The Lost Rider Podcast with Herman Brune

In a rare step away from environmental technology issues Brune interviews Darren Amundson. Amundson is the inventor of fishdonkey. It's an app that allows catch and release fishing tournaments without ever killing a fish and eliminates any chance to cheat the judges. The interview takes place at the Associated Great Lakes Outdoor Writers Conference in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 

There is a brackish aquifer water desal plant planned for South Texas. The news about this topic went out before planning was complete. Directors are still addressing the public's concerns about managing the super-saline discharge, as well as, studying their options for management. Brune and STWA Director John Marez discuss the longstanding technology available to quell these concerns. Despite having waste water technology in place for decades the general public is woefully ignorant, as well as, distrusting. It will be the STWA's job to implement good practices, and to keep the public advised into perpetuity. Currently, freshwater to Kingsville comes from Corpus Christi. Corpus also gets water from Lake Texana, and that Lake may be supplemented by LCRA Colorado River water from Garwood, Texas. Marez believes desalinating the brackish aquifer water will cost the consumers less, and save freshwater for Texas.

August, 2000 - August 2025, twenty-five years reporting weekly on water issues, technology, the North American Wildlife Conservation Model, and finding answers to the questions that otherwise go unanswered. 

Nueces River Authority Executive Director John Byrum details a few of the complexities of desalinating seawater. The project is slated to be on Harbor Island at Port Aransas. Byrum explains both how the intake and discharge are managed. Water process technologies are not new to Texas. Reclamation of minerals from super-saline concentrates may have been implemented at the 1984 Byan Mound Strategic Oil Reserve drilling, and we know that super-saline concentrates were discharged into the Gulf in 1988 at the Spring Hill Strategic Oil Reserve. In both instances there was no environmental impact. Byrum assures that the desal plant on Harbor Island may likewise have a deep-water diffused discharge with no environmental impact. There is also the likelihood that minerals may be reclaimed before the discharge further diffusing the saline content.  

Mrs. Rhonda Kennedy explains to listeners that the Port Mansfield Cut was opened by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1957. While Port Mansfield is no longer a sea-going port, the cut is instrumental to the health of the Lower Laguna Madre. It also allows access to the Gulf from Port Mansfield. Presently, the Cut is silting shut and the Army Corps of Engineers has no plans to continuing its dredging. The people in Port Mansfield are looking for more interested parties to help keep the Cut open. 

The Alamo: Brune interviews Lee Spencer White.

Mrs, White was a key figure in stopping the Centotaph from being moved, as well as, certifying the history is not reimagined to suit a leftist agenda.

The building and surrounding plaza are being restored and renovated. Mrs. White, the Descendents of the Alamo, The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and the Sons of the Republic of Texas played essential roles in making the public aware and working with the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas General Land Office to secure the integrity of Texas History.

Former GLO Commissioner Jerry Patterson became the first custodian of the landmark when the responsibility was moved from the DRT to the GLO.

The next commissioner, George P. Bush, did not prove to be a worthy caretaker and this may have contributed to his losing his next election. Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is the current administrator and is following the footsteps of Patterson.