Make No Mistake; This Is A War.
It's LCRA and the "CREZ" transmission project versus Fredericksburg and the Texas
Hill Country – and our farmers, ranchers, businesses, families, friends, and tourists.
If we do nothing, LCRA wins; and Austin lobbyists win.
The citizens of Texas' major metro areas, who look at our area as their backyard
tourist destination, gain only access to electricity that is both inefficient to
move and is not even needed yet.
We are the losers. We stand to lose our scenic vistas, our best farming land, the
charm of our community, a thriving tourism industry, and our way of life, gaining
nothing in return.
Do we really want a utility making decisions about the future of the Hill Country
landscape? If not, the time to act is now, before permanent damage is done.
The LCRA Is Coming
The Lower Colorado River Authority ("LCRA") is once again coming into Gillespie
County with its proposed CREZ transmission routes to and from the Kendall Station
near Comfort and to the Gillespie Station just north of downtown Fredericksburg,
Texas.
Ignoring public opinion and the resolutions of virtually every local government
agency, the LCRA is opting not to use existing transmission routes and easements,
established highways, and major roadways wherever feasible. Most importantly to
us, LCRA is opting to route its lines over century and a half old farmsteads, ranches,
right through the Pedernales River Valley and other scenic open spaces.
The LCRA is also ignoring local government resolutions and public opinion favoring
single "monopoles," and the limited use of underground lines, where appropriate,
in favor of lattice type structures like those pictured above.
The LCRA's CREZ transmission project threatens our entire way of life.
In short, LCRA, entrusted by the State of Texas to bring clean electricity generated
by wind farms in West Texas to the major metro areas in Texas, seems indifferent to the
damage it brings to our precious Hill Country and one of the top tourist destinations
in the process.
We cannot count on the Public Utility Commission ("PUC") to protect us. Nor can
we count on our City or County governments to stand up for our Hill Country. We
have to stand up for Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, and the Texas Hill Country.
We have to stand up for ourselves, and our way of life.
If we do not, it seems certain that we will later wish we had. The choice is ours.
The time to act is now, before it is too late.