7/25/2025 – The San Jacinto Flood Planning Group is fielding a brief regional flood survey that will be used to help judge public priorities for the next round in the development of the State’s Flood Plan. Your last chance to take the survey is August 1, 2025.
But don’t wait. Take it now while this post and the link are in front of you. It will only take a few minutes and your suggestions could help reduce your flood risk.
About the State Flood Plan
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 8 directing the creation of the first-ever state flood plan for Texas. The state flood plan brings together the findings of the 15 river-basin-based regional flood plans and makes legislative and floodplain management recommendations to guide state, regional, and local flood control policy.
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) adopted Texas’ inaugural State Flood Plan on August 15th, 2024. Now we’re into the next cycle of the plan, which will be updated every five years.
So here’s your chance to sound off about everything you’ve learned in the last five years. The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group covers more than 5,000 square miles in 11 counties.
7/24/25 – Five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids (HVLs) have become exposed and undermined by erosion associated with sand-mining activity near Caney Creek in Porter. Some of the pipelines have been shored up. Others hang suspended in mid-air. See below.
Exposed pipelines at northern end of Triple PG property near Caney CreekReverse angle shows proximity to Caney Creek in foreground.Side shot gives better view of utility-easement erosion at northern part of mine.
From Railroad Commission website in August 2021. Note how miners had started mining past Kinder Morgan pipeline on bottom. Compare this with photos above taken today that show pipelines exposed where clustered green lines are.
The exposed HVL pipelines observed today are part of a pattern at this mine. But it’s not the only dangerous pattern, in my opinion.
Attorney General Lawsuit on Behalf of TCEQ
Back in 2019, breaches of two dikes at the same mine were left open for months. The mines released process wastewater through those breaches into the headwaters of Lake Houston for months. They also let White Oak Creek flow through the Triple PG sand mine (now operated by Texas Frac Sand Materials, Inc.) directly into Caney Creek.
Both White Oak and Caney Creeks flow into the San Jacinto East Fork and the headwaters of Lake Houston, which supplies drinking water for 2.2 million people.
Looking N. from over Hueni Road. White Oak Creek (left) flows into and through Triple PG property.Still looking N but farther east, water flows out of the mine into Caney Creek(right of mine).Lake Houston is behind camera position.
Original Case Delayed Six Years
Legal maneuverings and a change in ownership of the mine through a series of shell companies and trust funds have delayed the original lawsuit for six years in Travis County courts. See Case No. D-1-GN-19-007086.
Texas Frac Sand Materials now operates the mine even though Dr. Prabhakar R. Guniganti and his family still own the property. See the Montgomery County Appraisal District record below for the part of the mine with the five exposed HVL pipelines.
MoCo Appraisal District record shows 1992 Guniganti Credit Shelter Trust owns the parcel outlined in blue where mining exposed pipelines.This one parcel is a small part of a much larger mine.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has already opened an investigation into both the pipeline and breach issues reported above.
Posted by Bob Rehak one 7/24/2025
2886 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/20250724-DJI_20250724140935_0601_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-07-24 20:13:272025-07-24 20:15:32Five Highly-Volatile-Liquid Pipelines Exposed at Triple PG Mine on Caney Creek
7/23/25 – Ever wonder how someone could lose track of billions of tax dollars? It takes a lot of effort. But Harris County’s current Democratic leadership has proven adept at the task. Here are some of tricks of their trade.
1. Moving money around
That makes it more difficult to trace. Put Toll Road money into Flood Control. Put Flood Control money into Engineering. Then move it back again. And again. Establish a Flood Resilience Trust to supplement flood-bond funds. Then dissolve it. Never provide a full accounting. Whew. Even the county administrator couldn’t explain it clearly. Maybe that was the point.
2. Changing department heads and group managers
Replace professional hires with political hires. In Flood Control, Engineering, IT, Community Services. And 16 other departments. Then gut the management structure three or four levels beneath them. Lose institutional knowledge, project momentum and oversight capabilities.
3. Making the new department heads accountable to a new department
The County Administrator’s Office, for instance. It has had three heads in four years (David Berry, Diana Ramirez and Jesse Dickerman) and is searching for a fourth to replace Dickerman whose title is Interim Administrator. All within four years.
4. Replacing experienced professionals with political hires
Force remaining experienced professionals to do the work of the political hires…without a pay increase. One veteran professional, who needs to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told me, they’re “doing their best to drive off remaining staff, and not even bothering to find replacements. I am pretty sure it is well past the tipping point and the county is one disaster away from dysfunctional.”
5. Appealing routine Public Information Requests to the Texas Attorney General
Then if the AG upholds the request, charge thousands of dollars to email (months later) a PDF that was already sitting on someone’s computer.
6. Not updating websites
That makes it easier for Rodney Ellis to claim “Kingwood is getting all the money.” Parts of the HCFCD district website haven’t been updated for five years. See below.
