County Judge Candidates’ Answers Vary on Approach to River Pollution

The topic of pollution in the Colorado River came up at the Fayette County Republican Party Candidate Forum on Sunday Jan. 18.

One of the questions posed to the County Judge candidates involved a recent effort by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to loosen pollution discharge limits at the Fayette Power Project near La Grange, specifically in regard to selenium. Those discharges eventually flow into the Colorado River. The question asked the candidates for their position on the issue and what the County Judge can do about it.

“I’ve not been briefed on that particular issue,” Josh Homan said. “Nor am I aware of any exact specifics or the chemical makeup. Nor am I an expert in chemistry or toxins or any of those things. What I do support is clean water and I support the efforts to ensure we have it. So if LCRA is releasing more toxins into the river, my first question would be ‘Is it a level determined to be safe by the state and federal agencies?’ If it’s one of those things where it’s marginal or meeting the max, you need to be careful with those things. Let’s say the maximum parts per million of ‘X’ chemical, while it may be allowed, it might not be beneficial or ideal. So I haven’t been briefed on the exact details of that. But as County Judge, I would ensure that I know anything regarding an issue like that. A big part of that is communication. We’ve got to communicate that to the public. We’ve got to communicate that with Commissioners Court. And we’ve got to look out for the County.”

“In general, LCRA has been a pretty good partner on most things,” Josh Vandever said. “My understanding on this issue is the chemical selenium, which LCRAis seeking to increase the threshold by which a positive would result in other things with their testing. What’s being said is ‘It’s safe, let’s not worry about it.’ But what we have asked for is, ‘Have a public hearing if it’s so safe. Drop your best chemist in front of a room of Fayette County citizens right here in Ellinger or in Fayetteville, and let your chemist educate us on why it’s not a big deal.’ The resistance to doing that in and of itself tells me there’s something afoul here and that we should be very skeptical of their resistance to it. Your only opportunity to address it is to have relationships with your state legislators, with your senator, with your representative, and have them go up there and ask those questions from sort of a bully pulpit and enforce some level of accountability.”

“First and foremost, water is one of our most precious resources,” Michael Zweschper said. “In no way, shape or form should a flowing river be treated as a sewer. That’s essentially what they’re trying to do. It’s not the first time LCRA has dumped stuff in there. They continue to want to increase dumping, increasing thresholds. It’s completely unacceptable. That river flows through not only Fayette County but several other counties. I’m not sure of everything I would do, but I’d be doing something every day. Step one would be to take a pitcher of water out of the Colorado River and go up there to their offices and ask for a meeting. I’d offer them a glass of water. Beyond that, if it holds up, what kind of injunction can we apply for? Polluting our rivers and using our public rivers as a sewer system is unacceptable in any county. I would fight that with every resource I have.”

“This, like so many other topics we’ve talked about tonight, are not really county matters,” William Bernsen said. “You can talk about water, the hospital, and now this issue, the County doesn’t really have anything to do with that. These are state matters. In this regard, all the County Judge can do is be a good leader, a good advocate. It’s always appropriate for the County Judge to advocate on behalf of the citizens. When these matters arise, you come to the County Judge and ask for his advocacy. Let’s talk about leadership, since that’s not really a part of County government. Let’s talk about leadership qualities. A good leader leads by example. A good leader is very quick to praise those who he leads and very quick to assume responsibility for problems. A good leader never engages with childish banter with those they lead. They never ridicule. They never bully. You lead with grace and forgiveness. I forgive like I want to be forgiven.”