Alternative to Marvin Nichols surfaces in Arkansas

Miranda Oglesby tribnowcorn

The agenda for last week’s meeting of the Bowie County Commissioners Court included an item for a presentation from a representative of the Sulphur River Basin Authority. That line item was cancelled because the representative was unable to attend because of a health issue in his family.

It was widely speculated that he would be there to speak about the current actions of the SRBA, which have included in recent months an effort to visit Northeast Texas county commissioners requesting funding for their operations.

At a recent SRBA meeting in Titus County, SRBA Board member Kirby Hollingsworth mentioned an experience at one of those county commissioner’s meetings.

He stated, “I spoke very little at the meeting. The majority of this meeting was supposed to be about the SRBA, but a lot of people in attendance had just come from Region C and Region D conflict talks, and so they had many, many questions that they heard at the Region C and Region D conflict meetings that they wanted to know:” Holling- sworth said. “Would a lake look just like Cooper?’ How would landowners be treated?’ Is there gonna be 700,000 acres of mitigation?’ Many, many things that they’ve heard. There’s been a lot of information from one direction, and no information from the other direction, among the population:”

SRBA executive director Meg Shelton said the meetings are about more than water projects.

“None of the meetings we’ve held have been Marvin Nichols geared at all; we are simply talking about SRBA,” she said.

In 2019, the SRBA adopted a strategic work plan that put an emphasis on increased funding and cooperation with the ten counties in their jurisdiction. That strategic work plan also included objectives to build relationships with Basin stakeholders and focus on their priorities, and also to stop emphasizing reservoir development.

Those objectives would be a new direction for the SRBA.

Also, at last week’s meeting in Bowie County was an engineer from Atoka, Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting firm in Arkansas.

Tim Hill presented a PowerPoint that could be the end of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir dispute, as he made everyone aware of the Bigfork Chert Aquifer, and its availability to be a water supply source for Region C that would eliminate completely the need for the disputed reservoir.

Hill’s presentation showed that the Bigfork Chert Aquifer is just 195 miles from the D-FW metroplex and its billions of gallons of annual water yield could be piped to Region C, at a cost far less than the billions that it would take to get Marvin Nichols online.

Hill also pointed out that the quality of the water from Bigfork Chert was of such a high standard that water bottling companies from around the world are currently investing in production facilities around Bigfork, Arkansas. In fact, his presentation showed that the quality of water at Bigfork Chert is better in its natural, untreated state than the treated drinking water being consumed from Lake Wright Patman.

This news of an alternative was followed on Wednesday by the Region D board voting unanimously for a draft plan that opposes Marvin Nichols and a call to not include the proposed reservoir in the next Texas State Water Plan. That decision remains in conflict with Region C, which is equally steadfast in including Marvin Nichols in their plan, and is now ready to forego any further negotiations with Region D, and instead, let the courts decide the dispute.

To date, that stance has not worked in Region C’s favor.

The facts of Marvin Nichols have not changed over the years, nor has the hardline stance against it by the Region D Board.

The proposed 63,000 acre lake, mostly in Red River County, would destroy one of the most pristine bottomland hardwood forests anywhere and cause devastating impacts to the Northeast Texas economy. Aside from the actual footprint, required mitigation could take hundreds of thousands more acres, virtually erasing the basin’s natural purposes.

Going forward, there will be a host of public hearings on the water plan, the next being scheduled for April 14 at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center, and the Region D Board will entertain all verbal and written comments from the public.