State Rep. Ellen Troxclair on Monday, March 3, filed a motion to overturn the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s recent approval of an air-quality permit for a controversial rock-crushing plant in Burnet County. She also introduced House Bill 3482, which would put tighter restrictions on new mining operations near lakes, state parks, and youth camps.
The proposed Asphalt Inc. rock quarry would be located on 200 acres just outside of the Burnet city limits on Hoover Valley Road. It has faced fierce public opposition due to its proximity to Inks Lake State Park, Longhorn Cavern State Park, and Camp Longhorn, a youth summer camp. Troxclair, who represents District 19, which includes all of Burnet County, said she is pursuing multiple strategies to protect the area.
“We are very concerned about what’s going on with the rock quarries and extremely focused on making sure that local residents’ property rights are not overrun by new developments,” she told DailyTrib.com. “Based on what is going on right now with the rock quarry, we’ve really been kind of laser-focused on what we can do to make sure that the community’s concerns are heard.”
MOTION TO OVERTURN
In her motion, Troxclair argued that the TCEQ failed to fully evaluate the public health and environmental risks of the rock-crushing facility. The commission approved the permit on Feb. 14, allowing Asphalt Inc. to operate up to 2,640 hours a year and process 200 tons of material an hour.
A motion to overturn, in this context, is part of the TCEQ permit application process. It allows parties to file against the approval of a permit and cite their reasons for doing so, which could lead to a retraction of the approval.
Troxclair’s motion raises concerns about air quality, health risks, and environmental damage, citing:
the risk of particulate matter exposure, which can cause respiratory issues, especially in children;
the plant’s proximity to Camp Longhorn, where 500-700 children stay in open-air cabins;
the lack of local air-quality monitoring stations to track pollution;
and potential threats to endangered species, including the golden-cheeked warbler and tricolored bat.
“There are few, if any, places in Texas where so many public, outdoor attractions with sensitive habitat are located in such close proximity to each other,” Troxclair stated in her motion.
Camp Longhorn, Inks Lake State Park, Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery, and Longhorn Cavern State Park are all within 4 miles of the proposed site.
HOUSE BILL 3482
Alongside the motion to overturn, Troxclair introduced House Bill 3482 on Feb. 27, which would prevent the Lower Colorado River Authority from issuing permits for certain new quarries or mines unless a study confirms the operations would not harm surrounding natural resources.
The bill applies to mining operations within:
4 miles of an LCRA-owned lake;
4 miles of two or more state parks or caverns;
and 2 miles of a state-licensed youth camp.
Asphalt Inc. is in the process of acquiring a permit from the Lower Colorado River Authority to move forward with the project.
“We’re going at it from all different angles: pushing back on the existing (LCRA permit application) while also pursuing legislation that would require them to meet additional parameters for a new permit,” Troxclair said.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
According to TCEQ regulations, the state commission will review Troxclair’s motion to overturn and decide whether to grant or deny the challenge. If it does not take action within 45 days of the permit approval notice being mailed (Feb. 14), the motion is automatically denied, allowing opponents to potentially pursue legal action.
HB 3482 will be reviewed during the 89th Texas legislative session. If passed, it could set new limits on future quarry projects across the state. Troxclair urged residents to stay engaged, follow the bill’s progress, and sign up for legislative alerts by contacting her office at 512-463-0490.
“If people will contact my office and request that their information be added to alerts, we will be sending out alerts on when these bills are going to be heard in committee,” she said. “That would be the most effective way for (people) to stay in the loop.”
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The Lower Colorado River Authority on Monday, March, 3, announced it will raise its drought response from Stage 1 to Stage 2, requiring all firm water customers—including cities, industries, and retail water suppliers—to increase water-saving measures and limit outdoor watering to no more than once a week.
The authority also announced that no water from the Highland Lakes will be available to most interruptible agricultural customers in Colorado, Wharton, and Matagorda counties in 2025.
“These actions are needed to help preserve and extend our water supplies in the face of a drought that shows little signs of easing over spring and summer,” said John Hofmann, LCRA executive vice president of Water, in a media release. “Our water supply reservoirs—lakes Buchanan and Travis—remain stressed and are now sitting at about 51 percent of capacity.”
