Senate committee advances HB 27 to study groundwater exports, amid debate over moratorium

Senator Nichols, sponsor of House Bill 27, told the Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding that the bill would require the Texas Water Development Board to study aquifer impacts and temporarily pause new export permits while the study runs.

The bill responds to applications to drill dozens of large commercial wells in and around the Neches and Trinity Valley Groundwater Conservation District and seeks “a scientific study of the district’s aquifers to determine the sustainable pumping levels and evaluate the impacts of those large scale projects,” Nichols said. He described the longer policy context as “a conversation in the making of a hundred and 79 years of Texas” and said the core question is whether policymakers will “believe in the science.”

Committee members pressed on what the study would examine and why the draft bill includes an immediate moratorium on new export permits. Supporters of the bill and invited witnesses told the committee the available science is incomplete for this aquifer system where surface water and groundwater may be hydraulically connected. Opponents — including applicants and private-sector representatives — said the moratorium would violate property rights and chill investment.

Why it matters: The contested area feeds rivers and reservoirs that serve a large…