TUESDAY MARCH 10, 2015
VOLUME 104 ISSUE 66
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ENVIRONMENT
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Water symposium floods Texas State with panels
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By Jake Goodman NEWS REPORTER @jake_thegoodman
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Students, Texas State officials discuss shuttle system changes
By Rebecca Banks NEWS REPORTER @r_banks13 Texas State officials met with students at the annual roundtable event hosted by Student Government. Students had the opportunity to speak face-to-face with university officials on various topics. A representative from Shuttle Services discussed the future implementation of GPS kiosks for bus loops on campus. The kiosks will be available to all students and show each bus’s location. Steven Herrera, Shuttle Service manager, said the kiosks had a successful test in the Quad and will be “up and running” in ten days. Kiosks will be located at the Undergraduate Academic Center, LBJ Student Center and Quad bus loops, Herrera said. “We’ve had to go through some security protocols with the university to make sure those kiosks are secured from a data perspective,” Herrera said. Herrera said the kiosks will have potential to engage with advertising student organizations. He said Shuttle Service officials are considering alternate routes due to the pending Aquarena Springs Drive construction. Anthony Galo, political science sophomore, said he has taken alternate routes on the bus recently. “We’re actually in the process of coming up with a recommendation (for) routes for the fall,” Herrera said. Herrera said planning around construction is the biggest problem when creating alternate routes. Shuttle Service officials plan to have recommendations for alternate routes by the end of the month. Herrera said Shuttle Service officials can do their part by choosing routes to minimize the impact of construction for students. Representatives have discussed using daily alternate routes to avoid unwanted run-ins with construction. “There may be periods when it looks like there’s no construction going on, but the next day barricades can pop up all of a sudden,” Herrera said. Samantha Martinez, political science freshman, spoke with Herrera concerning construction on Aquarena Springs Drive. Martinez did not know about the construction until recently. “I got to know a lot more about how they’re doing with the app (and) the routes they’re going to do,” Martinez said. Herrera said the department’s goal is to provide information for students who live along the construction route.
PRESLIE COX STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Servers are stacked on the 7th floor of J.C. Kellam.
Student organizations discuss net neutrality By Andrew Blanton NEWS REPORTER @andrewjblanton
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he future of corporate broadband Internet favoritism was halted Feb. 26 after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) narrowly approved net neutrality regulations in a 3-2 vote. Net neutrality regulations will prevent Internet service providers from allowing or selling content at different levels. This will ensure any legal user is allowed access to the same speed of data transfer, and providers cannot reduce the service of one consumer over another higher-paying client. Angela Pates, political science senior and College Democrats president, believes content on the Internet should be available to everyone, not only those who can afford it. “It’s not fair that corporations pay money to have
certain information out there and other small businesses who want their information up can’t get it up because they don’t have enough money,” Pates said. “That’s anti-business, really. It’s just profit for the rich.” Representatives of campus political organizations agree the government should prevent telecommunication companies from instituting content favoritism even though they disagree on regulation details. “There is a reason why we only have four or five huge Internet service providers,” said Jonathan Rodriguez, public relations senior and Young Americans for Liberty media officer. “It’s because it’s impossible to break into this market.” Rodriguez said Internet service providers usually receive their contracts through bidding wars held on a cityto-city basis. Restraints exist due to the limited amount of
physical infrastructure, like wires and telephone poles, in any given market. Service providers prefer to keep the market small and exclusive in an effort to reduce competition. “We would prefer to keep the FCC and the government out of it,” Rodriguez said. “But that cannot be effective unless it’s also paired with ending the corporatism, ending the government favoritism toward these huge companies.” Cutter González, urban and regional planning sophomore and political action director for the Hays County Young Republicans, agreed companies such as Comcast are taking advantage of the lack of regulations. “We support net neutrality when it comes from Congress, the proper means,” Gonzales said. “Now we reject net neutrality when it comes from a
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STATE
Drilling expansion raises regulatory concerns By James Palmer NEWS REPORTER @jmesspalmer Officials with Baron Energy, Inc. are preparing to expand drilling operations in the Austin Chalk, is a formation in the Gulf Coast region home to oil wells, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Baron Energy has 14 active wells in Frio County, about 100 miles south of San Marcos. Officials plan to add three to four in the coming year, according to their Feb. 20 investor presentation. Frio County officials have been unable to voice concerns about regulatory authority to the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC). Lisa Hamilton, executive vice president, chief financial officer and director at Baron Energy, said the new drill sites will use standard technology to extract the oil. “This is a fairly conventional oil-and-gas play, and we won’t be doing anything special in terms of
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The San Marcos office of Baron Energy, an independent oil and gas company. the technology,” Hamilton said. Baron Energy officials do not expect to create any new jobs in the San Marcos area. Hamilton said the companies Baron Energy outsources to could have job openings once the construction and drilling process begins. “It’s not direct employment from Baron,” Hamilton said.