NEW OUTDOOR WATERING RESTRICTIONS
LCRA moved to Stage 2 of its Drought Contingency Plan for firm water customers because, on March 1, the amount of water in lakes Buchanan and Travis was below 1.1 million acre-feet, and the prior three months of inflows were less than the 25th percentile of historic inflows for that three-month period.
During Stage 2, firm water customers must implement additional water-saving measures, including an outdoor watering schedule of no more than once a week, with a goal of reducing demands by 20 percent. Each firm water customer will decide what additional conservation measures to enact and how to enforce them.
The once-per-week watering restriction also applies to lakeside property owners who draw water directly from the Highland Lakes under a domestic use contract with LCRA.
“We can’t control the weather, evaporation, or when it rains,” Hofmann said. “What we can control is our discretionary water use, such as the amount of water we put on our yards and landscapes. In terms of really having an impact on things, reducing the amount of outdoor watering is the most meaningful action people in Central Texas can do to help extend our water supplies.”
Hofmann encouraged people to use drought-tolerant plants and landscaping that can thrive on no more than once-a-week watering.
“Drought tolerant is really the name of the game here,” he said. “Drought-tolerant plants can survive on little water during our hot Texas summers, saving water and money. It’s a win-win.”
Firm water customers in the Highland Lakes include the cities of Burnet, Cottonwood Shores, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, and Marble Falls.
LCRA was last in Stage 2 of its drought response from August 2023 through June 2024. Stage 2 will remain in effect until the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis increases to at least 1.1 million acre-feet, or about 55 percent of capacity.
NO WATER DOWNSTREAM
LCRA has determined that, because of the drought, no water from the Highland Lakes will be available to most agricultural customers in Colorado, Wharton, and Matagorda counties in 2025. Water from the lakes has not been available to these customers since the first growing season in 2022.
The river authority made the determination based on provisions in its Water Management Plan, which required the cutoff because of the intensity and duration of the drought and the amount of water in lakes Buchanan and Travis on March 1.
The determination affects customers in the Gulf Coast, Lakeside, and Pierce Ranch agricultural operations. These customers contract for “interruptible water,” which is curtailed or cut back during droughts. The next time water from lakes Buchanan and Travis could be available to these customers is after March 1, 2026.
This year, customers in the Garwood Agricultural Division will be entitled to a limited amount of water, including a maximum of 18,100 acre-feet from the Highland Lakes, under terms of the purchase agreement of the Garwood water rights.
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Burnet County commissioners are pushing for state lawmakers to draft legislation that could help local hospitals recover costs for treating uninsured and Medicaid-dependent patients without raising taxes on residents.
Commissioners voted Feb. 25 to send letters asking Sen. Pete Flores and Rep. Ellen Troxclair, who represent Burnet County in the Texas Legislature, to create bills that, if passed, would allow the county to establish a Local Provider Participation Fund.
An LPPF lets hospitals access federal matching funds without relying on taxpayer dollars. If Burnet County were under this system, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Marble Falls and Ascension Seton Highland Lakes in Burnet would pay into a county-managed fund and the contributions would then be matched with federal Medicaid dollars.
“About 29 percent of Burnet County residents are either uninsured or on Medicaid,” said Robin Oldham, policy director with Adelanto Healthcare Ventures, during the Tuesday meeting of the Burnet County Commissioners Court. Oldham was speaking on behalf of the two local hospitals. “Hospitals provide the same level of care to every patient, regardless of their ability to pay. However, they lose money on every uninsured or Medicaid patient they treat. The LPPF helps recover some of those costs by unlocking federal funds.”
Oldham explained that, in Texas, federal matching funds typically exceed the amount contributed by hospitals.
“It’s about a 60-40 percentage match,” she said.
Based on this formula, local hospitals could gain access to up to $27 million in additional support for uncompensated care. This would not require new taxes on county residents and or rely on state revenue.
Previously, Burnet County hospitals relied on Williamson County’s LPPF to access funding. However, this arrangement is no longer an option.
According to Oldham, more than 32 counties and local jurisdictions in Texas currently use LPPFs.