Screen capture from Downloads page on 7/23/25 shows last update was November 2020.
That might enable people to quickly verify whether “Kingwood is getting all the money.” Make people dig for the information and pay for it instead.
8. Publishing spending updates annually that used to be monthly
The frequency of Flood Bond Updates has fallen off radically. That makes it difficult to track projects in near real time.
9. Hiring Consultants for $2 million to do the work of staff you lost
On the 7/10/25 commissioners court agenda, Item 250 was a contract extension with Berkeley Research Group, LLC for $1,995,000. The primary deliverable in this word salad seems to be a dashboard to help make projects’ status more visible. Of course, this could delay disclosure for additional months…as outsiders try to figure out what insiders can’t.
10. Not totaling columns of spreadsheets that stretch for dozens of pages
And don’t put headers on any pages past the first, either. Make people scroll back and forth until their eyeballs bleed or they give up. And make them perform complicated import/export procedures to total up columns that stretch to almost 40 pages.
11. Continually changing the way you allocate money to projects
At first it was on the basis of flood damage. But people could understand that. So, it changed. Over and over and over again. Until now, damage, flood risk and flood intensity have nothing to do with the formula for allocating flood bond money.
12. Not even telling people where bond money will go in the first place
Unlike the 2018 Flood Bond, Garcia’s 2022 $1.2 billion Bait-and-Switch Bond didn’t even tell people where money would be spent. Three years later, we still don’t know. So, no one can check on them.
Shortly before the vote on Garcia’s bond, commissioners agreed to give each precinct an equal share. That lasted until the day after the election. We’re still waiting to see where money is going. The County Engineer admits to spending $131 million in the last three years, but has published NO detail on what that money bought.
Is the current uproar over the flood bond an effort to deflect attention from more tax dollars that have gone MIA? We just don’t know.
Any one of these practices might be overlooked were it not for the presence of the others. But taken together, they feel like a concerted effort to “escape and evade” detection and accountability.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/23/25
2835 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/20250723-Taxpayer-Footprints-in-Shape-of-Dollar-Signs.jpg?fit=1100%2C733&ssl=17331100adminadmin2025-07-23 19:15:242025-07-23 20:19:59The Dirty Dozen: 12 Ways Harris County Makes It Hard to Track Your Tax Dollars
Take Regional Flood Survey Now, Deadline Fast Approaching
7/25/2025 – The San Jacinto Flood Planning Group is fielding a brief regional flood survey that will be used to help judge public priorities for the next round in the development of the State’s Flood Plan. Your last chance to take the survey is August 1, 2025.
But don’t wait. Take it now while this post and the link are in front of you. It will only take a few minutes and your suggestions could help reduce your flood risk.
About the State Flood Plan
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 8 directing the creation of the first-ever state flood plan for Texas. The state flood plan brings together the findings of the 15 river-basin-based regional flood plans and makes legislative and floodplain management recommendations to guide state, regional, and local flood control policy.
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) adopted Texas’ inaugural State Flood Plan on August 15th, 2024. Now we’re into the next cycle of the plan, which will be updated every five years.
So here’s your chance to sound off about everything you’ve learned in the last five years. The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group covers more than 5,000 square miles in 11 counties.
Here’s the start page to take the survey.
After some location and contact questions, the survey will ask you some pretty high level questions, i.e., “What do we need?”
I said, “We need river-basin-wide flood control districts. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to solve flooding that originates across county lines.”
Others knowledgeable about flooding problems in Texas said we need:
Whatever your suggestions, make sure you submit your regional flood survey by August 1, 2025. Better yet, do it now so you don’t forget.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/25/2025
2887 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Five Highly-Volatile-Liquid Pipelines Exposed at Triple PG Mine on Caney Creek
7/24/25 – Five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids (HVLs) have become exposed and undermined by erosion associated with sand-mining activity near Caney Creek in Porter. Some of the pipelines have been shored up. Others hang suspended in mid-air. See below.
This is not the miner’s first tangle with pipelines. In 2020, miners exposed a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas pipeline in the same general area. That forced Kinder Morgan to abandon its line and drill a new one 75 feet beneath the mine.
The Triple PG daredevils had been pushing the safety envelope by trying to mine sand between the pipelines.
From Railroad Commission website in August 2021. Note how miners had started mining past Kinder Morgan pipeline on bottom. Compare this with photos above taken today that show pipelines exposed where clustered green lines are.
The exposed HVL pipelines observed today are part of a pattern at this mine. But it’s not the only dangerous pattern, in my opinion.
Attorney General Lawsuit on Behalf of TCEQ
Back in 2019, breaches of two dikes at the same mine were left open for months. The mines released process wastewater through those breaches into the headwaters of Lake Houston for months. They also let White Oak Creek flow through the Triple PG sand mine (now operated by Texas Frac Sand Materials, Inc.) directly into Caney Creek.
