Jim Spigener, President, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District
Jim Spigener, President
Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District
Jim Spigener serves as President of the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, which regulates the groundwater resources of Montgomery County. Spigener has been in office four years, beginning as Treasurer.
His goal as President is to assure the highest practicable use of groundwater for the county and to protect the property rights of Montgomery County citizens.
Spigener states, “I hope to make groundwater regulation work for all of the constituents of Montgomery county.”
Spigener Ran for Office for Several Reasons
“To break up collusion between some entities in the county and state.”
The Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District (LSGCD) and the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA), the respective county and state regulatory agencies established by the Texas Legislature, had amassed $500 million in bonds to build a surface water treatment plant using questionable science. They then assessed fees to water producers to subsidize the cost of water production, all while coercing water producers to join a new groundwater reduction plan under the threat of fines.
“To get the LSGCD back in compliance with the law”
The law is written that if citizens believe the LSGCD and SJRA are engaged in regulatory takings, they may bring litigation; however, if a citizen loses his lawsuit, he must pay the legal fees for both his own attorney and the attorney fees for the SJRA and/or the LSGCD. This is not the case if the citizen wins his lawsuit. The entities will not pay the citizen’s attorney fees if he wins the case.
Before Spigener and other new members were elected, the SJRA and LSGCD could take an owner’s property (groundwater) by prohibiting the property owner from producing it, while tying him up in the court system for years, draining the person financially until he agreed to participate in the entity’s program and pay the higher fees for surface water. Spigener wanted to right this wrong on groundwater regulation.
His overall goal is “to allow the system to provide for the most affordable water for the citizens of [Montgomery County.]”
Changes Made to the LSGCD
To address these issues, Spigener and the board have made several changes to the LSGCD. The organization has built and installed a new legal management plan to assure that private property rights are upheld while achieving the highest practicable use of groundwater.
Additionally, the board has instituted rules to assure that the groundwater management plan affords access to a fair share of the groundwater to all who utilize water in the county. Spigener says the LSGCD has cut permitting fees by 20 percent since he took office.
Challenges Ahead
According to Spigener, the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District does face some challenges regarding the science on the aquifers in Montgomery county.
“[Scientific studies are] expensive and should have been done 20 years ago before hundreds of millions were spent on solutions to an undefined problem. Today we are in the position of not having the resources to have the science before the state and other political subdivisions make costly decisions. Politics rather than science threatens to be the basis for even more costly decisions.”
To offset this challenge, Spigener says the board has chartered the first comprehensive study of the aquifers in Montgomery County and the effects groundwater usage has on them, ensuring they can make educated decisions on groundwater usage in the future.
How You Can Support Conservative Members of the LSGCD Board
Spigener says the best way for voters to help is to become educated on what LSGCD does. You can find out more about the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District by visiting lonestargcd.org.
More Information & Contact
Regular Board Meetings are open to the public.
Jim Spigener, President, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District
Phone: (936) 494-3436
Website: Lone Star Groundwater Board of Directors
Address:
655 Conroe Park North Drive
Conroe, TX 77303