“The LPPF has become the primary funding tool in Texas for Medicaid and uninsured care,” she said.
NEXT STEPS
Before Burnet County can officially establish an LPPF, a bill must be passed in the Texas Legislature. Each LPPF requires authorization at the state level.
“This bill is the first step,” Oldham said. “Once it’s passed, the county can formally create an LPPF through an ordinance and a public hearing. The hospitals have done most of the groundwork, but county support is critical to moving the process forward.”
An LPPF would help meet patient needs at the Marble Falls and Burnet hospitals.
“This is not a cost to the county,” Oldham said. “It’s a way for hospitals to keep money in Texas that would otherwise go to other states.”
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Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander, Blue Ghost, successfully landed on the moon’s surface at 2:34 a.m. Sunday, March 2. The Central Texas space firm is one of only two commercial companies to reach the lunar surface, and the only to have a fully successful landing.
Firefly is based in Cedar Park but has a large manufacturing and testing site in Briggs in northeastern Burnet County, referred to as Rocket Ranch. Sunday’s landing was the first of several planned missions to the moon for Firefly in its partnership with NASA, whose Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative aims to streamline regular travel and deliveries between Earth and the moon.
“Firefly is literally and figuratively over the Moon,” said Firefly CEO Jason Kim in a March 2 media release announcing the successful landing. “Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface with 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee’s name. This bold, unstoppable team has proven we’re well equipped to deliver reliable, affordable access to the Moon, and we won’t stop there. With annual lunar missions, Firefly is paving the way for a lasting lunar presence that will help unlock access to the rest of the solar system for our nation, our partners, and the world.”
Blue Ghost launched Jan. 15 from Cape Canaveral in Florida in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and spent 45 days in transit, traveling 2.8 million miles before its March 2 landing.
“With the hardest part behind us, Firefly looks forward to completing more than 14 days of surface operations, again raising the bar for commercial cislunar capabilities,” said Shea Ferring, Firefly’s chief technology officer.
The lander and a suite of scientific instruments on board will gather valuable data throughout the duration of a full lunar day, the equivalent of 14 Earth days. On March 16, the lander will capture images of the lunar sunset and operate for several hours in the night before its power supply runs out and it shuts down.
While Intuitive Machines was the first commercial company to get a lander to the moon in February 2024, that mission was somewhat botched when the lander, Odysseus, reportedly damaged its landing gear and toppled over, compromising its ability to effectively gather data.
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Free tax preparation assistance is available to Highland Lakes residents leading up to the April 15 filing deadline. A Tax-Aide appointment may be made online for sites in Marble Falls, Burnet, Kingsland, and Spicewood.
In Marble Falls, in-person appointments in English are available from 9-11:45 a.m. on Thursdays through April 10 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 909 Avenue D. Click here to reserve a spot or for more details.
In Burnet, in-person appointments in English are available from 9 a.m. to noon on Mondays through April 14 at the Hill Country Community Foundation/Reed Building, 402 E. Jackson St. Click here to reserve a spot or for more details.
In Kingsland, in-person appointments in English are available between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesdays through April 9 at the Highland Lakes Senior Center, 351 W. Chamberlain. Click here to reserve a spot or for more details.
In Spicewood, appointment times are 9 a.m., 9:45 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:15 a.m. March 11 and March 25 at Spicewood Baptist Church, 7903 CR 404. Call Beth at 830-798-7583 to schedule a time. Walk-ins are welcome. You will need a completed IRS interview sheet (available at the church or Spicewood Community Library), all of your tax forms, last year’s tax return, a photo ID, and proof of a Social Security number (card or letter from Society Security).
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Agendas for Highland Lakes governments are posted 72 hours before a meeting so are not always ready by the time this story is published. Check the links for more information.
city manager report on TxDOT work at U.S. 281-RR 1431 intersection
discussion on a contract with Seaux Pierce Architecture LLC for 30 percent architectural design and estimated remodel/construction budget for the future City Hall facility
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Bertram might cancel its upcoming election after only two candidates filed for three available City Council seats. The decision, expected to be finalized during the March 11 council meeting, follows Texas election law, which allows municipalities to cancel uncontested elections.