“However, you might imagine if everybody stopped contracting these people, then those folks would be laying (workers) off.” So far, the company has limited expansion plans to company strategy rather than filing official applications with the Texas government, Hamilton said. “We will eventually apply for
permits with the regulatory agency, which is the Texas Railroad Commission,” Hamilton said. “At that time, it will kind of show that there’s more concrete plans to do something.” The Railroad Commission approves all drilling permits directly. Individual counties have limited authority to regulate drill permits or be notified by the commission about new ones, said Dale Stein, Frio County engineer. “That’s an issue that we’re trying to get modified,” Stein said. “Right now, we’re relying on the local newspaper to notify us when new items are being processed.” The Railroad Commission has jurisdiction over the underground formations where the oil is located, Nye said. “Drilling is done underground in the mineral estate, which can be separate from the surface estate,” Nye said. Texas legislators have proposed bills in past sessions to change the regulatory dynamic
See BARON ENERGY, Page 3
Texas State and the Texas Tribune are joining forces Tuesday to present “Festival On the Road: A Symposium on Water.” The event will feature guest speakers and panelists giving short presentations followed by question-and-answer sessions on specific topics, said Andrew Sansom, executive director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment. The university will hold the event for the second time, Sansom said. Texas State was chosen as the venue because of the relationship between the Texas Tribune and the university, Sansom said. Holding the symposium at the university’s Meadows Center and Edwards Aquifer Research & Data Center was a natural choice. “I think Texas State is well placed to have a discussion on water,” said Ken Kramer, panelist and former director of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmental organization. Officials with the Texas Tribune selected speakers including state representatives and Sid Miller, Texas Agriculture Commissioner, is among the presenters. Sansom has worked with the Tribune since its creation to print the Meadows Center newsletter. Sansom will moderate the panel discussion on the “Battle Over Groundwater.” He said students should be aware of the issues surrounding groundwater in Hays County. “The majority of our water comes from groundwater, and that is projected to increase,” Sansom said. “Groundwater will be a critical part of our future.” Sansom said the conflict over groundwater comes from the complicated and elaborate regulation system in Texas. He said more than 100 different regulators, including the Edward’s Aquifer Authority and Trinity Aquifer Authority, operate in the San Marcos area. Four of the institutions regulate the same aquifers. “A large part of this discussion will be about a water management system that is desperately in need of repair,” Sansom said. Sansom said issues associated with groundwater are relevant to San Marcos because the proposed pumping from the Trinity Aquifer in Hays County could harm wells and springs in the area. “It would threaten virtually everything we value here, like the San Marcos Springs and Jacob’s Well,” Sansom said. Dianne Wassenich, program director for the San Marcos River Foundation, will speak during the “Battle Over Groundwater” panel. She said the district boundaries are difficult to regulate because water borders are determined by political restrictions, not geological ones.
“The majority of our water comes from groundwater, and that is projected to increase. Groundwater will be a critical part of our future.” —ANDREW SANSOM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MEADOWS CENTER FOR WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT “I think we need a science-based way of handling our water concerns, and there’s going to be a lot of jobs in that field,” Wassenich said. Wassenich said groundwater has become “a hot topic” because the population of Texas is increasing and people are using more water. She said rapid population growth, combined with droughts, has forced cities and counties to search for additional resources. Groundwater offers an alternative to depleting rivers, but people are often unaware rivers and groundwater are connected. “Yes, we have enough water, but we’re going to have to learn to live a little differently,” Wassenich said.