www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-29 10:25:00
(The Center Square) – One hundred days into his second term, President Donald Trump has secured water rights for south Texas farmers ensuring that Mexico complies with a 1944 era treaty.
“In a historic demonstration of leadership, President Trump prioritized ensuring Mexican water deliveries for Texas farmers under the 1944 [Treaty of Utilization of Waters.] Through the direct engagement of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, we are now delivering on the President’s promise,” the Secretary of State’s Office announced. “Mexico has committed to make an immediate transfer of water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of the flow in six of Mexico’s Rio Grande tributaries through the end of the current five-year water cycle.”
Doing so provides immediate and short-term water relief to Texas farmers and ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley in the current growing season through October.
U.S. and Mexican officials are also developing a long-term plan to reliably meet treaty requirements and address outstanding water debts, according to the announcement. This includes Mexico providing additional monthly transfers and regularly consulting on water deliveries to Texas, according to the announcement.
The announcement came one month after Trump halted water shipments to Mexico and threatened additional tariffs and even sanctions to enforce the treaty, The Center Square reported. He did so after Republican and Democratic members of Congress called on the Biden administration for four years to enforce the treaty to no avail. Mexico refused to supply water to south Texas farmers, contributing to a water shortage that resulted in the last sugar mill in Texas closing last year.
The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is among the most fertile agricultural regions in the state and country. In order to grow a wide range of crops, farmers rely on water from the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers. To manage water usage and conservation efforts, Mexico and the U.S. entered into a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters.
The treaty governs water usage between the U.S. and Mexico, including from two international reservoirs, Lake Amistad and Falcon Lake in Texas along the international border. Mexico has historically released water storage from Lake Amistad to Mexican growers, not to Texas growers, and the U.S. federal government hasn’t enforced the treaty. Last year, Mexican officials killed any agreements to release water to Texans, even running ads in Mexico City to protest compliance with the treaty, according to several news reports.
Under the treaty, Mexico is obligated to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet over five years to the United States from the Rio Grande River; the U.S. is obligated to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico from the Colorado River.
Prior to Mexico agreeing to comply with the treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, worked on providing a $280 million USDA-Texas Department of Agriculture grant to assist eligible Rio Grande Valley farmers and producers suffering from Mexico’s failure to deliver water.
Cruz lauded the administration’s successful negotiation after “fighting for years to secure those deliveries, including by advancing sanctions legislation in the United States Senate and by emphasizing to both American and Mexican officials that the U.S.-Mexico relationship cannot proceed productively unless Mexico meets its obligations,” he said. While the USDA grant was an important way to provide critical economic relief to RGV farmers, “that was only, and explicitly, a stopgap measure,” he said.
The bigger accomplishment was that the Trump administration ensured “that other nations must meet their obligations to Americans,” he said. Ongoing negotiations will also “establish a basis for the further necessary work that must be done to assure Texas farmers of reliable and predictable water supplies.”
U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, who has worked for years to bring more water to the RGV, said she was told for two years by the Biden administration that “nothing could be done.”
“Now, we finally have a President and an Administration that has shown strength and delivered,” she said.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Right-Leaning
The article presents a clear ideological stance favoring former President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to enforce the 1944 water treaty with Mexico. The tone highlights President Trump’s leadership and frames his actions positively, using phrases like “historic demonstration of leadership” and “finally have a President…that has shown strength and delivered.” The language used to describe the Biden administration is critical, implying inaction and ineffectiveness over four years. The inclusion of supportive quotes from Republican figures like Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Monica De La Cruz further underscores the pro-Trump, conservative perspective. Overall, the article promotes a viewpoint that praises the Trump administration’s approach while critiquing the Biden administration’s response, signaling a right-leaning bias rather than neutral reporting.
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www.kxan.com – Carlos Nogueras Ramos, The Texas Tribune – 2025-05-19 07:33:00
SUMMARY: Texas oil and gas companies are seeking legal protection to treat and sell produced water, a waste byproduct of oil production, to address water shortages. State Rep. Drew Darby’s bill would shield companies, landowners, and transportation companies from liability once the water is sold for beneficial use, excluding cases of gross negligence or regulatory violations. The bill has passed the House and awaits Senate debate. While the oil industry supports the move, environmental groups express concerns over insufficient data to ensure the safety of treated water. Critics argue more testing is needed before granting permits to discharge produced water into public bodies.
Texas is considering legislation to protect oil and gas companies, transportation firms, and landowners from liability when treating and repurposing produced water—a toxic byproduct of oil extraction—to address water shortages. House Bill 49, introduced by Rep. Drew Darby, aims to encourage expansion of produced water treatment by limiting liability except in cases of negligence or legal violations, while directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to develop treatment and usage rules. Environmental experts warn of insufficient data on contaminants and treatment efficacy, urging improved testing and financial safeguards to cover potential environmental harm. The proposal reflects efforts to boost Texas’ dwindling water supply amid population growth and climate challenges.