The seats of council members John Baladez, Pat Turner, and Lane Shipp are up for election in May.
Incumbent Baladez and newcomer Anthony DeFrancisis were the only two candidates to apply for the at-large election, which will leave one vacant seat. According to City Administrator Georgina Hernandez, the two will be sworn in during the May council meeting without an election.
The Bertram City Council will determine how to fill the vacant seat after the election is officially canceled.
According to Texas Local Government Code 22.010, vacancies on the council can be filled by appointment if a majority of the remaining members vote in favor. The mayor may only vote in the case of a tie.
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Chelsea and John Giles of Marble Falls will appear on the popular ABC reality TV series “Shark Tank” in March to pitch their minimalist hat rack, DomeDock. The couple spent the past six years improving their product, and if everything goes according to plan, they could get the deal of a lifetime from the larger-than-life cast of CEOs and industry titans that host the show.
The Gileses’ segment will air at 7 p.m. Friday, March 14. It has already been filmed, but the couple was sworn to secrecy about the results.
“Shark Tank” features business owners, inventors, and entrepreneuers pitching their products and concepts to a group of hard-nosed, big-business tycoons who may or may not make offers to buy them out or partner with them in the venture. The Sharks include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban as well as Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, and Lori Greiner.
“The whole thing, the whole story of DomeDock, has just felt totally unbelievable,” Chelsea told DailyTrib.com on Friday, Feb. 28. “It’s totally changed our lives.”
The couple started DomeDock as a side project while living in Lubbock in 2019. John made the first versions by hand as a solution to his own problem of having too many ball caps and no place to store them. Chelsea initially sold the hat racks at weekend community markets, but demand quickly grew and they expanded to Etsy, an online website for selling handmade items.
“Basically, it’s our solution to trying to make the most efficient way to store ball caps,” John said. “They just sold like hot cakes. It was great.”
The budding business began to boom in 2020, and the couple shifted into high gear, securing a patent for their design, launching a website, and running a successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign to develop a unique plastic injection mold to start making their hat racks en masse. By 2022, DomeDock was thriving, and the Gileses were able to leave their day jobs and work for themselves full time.
“We decided that if we were running this business online, we could live anywhere, so we thought, ‘Let’s find the prettiest place we can find’,” Chelsea said.
That prettiest place was Marble Falls, which they discovered on a series of weekend trips across the Hill Country.
The Giles family moved to the city about three years ago and now attend church at LifeFamily Marble Falls, where a watch party is planned for their “Shark Tank” segment. Their children go to school at Faith Academy of Marble Falls, just down the road.
“I feel like so much of the community has just had their arms open, and we just felt so welcome immediately,” Chelsea said.
Their appearance on “Shark Tank” was not set in stone, even after they made their pitch. The couple answered an open casting call in May 2024 and made it to an actual meeting with the Sharks last September, but they didn’t hear back about a potential air date until recently.
“We had almost given up hope (about appearing on the televised version of the show),” John said. “We went nuts last Friday (Feb. 21) when they emailed us (confirming that the segment would air).”
The Gileses watched the “Shark Tank” series throughout the development of DomeDock, and now they’ll be a part of the show’s 16-year history.
“I always thought we could do that. I could see us up there,” Chelsea said. “But to actually be in it is very surreal.”
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With a 2026 deadline looming for Texas counties to update their voting equipment, Burnet County officials hosted a town hall Tuesday, Feb. 25, to answer questions and address concerns about the new system under consideration.
The meeting, which included all county commissioners, Burnet County Elections Administrator Doug Ferguson, Gillespie County Elections Administrator Jim Riley, and representatives from the considered voting machine company, was intended to clarify how the new equipment will work and address concerns about election security, cost, and transparency.
The impending voting machine change stems from Texas Senate Bill 1, which mandates that all voting systems in the state provide a voter-verifiable paper trail by September 2026. While two voting machine systems meet the state requirement, Election System and Software and Hart InterCivic, Ferguson recommended the Hart machine.
“The system we’re considering will allow voters to mark a paper ballot by hand or use an ADA-accessible electronic marking device that prints a paper ballot,” he said during the town hall. “Either way, the paper ballot is then fed into a scanner for tabulation.”
