1. The Texas Legislature finally deals with water. In the wake of this summer’s
drought, the Lege will make an attempt to assess the state’s future water
needs. It won’t be enough and it won’t solve what are certain to be future
water shortages, but it will mark the first high-level attempt to deal with the
state’s most important commodity.
2. The Barton Springs Salamander gets listed. The Save Our Springs Alliance
will win its federal lawsuit against Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the
rare salamander will be added to the Endangered Species List. Gov. George W.
Bush will demand that the state sue over the listing and Attorney General Dan
Morales will happily comply.
3. Freeport settles lawsuit. Rather than go through protracted litigation,
Freeport will settle a lawsuit brought against it by Tom Beanal and other
leaders of the Amungme tribe, which has been hurt by pollution coming from the
company’s huge gold mine. The settlement will be hurriedly completed just
before the company’s shareholder meeting in New Orleans in early May.
4. Moffett Building completed, dedication ceremony held in Houston. The
construction of the new microbiology building on the Forty Acres will be
finished later this year. The building, to be named for Moffett, will be
dedicated at an invitation-only gathering for UT bigshots. The confab will be
held in Houston to avoid public humiliation of Moffett.
5. Electric industry stays regulated. After months of intense lobbying, the
Texas Legislature will allow the state’s biggest air polluters, the electric
utilities, to continue business as usual for the next two years. Deregulation
of the industry, which is being pushed by a host of independent power producers
and consumer groups, is forced to wait two more years.
Best Quote of 1996: Ben Barnes, testifying in a lawsuit involving the
development of a tract of land near the Barton Creek Country Club. When asked
about his role in the sale of real estate at the project, which he and partner
John Connally owned in the late 1980s, the former lieutenant governor and
wonderkid of Texas politics said, “I don’t think any real estate project ever
fails — if you give it long enough.”
This article appears in January 10 • 1997 and January 10 • 1997 (Cover).