How Government Secrecy Contributes to Flooding

1/25/26 – One in every five Texans lives in a floodplain, according to the first Texas State Flood Plan. We have the second highest number of repetitive loss properties in the country, according to the Insurance Journal. And 30 states have populations smaller than the number of people living in Texas floodplains.

The number of floodplain dwellers in the San Jacinto watershed alone exceeds the entire populations of 15 states and the District of Columbia. And it’s not all because of rainfall, flat land, or our proximity to the Gulf. Government secrecy compounds those issues.

Purpose of FOIA and TPIA

While governments at all levels pay lip service to transparency, the reality can be quite different. Journalists and concerned citizens frequently have their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) requests denied. Usually, the denials occur when they might embarrass someone in government. Yet that’s exactly why those two acts were passed decades ago. And that’s why we need to rededicate ourselves to openness.

State, County, Municipal Examples

Let me give you three recent examples.

Scarborough Land West of Kingwood

A Dallas-based company called Scarborough bought 5,300 acres at the confluence of Spring, Cypress and Turkey Creeks where they join the San Jacinto West Fork. Virtually all the land is in floodplains or floodways. The developer says the State of Texas is his partner.

The Texas School Land Board invested an undisclosed amount of money for undisclosed terms in the development of the property.

The state has rebuffed attempts to discover why it is investing in the development of such dangerous property.

The Texas General Land Office oversees the School Land Board but has refused to clarify media requests and repeatedly appealed FOIA requests to Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton keeps finding reasons to avoid compliance with the spirit of the law.

The state even refused a request from a Texas representative. They demanded the lawmaker sign a non-disclosure agreement. The lawmaker found it so onerous, he said he refused to sign it.

Paxton has announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate. And Dawn Buckingham, GLO Commissioner is running for re-election.

Harris County Flood Maps

The term “caveat emptor” (buyer beware) goes back 2,000 years to Roman times and became firmly embedded in English Common Law during the Middle Ages.

For people to know whether they’re buying land in a floodplain, they need access to current flood maps based on the best available information. But 8.5 years after Hurricane Harvey, Harris County Flood Control District has not released updated flood maps – effectively keeping buyers in the dark about their flood risk.

Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Yilun Cheng found that 65,000 homes have been built in Houston floodplains since Harvey. That number will also certainly grow when the County eventually releases new flood maps.

HCFCD has repeatedly ignored media requests for the new flood maps. The cover story is that their contract with FEMA prohibits release of the flood maps before FEMA vets them. But the County refuses to produce the contract. And other counties throughout Texas routinely publish “draft” maps, with the understanding that they are subject to revision by FEMA.

Romerica Land in Kingwood

Several years ago, Romerica bought more than 300 acres between Kingwood Lake and the San Jacinto West Fork. Virtually all of it lies in floodplains or floodways.

Yet the company has persisted in trying to develop it.

• First, they wanted to build 25- to 50-story high rises around a marina that would hold boats too big to float on the West Fork.
• Then, they wanted to build luxury homes on stilts, even though homes built on 25 foot stilts had already flooded.
• Recently, they announced plans to build a 500,000 square foot, two-hotel complex surrounded by 125 luxury, 8,600 square foot villas.

Even though the most recent plan is on Romerica’s highest ground, the swampland still floods badly and repeatedly.

When Sylvester Turner was Mayor, he reportedly instructed Public Works not to approve any building permits for the property. Turner had personally seen how badly that area flooded.

But now Houston Public Works has approved a preliminary drainage survey for the two hotels (including a Fairmont) and 125 massive villas.

Public Works also recommended a plat variance that could limit emergency access. And Public Works denied my FOIA request for Romerica’s drainage analysis and asked the Attorney General (AG) to support their denial. Regardless, I obtained a copy through another resident that Public Works gave the study to.

Refusing my FOIA request was hilarious. In their letter to the AG, an assistant City Attorney cited information I didn’t even request to enhance her chances of keeping the study secret. Public Works even refused to supply a copy of the drainage analysis to Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger.

I have obtained similar drainage studies from Harris, Montgomery and Liberty Counties without such objections.

Illusion of Transparency

Usually, when people have nothing to hide, they quickly volunteer information. When they withhold information, they might have a valid reason. More likely, in my experience, they may have something to hide.

FOIA was passed in 1966 to shift the presumption of government information from secrecy to disclosure. Its core purpose was to give citizens, journalists, and Congress a legal mechanism to see how the government actually operates—rather than relying on voluntary or selective releases.

Before FOIA, government information was disclosed at agency discretion. After FOIA, disclosure became the default.

FOIA passed because Congress concluded that a rapidly expanding federal bureaucracy had become too secretive, too insulated, and too powerful—and that democracy required legally enforceable transparency, not voluntary disclosure.

TPIA passed in 1973 in direct response to the Sharpstown Stock Fraud Scandal. It involved so many officials that public trust in government collapsed. At the time, Texas governments considered transparency a courtesy, not a right.

Newspapers across Texas demanded reform. Voters were openly angry. Lawmakers feared losing office. Reform candidates surged in the 1973 elections. But according to many journalists and activist groups, transparency laws were imposed on a system that never truly wanted them.

Texas recently required creation of a searchable database of letter rulings under House Bill 3033, but as of January 23, 2026, Paxton’s office had only gotten up to 2023. None of the PDFs would open. And HTML files were unavailable.

According to his office, Paxton received 40,000 appeals of open records requests in 2023 alone. So, there’s no way to determine whether Paxton’s office exhibits a systematic bias for or against TPIA requests. However, 40,000 is a shocking number. It shows how frequently local and county jurisdictions want to keep matters secret.

Why This Matters for Floodplain Development Issues

Texas adopted transparency laws in 1973 for the same reason they matter today:

Decisions affecting land, money, and power tend to drift toward secrecy without legal force.

In floodplain development, appeals of FOIA and TPIA requests commonly cite the privacy of developer studies as the reason for not releasing them. But in my humble opinion once a government official stamps such a study “approved,” the public should have the right to see the basis for the approval. Anything less is government by secrecy.

In the case of flood safety, such secrecy can destroy lives, homes, and life savings. And the statistics in the first two paragraphs of this post prove it.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/25/2026

3071 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.