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Subject: Packery Letter by Garry Mauro

The following letter is from Garry Mauro, Commissioner, Texas General Land
Office to Dr. William L. Lehmann. It has been re-typed in order to send it by
email. The text is unchanged.

February 11, 1997

Dr. William L. Lehmann
P.O. Box 637
Port Aransas, Texas 78373

Dear Dr. Lehmann:

Thank you for your letter and e-mails about the proposed reopening of Packery
Channel. While I support the idea of reopening the channel, I am calling for a
panel of coastal scientists and engineers to review all reports concerning the
reopening to ensure that the project is properly planned. I appreciate your
suggestion of a one-day, ad hoc review.

Experience shows that a project to open a pass through one of Texas^R barrier
islands must be more carefully planned than past projects. In Galveston County,
Rollover Pass was opened to improve fishing in the bays, but this aggravated
erosion of public beaches and resulted in lawsuits. In Matagorda County, a pass
was opened to relieve flooding of Caney Creek, but it had to be closed because
it disrupted navigation on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. In Nueces County,
the dredge that cut Yarborough Pass had to dredge its way back out to open water
because the pass immediately filled in behind it.

I believe the reopening of Packery Channel will have many benefits for the
Coastal Bend. I also want everyone with a stake in the project to have a full
understanding of the risks so that it is planned and designed to be an
unqualified success, without the unintended consequences of past projects.

Please feel free to call Ms. Kimberly McKenna, coastal geologist (512/463-5057),
if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

(signed Garry Mauro)

Garry Mauro

GM/CKC/TN/km

cc: Judge Richard Borchard
Commissioner Joe McComb