Both White Oak and Caney Creeks flow into the San Jacinto East Fork and the headwaters of Lake Houston, which supplies drinking water for 2.2 million people.
The Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit on behalf of the TCEQ. An injunction forced the miners to close the breaches and reinforce the dikes.
The lawsuit sought $1,000,000 in penalties plus $25,000 for each day violations continued.
The dikes were originally repaired. But in August 2024, I photographed the same dikes…ruptured again in the same places. They still haven’t been fixed. Here’s how they looked today.
Original Case Delayed Six Years
Legal maneuverings and a change in ownership of the mine through a series of shell companies and trust funds have delayed the original lawsuit for six years in Travis County courts. See Case No. D-1-GN-19-007086.
Texas Frac Sand Materials now operates the mine even though Dr. Prabhakar R. Guniganti and his family still own the property. See the Montgomery County Appraisal District record below for the part of the mine with the five exposed HVL pipelines.
Guniganti, a cardiologist from Nacogdoches, is one of the PG’s in the original Triple PG Mine.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has already opened an investigation into both the pipeline and breach issues reported above.
Posted by Bob Rehak one 7/24/2025
2886 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.
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Ways Harris County Makes It Hard to Track Your Tax Dollars
7/23/25 – Ever wonder how someone could lose track of billions of tax dollars? It takes a lot of effort. But Harris County’s current Democratic leadership has proven adept at the task. Here are some of tricks of their trade.
1. Moving money around
That makes it more difficult to trace. Put Toll Road money into Flood Control. Put Flood Control money into Engineering. Then move it back again. And again. Establish a Flood Resilience Trust to supplement flood-bond funds. Then dissolve it. Never provide a full accounting. Whew. Even the county administrator couldn’t explain it clearly. Maybe that was the point.
2. Changing department heads and group managers
Replace professional hires with political hires. In Flood Control, Engineering, IT, Community Services. And 16 other departments. Then gut the management structure three or four levels beneath them. Lose institutional knowledge, project momentum and oversight capabilities.
3. Making the new department heads accountable to a new department
The County Administrator’s Office, for instance. It has had three heads in four years (David Berry, Diana Ramirez and Jesse Dickerman) and is searching for a fourth to replace Dickerman whose title is Interim Administrator. All within four years.
4. Replacing experienced professionals with political hires
Force remaining experienced professionals to do the work of the political hires…without a pay increase. One veteran professional, who needs to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told me, they’re “doing their best to drive off remaining staff, and not even bothering to find replacements. I am pretty sure it is well past the tipping point and the county is one disaster away from dysfunctional.”
5. Appealing routine Public Information Requests to the Texas Attorney General
Then if the AG upholds the request, charge thousands of dollars to email (months later) a PDF that was already sitting on someone’s computer.
6. Not updating websites
That makes it easier for Rodney Ellis to claim “Kingwood is getting all the money.” Parts of the HCFCD district website haven’t been updated for five years. See below.
7. Removing lists of Active Projects from your web site
That might enable people to quickly verify whether “Kingwood is getting all the money.” Make people dig for the information and pay for it instead.
8. Publishing spending updates annually that used to be monthly
The frequency of Flood Bond Updates has fallen off radically. That makes it difficult to track projects in near real time.
9. Hiring Consultants for $2 million to do the work of staff you lost
On the 7/10/25 commissioners court agenda, Item 250 was a contract extension with Berkeley Research Group, LLC for $1,995,000. The primary deliverable in this word salad seems to be a dashboard to help make projects’ status more visible. Of course, this could delay disclosure for additional months…as outsiders try to figure out what insiders can’t.
10. Not totaling columns of spreadsheets that stretch for dozens of pages
And don’t put headers on any pages past the first, either. Make people scroll back and forth until their eyeballs bleed or they give up. And make them perform complicated import/export procedures to total up columns that stretch to almost 40 pages.
11. Continually changing the way you allocate money to projects
At first it was on the basis of flood damage. But people could understand that. So, it changed. Over and over and over again. Until now, damage, flood risk and flood intensity have nothing to do with the formula for allocating flood bond money.
12. Not even telling people where bond money will go in the first place
Unlike the 2018 Flood Bond, Garcia’s 2022 $1.2 billion Bait-and-Switch Bond didn’t even tell people where money would be spent. Three years later, we still don’t know. So, no one can check on them.
Shortly before the vote on Garcia’s bond, commissioners agreed to give each precinct an equal share. That lasted until the day after the election. We’re still waiting to see where money is going. The County Engineer admits to spending $131 million in the last three years, but has published NO detail on what that money bought.
Is the current uproar over the flood bond an effort to deflect attention from more tax dollars that have gone MIA? We just don’t know.
Any one of these practices might be overlooked were it not for the presence of the others. But taken together, they feel like a concerted effort to “escape and evade” detection and accountability.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/23/25
2835 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.