In theory, given that it could fuck with senior rights, and given that so many of the affected counties and small towns are against it, and because when the waterflow is low, he would be keeping water that legally belongs to other entities, I would assume that the TCEQ will deny it since senior rights are one of the most important parts of surface water law (and not a lawyer, but I've had to deal with it as a co-owner of an affected property in the past). There appears to be no mechanism for him to empty the reservoir to send the water downstream when there's little/none flowing into his would-be reservoir, so he would be tramping on the senior rights holders. But that's in a normal world. If he gets it, he's got enough money to tell the senior rights' holders and the state to get fucked and he'll see them in court, and will drag this out in court until the day he dies. And he's probably got the security needed to keep people away from the dam/river if anybody tries to fuck with the reservoir when no water is flowing. On general principle the solution is simple. Three Texas Guard A10’s using this dude and his ranch for target practice, solves this problem.