MID Director’s Claims about Pumping don’t Hold Water

As far back as 2015, Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Director Larry Byrd was a strong advocate for disclosing groundwater-pumping records saying,

“…for the good of the community, we ought to say how much we’re pumping and how deep and large the well is.”

At the time, Byrd said he had shared data from his wells and encouraged others to do the same. Later that same year, Byrd became partners with Tyler Angle in the AB La Grange Ranch on Stanislaus County’s east side. They began planting almonds on what had been the Rodoni Ranch, where Byrd had a lease to run cattle.

Two years earlier, in June of 2013, Byrd had advocated selling “surface water in wet years at inflated prices to new orchard growers” as a “partial solution” to mining groundwater. News articles in both 2013 and 2015 described Byrd as “an east side cattleman.” Not long afterwards, he was routinely described as an, “east side cattleman and almond grower.”

By 2016, Byrd had not only forgotten or dismissed his proposal to sell MID surface water at “inflated prices,” he had become a passionate advocate for bargain-basement rates. Pushing hard for what became known as MID’s “Groundwater Replenishment Program” (GRP), Byrd was now arguing for surface water sales as low as $60 an acre foot when nearby irrigation districts were selling it for $200 and more.

Though he now says he “always pumped” groundwater on the AB La Grange Ranch, we can find no public record of him saying such a thing. In fact, it would have been entirely appropriate for Byrd to have disclosed he relied on groundwater for out-of-district almonds prior to even voting on the GRP, a program he has described as “almost a moral obligation.” Today, Byrd can conceivably argue that since he has never applied for the GRP, he had no real conflict of interest.

That’s not a convincing position for a member of MID’s Board of Directors, however. For one thing, though Byrd has always stressed transparency while on the board, at least two directors have said publicly they always thought all his farming was in-district. MID Director Robert Frobose said earlier this year that Byrd told him as recently as March 14 that all his farm ground was in-district. Todd Sill, who managed the AB Ranch for Byrd for seven years, has said that Byrd “seldom” pumped groundwater from 2015 through 2022.

If Byrd were indeed pumping groundwater while promoting the GRP, wouldn’t the most “transparent” behavior be to recuse himself from voting on the program while explaining the conflict? Wouldn’t the most responsible position be to say he hoped the GRP would prevail without his vote because he planned to set an example for other growers by using GRP surface water in lieu of pumping groundwater?  Moreover, why would a proponent of MID surface water plant groundwater-dependent trees on ground that had ample acreage within the district?

Whether or not MID Director Larry Byrd has “always” pumped groundwater on his out-of-district almond orchards is a matter of critical concern, both to MID ratepayers and the district itself. If he has not been pumping, he’ll have to explain how the trees have survived, as he has no other permitted source for the water that’s kept them thriving.

If Director Byrd has been pumping groundwater for the last ten years, why hasn’t he followed his own advice from 2015? Why hasn’t Larry Byrd “for the good of the community” told people “how much” he’s pumping and how “deep and large” his wells are?