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ODESSA — Oil and gas companies are seeking legal shelter as Texas comes closer to using waste brine once considered too toxic for anything other than fracking to replenish Texas’ water shortages.
Legislation filed by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, could give them, transportation companies and landowners such protection.
Darby told a Texas House panel in March his bill will give industries the certainty they need to ramp up treatment of the industrial waste, known as produced water. The full House approved the legislation earlier this year and it is awaiting a Senate debate.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders have made water a priority issue this session. Several proposals aim to increase the state’s water supply, which is under duress from a growing population, climate change and leaking infrastructure. Cleaning produced water is one of several ways lawmakers hope to boost supply.
There is an extraordinary amount of backwash from oil production, which continues to break records, especially in West Texas. For every barrel of oil produced, as many as five barrels of water are captured, Darby told lawmakers on the committee on natural resources, where he introduced the bill.
That water is either reused for fracking or stored underground.
However, industry and legislators have put millions of dollars toward researching treatment methods.
And now, some companies say they have scrubbed out the toxic contaminants to help refill drying bodies of water in West Texas. But the oil and gas industry is hesitating to expand this effort unless it can be sure it is shielded from liability after it hands off the water.
If legislators fail to assure the industry, companies might not want to treat the water and sell it, said Michael Lozano, who leads government affairs at the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.
“Without developing this field with legal certainty, Texas will miss out on millions of barrels of day of treated produced water that could benefit industrial and land application of water uses, which could continue to decrease reliance on fresh water in these sectors,” Lozano said.
Darby’s bill, House Bill 49, says that after an oil company agrees to sell the water for beneficial use by someone else, it is generally not liable if there are consequences later on. Neither are the companies treating the water. The bill also protects landowners who pay to treat the water and sell it, including in cases of personal injury, death, or property damage.
Companies can be liable in some cases, including gross negligence, intentional, wrongful acts of omission, breaking state and federal treatment laws, or failing to meet standards under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental regulator.
It also directs the commission to write more rules outlining how the water should be treated and used.
In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Darby called liability a “key barrier” to expanding produced water treatment, adding the bill “does not shield bad actors — anyone who violates the law or their permit remains fully liable.”
It’s unclear when the state might begin allowing treated produced water into nature. Four treatment companies have applied for permits with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to discharge or dispose of produced water into the state’s bodies of water.
Darby’s proposal has set off alarms among environmental policy experts who say that regulators authorizing companies to discharge produced water are not working with enough data to support their decisions.
The commission, which oversees all discharges, including those from oil and gas, has said the agency follows state and federal guidelines. Regulators are also gathering information supplied by the Texas Produced Water Consortium, a research initiative consisting of five pilot projects established by lawmakers in 2021 to study treatment methods of produced water.
The amount of chemicals in produced water varies by sample. Some estimates have detected hundreds, establishing the liquid as one of the most complicated to treat.
Nichole Saunders, senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, said she does not trust the permits to account for every chemical and toxic contaminant. She said the water could still contain dangerous contaminants that the permit does not account for. Regulators and scientists should continue to improve testing before issuing permits, she said.
“We’re basing the responsibility for outcomes on the safety net of our regulatory system with this bill,” she said. “Not on what outcomes might be possible in a best-case scenario.”
Dan Mueller, an engineer and a produced water expert, agreed that there is not enough data to issue permits. Mueller raised concerns about the capability of the treatment technologies, saying the five pilot projects have not been running long enough to ensure they clean the water reliably.
And if the treated water causes environmental or human harm, he said, there are no assurances that the companies that discharge the water can afford to remediate all issues. He says the bill and permits should include financial mechanisms that can cover environmental problems, should they occur.
Without these assurances, “the responsibility to clean up any contamination that might occur is going to fall to the state, and ultimately that falls to the taxpayer, who will have to foot the bill,” he said. “That’s just not right.”
Lozano, with the industry trade group, said there are no existing protections for oil and gas companies that treat and sell the water, adding that treatment gives them another alternative for the excess.
“If this segment of the industry cannot develop and mature, it could impact the record production that has occurred in the Permian Basin,” he said.
Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund and Permian Basin Petroleum Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article provides a balanced perspective on the issue of produced water treatment in Texas. It presents viewpoints from both industry representatives, like Rep. Drew Darby and Michael Lozano, who argue for legal protections to promote water reuse, and environmental experts, such as Nichole Saunders and Dan Mueller, who express concerns about the lack of sufficient data and regulatory safeguards. The article emphasizes the debate between advancing industrial solutions and ensuring environmental and public safety, with no evident ideological bias in favor of one side. It simply reports on the conflicting perspectives surrounding the proposed legislation.
