Marvin Nichols Reservoir opposition meeting held in Mt. Pleasant Monday

A town hall style meeting was held Monday night, October 10, at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center for all of those who oppose the construction of the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir, and those seeking more information on the project.

Hosted by Preserve Northeast Texas, the Stop Marvin Nichols meeting’s purpose was to discuss the mammoth reservoir that is slated according to the current Texas Water Plan to be dug out of the Sulphur River Basin. Opponents of the proposed reservoir have been fighting its inclusion in the State Water Plan for more than two decades, and still today say it will be devastating for the local economy, the environment and those who live here.

Monday night’s meeting saw opposition leaders like Jim Thompson, of Ward Timber, and Janice Bezanson, speak to those in attendance. The meeting also initiated new strategies for the opposition such as postcards ready to be filled out by residents impacted by the project that could easily be sent to state policy makers. Folks with Preserve Northeast Texas also took the time to make testimonial type videos of those opposed to the reservoir’s construction. Those videos will be used down the road for various opposition purposes. There were even activities for kids at the meeting.

Bezanson, the senior policy director for Texas Conservative Alliance, has been a part of the opposition to the lake’s construction since the opposition’s very first meeting at a small church in Boxelder, Texas back in 2001. Bezanson, and many like her, have challenged the need for the lake for more than 20 years now, and were successful in keeping the project out of the Texas State Water Plan until recently.

Bezanson says, “The demand for more water in the DFW area comes from residents watering their lawns. Not for business uses like restaurants or everyday home essentials…So we’re asking the people of Northeast Texas to give up their land, their livelihoods, and in many cases their homes so that people in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area can water their lawns.”

Many others who have been in the battle against the lake for those same 20 years were at Monday’s meeting, like Thompson, and local landowners Gary Cheatwood and Max Shumake, who have generational homesteads in the Sulphur River Basin that would be wiped out by the lake’s construction At Monday’s meeting, Thompson, who aside from being a chief officer at Ward Timber, has also spent many years on Northeast Texas water planning boards and knows more about the proposed lake than most.

Thompson had a strong word for those running for office in Northeast Texas saying, “If you’re standing up for private property rights you will not be in support of this project.”

The proposed reservoir would inundate pristine bottomland hardwoods that are a primary source of materials to the logging industry that so many depend on for their livelihood in Northeast Texas. The lake’s construction would also put a host of endangered species in peril, and put underwater forever farmlands and homesites that have been owned by the same families for generations, dating back to before the Civil War.

Those opposed to the lake’s construction say the 66,000 acres that would be lost in Titus, Franklin and Red River counties, plus the yet undetermined amount of mitigation land, is simply unnecessary, as the water from the lake would be pumped to the densely populated areas around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and little or no benefit would be derived from Northeast Texas residents.

Preserve Northeast Texas has now over 2,000 signatures on a petition strongly voicing opposition the reservoir’s inclusion in the Texas State Water Plan.

Also, Preserve Northeast Texas is inviting people to post stories on the PNET website, PreserveNortheastTexas. org, about how Marvin Nichols will impact them (financially or personally) - or how they feel about their land or the history of their family on the land – anything relevant to the impact of Marvin Nichols.