By Kenny Mitchell

Publisher

A large contingent of Northeast Texas landowners and those opposed to the construction of the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir made the trip to Arlington, on Monday to attend a Region C meeting and voice their concerns and opposition.

The Region C water planning meeting included a presentation of the recent TWDB feasibility study on the proposed reservoir. Freese and Nichols is the engineering firm that has been pushing the lake’s construction for decades now.

Janice Bezanson, the senior policy director for the Texas Conservation Alliance, attended Monday’s meeting and noted that the people of Northeast Texas did an impressive job of relaying to the Region C officials the tremendous negative impacts that the lake would have on the region.

Bezanson also noted that the presentation by Freese and Nichols whitewashed the impacts to an amazing degree – making it sound to the uninitiated as though the impacts would be minor.

During the meeting, Region D Water Planning Group chairman, Jim Thompson, asked the Freese and Nichols representative Simone Kiel if anyone actually in the timber industry in Region D had been consulted about the impacts to the industry. The answer was no.

Bezanson also noted that the Freese and Nichols presentation made little or no mention of impacts on communities, school districts, and individuals.  According to Bezanson, Stanley Jessee, former superintendent of the Rivercrest ISD, displayed a map showing that the reservoir would permanently flood 30,000 acres of the school district – 20% of the district’s land base.  He made clear that the School Board had voted unanimously to oppose the reservoir.

Cass County Judge Travis Ransom echoed an invitation to Region C Water Planning Group members to visit the Sulphur Basin and see the impacts for themselves.  Ransom told those Region C panners, “Your Texas miracle should not be our Texas nightmare.”

Watch for expanded coverage of the Region C meeting in next week’s issue of The Bowie County Citizens Tribune.