Ferguson said one reason to pick Hart is cost-effectiveness.
“The system that we’re talking about uses plain paper, whereas the other machine (Election System and Software) uses a heat-sensitive cardstock,” Ferguson said. “(The plain paper is) a lot cheaper and it’s a lot more readily available.”
Ferguson said the preferred system is also easier to store.
“It’s a table that folds up and can be stored flat. It’s about maybe four or five inches thick once it’s flattened. … We can store something like that. We don’t have a lot of room,” he said.
Additionally, the county elections administrator found the competitor’s system less trustworthy.
“Probably the biggest difference between what Hart offers in a voting machine and what the competitor offers in a voting machine is that (Hart’s) machine uses the words on the page, what the voter actually sees … for tabulation,” he said. “The competitor’s voting machine stores all of their votes on a barcode that is then scanned and tabulated. I don’t know about you, but I can’t read barcode.”
KEY TOPICS AT THE TOWN HALL
The Tuesday meeting featured a question-and-answer session with officials during which residents voiced concerns and asked about election integrity, machine security, and the possibility of integrating hand-counted elections.
Machine security and accuracy
Recurring questions from the audience were how voters could be sure their ballots were correctly counted and that the software had no unauthorized access points as well as where machine parts were sourced.
Representatives from Hart InterCivic explained the accuracy of their machines.
“The federal government requires the standard to have an accuracy rate of 99.9 percent, I believe,” said Hart’s Felice Liston.
Ferguson also explained to the crowd that voting machine software cannot be accessed via the internet.
“(The voting machines) are non-connected to the Internet. … You have to physically get in front of one of the computers in my office to access its software,” he said.
Another Hart representative, Sam Derheimer, said machine parts were sourced from around the world, including Germany, Canada, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
“We work with our manufacturing partner to build trusted relationships with supply chain companies that have long track records of success and security,” he said. “We do get some of the plastics from China. The (micro)chips come from Taiwan.”
Hand counting vs. machine counting
Some town hall attendees questioned whether Burnet County should hand count ballots rather than use electronic scanners. Gillespie County Elections Administrator Jim Riley, whose county conducted a hand-counted election last year, warned that the process led to more errors and significantly delayed results.
“We had nearly 1,000 clerical errors, and it took 18-plus hours for our teams to complete the count,” he said. “We also found that some voters had voted twice (in multiple primaries) because the process lacked built-in checks.”
Riley said 13 of the 14 precincts in Gillespie County made mistakes while hand counting the ballots and the entire process cost about $27,000.
Machine costs and funding
Burnet County has $900,000 earmarked for the purchase of new election equipment through a tax note, which will be paid off over the next four years. The Hart machines that Elections Administrator Ferguson recommended would cost around $850,000. While the upfront cost for the machines from Election System and Software were lower, Ferguson estimated the annual maintenance cost for the Hart system—$38,000—would be lower than most other competing machines.
“(The competitor’s) upfront cost for all their stuff is lower than Hart’s upfront cost, but then their annual service—and I mean license and support fees—are about double Hart’s, so over time, the cost is higher,” Ferguson said.
Countywide voting at risk?
Another major topic of discussion was the future of countywide voting, which allows registered voters to cast ballots at any polling place within Burnet County rather than being restricted to their voting precinct.
A proposal in the Texas Legislature, introduced by Sen. Bob Hall and Rep. David Lowe, seeks to repeal countywide voting statewide. Ferguson plans to formally oppose the repeal by sending a resolution from the Burnet County Commissioners Court to the legislature arguing that countywide voting is more convenient for voters and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
“Even counties that don’t currently use countywide voting are filing resolutions in favor of keeping the system in place,” Ferguson said. “Our voters love it. It’s more convenient, secure, and efficient.”
If the proposed legislation passes, Burnet County would be forced to return to precinct-based voting.
Next steps
The Burnet County Commissioners Court must still vote on whether to approve the recommended voting equipment and finalize purchasing decisions. No official vote has been scheduled yet, but Ferguson urged the county to move quickly.
“I want to get equipment running and tested before we need it in 2026,” he said.
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