A Dallas-area company seeking to install 43 high-capacity water wells in East Texas is suing the local groundwater conservation district for holding up the process.
The proposed project 鈥� backed by and its CEO Kyle Bass 鈥� including a state lawmaker who tried to stop the project during a. Bass has argued that the company鈥檚 goal is to explore how much water is in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer before beginning to draw from its depths.
He wants the project to move forward.
鈥淎t this early stage in the process, the applicant, here Plaintiffs, is unsure whether water will even be produced,鈥� Bass鈥� attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. 鈥淭he purpose of the drilling permit is to allow the applicant to conduct the work needed to determine whether drilling would be fruitful at all.鈥�
The groundwater district declined to comment.
The lawsuit The Texas Lawbook and The Dallas Morning News.
The applications were deemed 鈥渁dministratively complete,鈥� a legal term meaning they were filled out properly, by the in April 2025. Completing that step brought the project closer to final approval from the district.
Community members, business owners and lawmakers all raised alarm bells because the wells would be able to pump billions of gallons from the aquifer, potentially draining their own wells. , which has three complexes in East Texas, against the groundwater conservation district to stop the district from approving the application.
In mid-October, board members of the groundwater conservation district to allow their attorneys to negotiate a settlement with the poultry farm. One of the terms of that settlement would void the district鈥檚 original decision that the permits were complete.
A district judge approved that settlement on Oct. 23 and ruled that the district cannot approve any applications that may result in withdrawals of 3,000 acre feet of water or more until the aquifer can be studied. It also voided the original decision that Bass鈥檚 permits were administratively complete.
This lodged Bass鈥檚 company in 鈥渁dministrative limbo,鈥� the attorneys wrote.
The company is also intervening in the Wayne-Sanderson Farms lawsuit, asking for the judge鈥檚 order to be vacated because it took away or impaired 鈥渁nother person鈥檚 statutory and constitutional rights without the affected person even being named a party.鈥�
The company requested a hearing by Nov. 14.