The Tarrant Regional Water District is being sued by a wealthy landowner in Henderson County who contends the agency has illegally approved a $2.3 billion pipeline that cuts across his ranch in East Texas.
Monty Bennett of Dallas maintains a wildlife refuge for endangered species on the 1,000-acre property and doesn't want the project cutting across his land, according to his attorneys, who filed the lawsuit in a Tarrant County civil court late Monday.The lawsuit contends that the water district violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in how it approved various portions of the project, stating that the board "rubber stamped" decisions and recommendations made by the agency's staff and key committees without any public deliberation.The lawsuit states that the Texas Open Meetings Act demands transparency and open deliberations in every step of the decision-making process."Regrettably, TRWD and its board have ignored that obligation and deliberately [have] chosen to conduct the district's affairs in a manner shielded from public view," the lawsuit states.In a statement released by the water district late Tuesday, the agency said that all of its meetings are conducted according to state law."The Tarrant Regional Water District complies with all applicable laws, including the Texas Open Meetings Act. We believe this suit filed by a Dallas resident is baseless and without merit. We intend to vigorously defend it," the statement said.Bennett's attorneys are seeking an injunction that would prohibit the agency from taking any further action on the pipeline until questions about the Open Meetings Act are answered. The lawsuit also says they are seeking minutes of meetings from both water district board and its committees.The Tarrant water district is working with Dallas Water Utilities on a $2.3 billion pipeline to bring more water from existing East Texas reservoirs.The first phase that will go to Cedar Creek Lake is currently scheduled to start construction in 2014 but isn't expected to be completed until 2021.The water is needed as the population of North Texas is expected to double by 2060.The water district, which provides raw water to 98 percent of Tarrant County, including the cities of Fort Worth, Arlington and Mansfield, will need 400,000 acre-feet per year more than the current supply. One acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons.Wildlife preserveBill Brewer, an attorney representing Bennett, said his client didn't know his land was being considered until he received a notice from the water district to survey the land, which is about seven miles southeast of Athens.The water district challenged Bennett in Henderson County civil court to gain access to his land. Bennett is CEO of the Ashford Hospitality Trust, a Dallas hotel owner."The Tarrant Regional Water District still has not admitted publicly where they want to place the route [for the pipeline]," Brewer said. "Their position is that they can't tell the public."Brewer questioned why the water district isn't looking at other locations besides Bennett's land, where the wildlife refuge is fully permitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a "captive-bred" facility for endangered species.Some of the endangered species include herds of Barasingha, also known as swamp deer, and the threatened Red Lechwe. The ranch also is home to indigenous forests."Endangered species might be impacted. A governmental unit has to demonstrate that they've looked at less intrusive alternatives," Brewer said.But the lawsuit contends that the board, from March 2009 to December 2012, unanimously approved all 339 recommendations from the agency's professional staff and its construction and operation committee, its legal action department and the pipeline project management, much of it out of the public limelight."No TRWD board member could reasonably defend an assertion that their decisions were actually made on an informed basis based on public discussion and deliberation," the lawsuit states. "The board, in effect, has abdicated its duties and obligations as public stewards to non-elected bureaucrats."A rubber stamp?In 2010, the issue of the Tarrant Regional Water District Board violating the Open Meetings Act came up during the campaign of board members Marty Leonard and Jim Lane, who eventually won re-election.In that race, challengers Adrian Murray and John Basham, said that the board was essentially acting as a rubber stamp for the water district's staff and that when board members do debate issues that it is done behind closed doors.The water district pointed to a provision in the Texas Water Code that said a committee meeting that doesn't include a quorum does not have to comply with the open meetings law.In 2010, Lane, who still a member of the water district board and is now a candidate for the Fort Worth City Council, insisted that the water district's subcommittee meetings complied with the Open Records Act."Just because the vote is unanimous doesn't mean no has one has talked about it or discussed it at the board meeting," Lane said in 2010. "No one is in violation of the Open Meetings Act. As a lawyer and as a taxpayer, if I saw it, it would be my duty to inform [District Attorney] Joe Shannon."Lane couldn't immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.Elizabeth Campbell,817-390-7696Twitter: @fustilyHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
