$30 MILLION AND DECADES LATER, PUB WEIR WEIRDER AND WEIRDER

By Juan Montoya

When Tony Garza, the former Cameron county Judge and later U.S. Ambassador to Mexico used to speak of the plans by the Brownsville Public Utility Board to build a weir dam down river from Brownsville, he would wonder how that public board could use millions of public funds without approval from the utility's ratepayers.

"I f we (county commissioner) spent that much money on any project, we would have to got to the voters for their approval," he would say. "These people have spent millions without as much asking the people for their approval."

Now, decades after the weir dam was first proposed and more than $30 million spent on the project back over the years, PUB administrators can't get it into their heads that the project is dead in the water.

The final blow was dealt by Brownsville's partners in Mexico who unceremoniously informed its city commission that they were really not interested in the plan.

The PUB originally sold the idea of the dam (estimated to cost $45 million by some and as high as $85 million by others) that the weir would work like a dam to store water that would otherwise flow "unused" into the Gulf of Mexico.

They said back in 2002 that with the then-current conditions, projections showed that by 2006, the demand for water would exceed Brownsville's supply capacity. In 2001, Brownsville's demand for water was over 7 billion gallons.

Still, a report from the Texas Center for Policy Studies under the auspices of the Laguna Madre Binational Initiative with support from the Ford Foundation stated that the Regional Water Planning Group did not originally recommend the weir as a water supply strategy to meet 50-year demand.

The RWPG concluded that it was not needed for drinking water supply. "Even the PUB admits this in its letter to the committee, saying: '…the full yield of the Brownsville Reservoir is not needed to supply the projected demand deficit for Brownsville over the next 50 years.'"

In fact, by using other methods, such as the “non-potable water re-use and supply” strategy, PUB could provide an additional 10,000 acre feet of water by the year 2050 — enough to meet drinking water supply needs (estimated to increase to 9,641 acre feet) by 2050.

The center report said that "the PUB also said it would try to buy water from willing sellers as Falcon and Amistad rights become available, but it provided no estimate of how much water might be acquired this way, and it is left out of their expected supply scenario. The RWPG estimates that PUB might gain an additional 3,000 acre feet of water per year through acquisition."

The Center for Policy Studies said that although PUB claimed it cannot meet the conservation savings requirements suggested by the RWPG guidelines, it gives no reason as to why Brownsville residents should not be expected to meet the conservation requirements every other citizen in Texas has been asked to meet.

They further dispute PUB's claims that the weir would be used to supply the future water demands of Brownsville residents. These demands, they say, don’t appear to be based on actual future drinking water needs.

Projected demand for water—and the assumed justification for building the weir— appears to be based on future, speculative industrial development at the Port of Brownsville, the center charged. They cite a September 2000 letter from PUB Director John Bruciak to Glenn Jarvis,Chair of the Regional Water Planning Group (RWPG) charged with outlining the region’s water needs for the next 50 years as proof for their assertions. The letter states:"... it is important to recognize that the PUB is contractually obligated to serve water to the Brownsville Navigation District and the Port of Brownsville. At the present time there are several major industries that are considering locating new manufacturing facilities near the Brownsville Ship Channel, with significant demands for water. The most serious proposal that is currently being considered by the PUB involves a large industrial complex, with an associated stream-electric power plant and ancillary manufacturing facilities, that has projected water demands on the order of 12,000 to 15,000 acre feet per year…"
Few industries use this much water, the center states. In fact, their report states that "that amount would be up to three times the current amount of industrial water use in all eight counties in the planning region."

They further charge that "contrary to what some officials claim,water flowing out past Brownsville and to the Gulf is used—by 35 other water rights holders—including irrigators, and by commercial species like White Shrimp and Red drum that spawn in the estuary (the zone where freshwater from the Rio Grande and salt water from the ocean mix), feeding families and fishermen’s nets.

By simply flowing into the ocean, the river serves a purpose by supplying sediment that is moved through wave action up and along the coast of South Padre Island, helping to prevent erosion of the coastline."

This extremely poor choice of words (water being “wasted” or “unused” if it actually makes it to its naturally-intended destination) denotes little respect for the natural processes that have shaped the Rio Grande for millenia, they say. It may be this attitude, more than anything else, that sparks mistrust of the PUB from conservation groups dedicated to protecting the natural resource, they said.

Notwithstanding PUB's the faulty logic to push for the weir all these years, new groups made up of local attorneys and political operatives connected to local politicians and “people in the know” in Mexico (wink) have been busy trying to procure public funds to continue pushing for the project. This is even after the U.S. International Water and Boundary Commission was told in no uncertain terms by its Mexican counterpart, the Comisión Internacional de Limites y Aguas that it does not consider the Brownsville’s weir project a priority for the near future.

Two entities – the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority and the Brownsville Weir Joint Venture – tried to convince the PUB they hold the cards as far as contacts in Mexico and the powers that be on that side of the Rio Grande.

The CCMA, headed by Cameron County Administrator Pete Sepulveda told the board that the Mexican commission would have to determine if the Mexican government was interested in the project (again). For only $8,000 to $9,000 a month and 60 days Sepulveda said he could tell them the answer.

The Joint Venture group was a little more pricey. For $1.8 million after getting the final approvals, plus another $200,000 for more ”studies,” they could swing the deal.

And if this wasn't enough malarkey, suddenly, a familiar figure crawled out of its hole. Dannebaum's Louis Jones, who engineered the disappearance of a large chunk of the $21 million funds at the Brownsville Navigation District's rail-truck bridge, offered to get the Mexican permits "free of charge."

This is, after all, the man who funnelled millions to companies in Mexico that he controlled and later denied it to special investigator Charles Willette. Only when Willette came upon corporation documents in Mexico naming Jones as an officer in those corporations did Jones stop denying he was involved.

Luckily for him, the Cameron County District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney were taking their afternoon siestas while this controversy swirled around them.

Once DA Villalobos couldn't ignore the matter, he got off the hammock and twisted Dannenbaum's (and Jones') arms and got them to cough up a cool $1 million for disturbing his afternoon siesta.

But on August 5, 2009 the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) announced another major setback for the Weir Project. Officials with the IBWC said Matamoros does not want to participate in the project.

Then-Mayor Pat Ahumada said the Brownsville-Matamoros Weir project would have increased water reserves for the United States and Mexico, as well as served as an alternative to the border fence.

Now, after millions wasted down the Wier Drain, PUB officials have been mum on their plans for the failed project. "The weir is dead in the water," said a current PUB board member. "Kiss all that money goodbye."