Controversial high-capacity well applications suspended
Posted/updated on: October 22, 2025 at 7:56 am
JACKSONVILLE – The Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District (NTVGCD) has voted to suspend 40 controversial permit applications for high-capacity water wells in Anderson County according to our news partner KETK.
A member of the district’s board confirmed to KETK News that the NTVGCD board met in Jacksonville on Thursday and unanimously voted to suspend their consideration of 40 permit applications that were filed with their board by Pine Bliss LLC and Red Town Ranch Holdings LLC. The applications sparked controversy earlier this year when numerous East Texas public officials began to speak out against the proposed wells and their potential impact on the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer, which supplies water for much of Anderson and Houston counties.
The applications are suspended until studies can be done to determine what impact these wells could have on the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer.
East Texas State Senator Robert Nichols and State Representative Cody Harris attended the meeting on Thursday. According to Harris, the board also voted to accept a settlement offer from Sanderson Farms, a poultry company, who’s suing the district to invalidate their April vote for the permit applications.
“Thursday’s Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District board meeting in Jacksonville brought some great news for East Texas. I joined local leaders and water experts at First Methodist Church as the board voted unanimously to accept the Sanderson Farms settlement offer—invalidating their April vote on the Pine Bliss and Red Town Ranch application and halting any further drilling until the three aquifer studies are complete,” Harris said.
The lawsuit was filled on behalf of the many farmers in the area, who rely on groundwater to feed their crops and livestock, and would be impacted if nearby wells lower the amount of water in the aquifer.
“I appreciated the opportunity to speak to the board and encourage them to continue preserving our aquifers and protecting East Texas water,” Harris said. “I assured them that we have their backs and will keep working alongside them until we secure long-term solutions and meaningful reform to the Rule of Capture.”
City of Crockett City Administrator John Angerstein was one of the first to speak out against the wells because of the strain he believed they could put on Crockett’s water supply.
“This volume of water is staggering. Using the City of Crockett’s per capita water usage, it is equivalent for a population of 338,000 or 52 times the City of Crockett. Yet, none of this water is designated for our communities,” Angerstein said on May 31. “It is likely intended to support unchecked development and sprawl in other parts of Texas, presumably in the DFW metroplex or Hill Country, areas that have failed to plan responsibly for their own water needs.”
Angerstein also alleged that Redtown Ranch Holdings LLC and Pine Bliss LLC are tied to the environmental sustainability private equity firm Conservation Equity Management Partners, which is run by the Dallas businessman Kyle Bass, who is a founder and the CEO of the firm.
Friends of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge board president Michael Banks DDS welcomed the suspension of the permit applications in a statement released to KETK News on Monday.
“There are growing Texas regional conflicts among those who ‘want’ water (not need) and those who have water. Previous studies have shown that the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer does not have groundwater sustainable yield to allow the Bass high-capacity drill permits without having irreparable harm to East Texas,” Banks said. “Groundwater sustainable yield refers to the maximum rate at which groundwater can be withdrawn from an aquifer over a long-term without causing unacceptable environmental, economic, or social consequences. It is a cornerstone concept in water resource management, aiming to balance human water needs with ecological preservation.”
Banks went on to call out CEO Kyle Bass specifically for the damage he thinks the wells could do Bass’ own land and the land of his neighbors in East Texas.
“Kyle Bass would allow unacceptable consequences to happen even to his own land in Cherokee and Henderson Counties,” Banks said. “He emphasizes his topical improvements to his land but ignores the harm that would be done with his for-profit removal of groundwater from the aquifer under his land. This is hypocrisy at its finest. We must not rest – this is only an interlude in the battle to protect rural East Texas.”
KETK News reached out to Kyle Bass and Conservation Equity Management for a statement on Monday.
