Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued the following statement regarding the June 22nd U.S. Supreme Court decision to deny review of The Aransas Project v. Shaw:
“The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s water permitting program is critical to both preserving our environment and managing the water needs of our state. The Fifth Circuit was right to rule that the State of Texas cannot be held liable for independent and unpredictable forces affecting wildlife, and we are pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court decision to deny review of the case.”
Last year, in a June 30, 2014 ruling, the Fifth Circuit panel agreed with defendants that the plaintiff failed to prove its case that diversions of water for use by Texans had led to multiple deaths of federally protected whooping cranes in the winter of 2008.
Bill West, GBRA general manager said the Supreme Court’s 2015 denial of review allows TCEQ to go forward with its job administering the State’s surface water resources and GBRA to continue its mission of environmental stewardship of the resources of the Guadalupe River Basin.