The Lower Colorado River Authority’s plan to pump and sell groundwater in Central Texas came one step closer to being realized this week. In an 82-page report, two State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) judges recommended that the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District issue the LCRA a permit to annually pump and export up to eight billion gallons of Simsboro groundwater from Bastrop County. The judges issued their advisory opinion in favor of issuing a phased production permit and instituting a well-monitoring system after a six-day contested case hearing last October in which six different parties aired their objections to the proposed ...