Who Is Draining Little Cypress Bayou?

I stood on the bridge over Little Cypress Bayou, between Harleton and the rest of Harrison County, and watched it happening in real time.

Big tubes, lined up one after another, running down the bank and straight into the water. Pulling it out. Not a trickle. Not for a minute. I filmed it, and I'm publishing what I saw, because nobody around here seems to know who's doing this or why.

What I know for certain

I saw multiple large intake hoses staged on the bank of Little Cypress Bayou, feeding into a manifold and pump setup, actively pulling water out of the bayou. No signage I could find identifying who owns the equipment or what authorized it.

On camera, standing at the site, I said what I'll say here in writing: nobody held a meeting on this that I'm aware of. Whoever is behind it didn't ask us first. That's not a legal conclusion. That's what I observed and what I'm prepared to stand behind.

That's the fact. That's what the video shows and what I witnessed with my own eyes. Everything past that is a question I don't have the answer to yet, not an accusation.

The questions I want answered

• Who is doing this?
• What is the purpose of pulling this much water out of Little Cypress Bayou?
• How long has this been running, and how long do they plan to keep taking water?
• What harm is this going to do to local lake levels, the wildlife, and the trees and land around the bayou?
• What permission, permit, or authorization did they have to do this?
• Was there a public meeting where this was discussed or approved?
• Who signed off on it? Whose name is on the approval?
• Does the public get any say in this, or did it happen without anybody around here knowing?

This isn't happening in a vacuum

East Texas is already in a real fight over who gets our water, and it is not paranoia to connect the dots. Just this week, the Texas Tribune reported that a Dallas investor named Kyle Bass, through two companies he funds, filed a federal lawsuit against the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District to lift a moratorium blocking his plan to drill 43 high-capacity water wells across Anderson and Henderson counties, wells capable of pulling billions of gallons out of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. Local poultry producer Wayne-Sanderson Farms already sued once to stop it, arguing it would drain the area's water source. The district passed a moratorium in May. Now Bass is suing to knock that moratorium down, saying in his own words that "government regulators cannot simply change the rules to pick winners and losers."

To be clear: that is a different company, a different water source, and different counties than what I filmed at Little Cypress Bayou. I am not saying Kyle Bass or his companies are behind what I saw. I have no evidence of that, and I am not going to pretend I do.

What that lawsuit tells you is that the fight I'm describing is not a one-off. Capital is actively pursuing East Texas water right now, in federal court, on the public record. When I ask who's behind the pumps at Little Cypress Bayou, I'm asking inside a pattern that is already documented and already contested.

Why I think this matters

Here's my read, stated plainly as what it is: my assessment, not a proven fact. East Texas has said no to outside companies taking our water before. What I filmed looks, to me, like another way to get that water anyway, quietly, out of a bayou instead of a courtroom or a headline. I don't have proof of who's behind it. That is exactly why I'm asking, in public, on the record.

What the public record should show

Texas generally requires a state water right permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality before anybody can pump surface water like this out of a waterway. TCEQ maintains a public Water Rights Viewer that is supposed to list who holds a permit on a given waterway. I'm checking it. You can too.

If this went in front of Harrison County Commissioners Court, a city council, or any local governing body, there is an agenda and minutes on file, and those are public record. If a company applied for a state permit, that application is public record. If nobody applied for anything, that is the story, and it needs to come out.

What I'm asking you to do

Share this. Send it to your neighbors who live on or near the bayou. If you know who's running this equipment, if you've seen trucks, company names, or paperwork out there, send it to me. If you work for the county, the state, or the company doing this and want to give me a straight answer, I will publish it exactly as you give it to me.

I can protect East Texas without being disrespectful about it. I'm not interested in mob behavior, and I'm not going to accuse a name I don't have. I am interested in getting a straight answer to a straight set of questions, and I don't think that's too much to ask.

I am not against business. I am not against progress. I am against watching our water leave this county while nobody in charge will say who's taking it or why. East Texans have told these companies no before. If somebody found a quiet way around that no, I want it on the record, and I want it stopped.

Read that again: nobody has told me who is doing this. That silence is the first thing that needs to change.