumes of water around Texas – has been pushed by State Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) and State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock). Legislation to create a game plan for a state water grid passed the House without scrutiny earlier, but that legislation (HB 3298 and a related Senate bill, SB 1907) ran into a buzz saw of opposition in the Senate from both Republicans and Democrats. It was declared dead by many in the Senate.
But Thursday afternoon on the House floor, Rep. Larson attached an amendment to an unrelated bill – SB 1301 by Rep Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) – that revived the state water grid. A point of order was eventually raised against that amendment, and today on the House floor Rep Larson withdrew his amendment under pressure so that the original bill could move forward without the burden of the grid. But Rep Larson forewarned that other “vehicles” for water grid were coming. The most likely vehicle to come up next is SB 1337 by Perry/Lucio III, which is on the House calendar Sunday.
Texans who want to call their State Representative in opposition to gridzilla may go to http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx to find out who represents them.