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Dredging Status: End of September

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spread out across the West Fork of the San Jacinto River for its Emergency Dredging Project. Here is a visual status report from a trip up the river on Friday. I went from West Lake Houston Parkway past the US59 bridge to chronicle what has become an amphibious […]

San Jacinto River at Its Finest: Nature the Way It Was Meant to Be

Today, I took a much needed rest from floods, sand mines, sedimentation and tax appraisals. A friend took me and two others out on his boat for a day long encounter with nature. We explored the West Fork, East Fork, Taylor Gulley, Caney Creek, Peach Creek and Luce Bayou. It was a cool, overcast day…the […]

New 100-year 24-Hour Rainfall Map and Data Released by NOAA Today

New data shows the 100-year rainfall for this area has increased 4-5 inches since the NOAA study in 1961 or 2-3 inches since the USGS study in 2004. This is why flood mitigation and reducing sedimentation are so important. Basically, what we used to think of as a 100-year storm is now almost a 25-year […]

Inconsistencies in Montgomery County Sand-Mine Real-Estate Tax Appraisals

Analysis of Montgomery County real estate tax records reveals wide inconsistencies in the way sand mines are appraised. Fifty three parcels of land in Montgomery County devoted to sand mining received seven different real estate tax classifications. Not one classification had anything to do with mining, though one parcel was classified as commercial land and two […]

East Fork Sand Mine in Montgomery County Appraised as Ag/Timber Land

I wish I could get a deal like this! A cardiologist from Nacogdoches named Dr. Prabhakar R. Guniganti (in a trust set up for his family members) owns virtually all the land used for sand mining adjacent to Kingwood on Caney Creek, White Oak Creek and the East Fork of the San Jacinto. Here’s the best part! […]