For the first time in the history of the Lone Star State, a government agency will pay a pair of Texas pecan growers for limiting their access to groundwater without compensation.
A jury decided in favor of growers Glenn and JoLynn Bragg Monday, according to the San Antonio Express News.
Texas Farm Bureau participated in the case.
For more than a decade, the Braggs have been in litigation with the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) over the EAA’s decision to halve one of the Bragg’s water permits required to water their pecan orchard.
A second permit was denied entirely.
The Braggs’ orchards relied on EAA-drilled wells on their properties.
They applied for the two groundwater pumping permits from the EAA based on historic use for the land.
After their pumping was restricted, the Braggs then had to lease water from other EAA permit holders to maintain their orchards.
The government agency in charge of the EAA must now pay the Braggs over $4 million for the denial of groundwater without compensation.