Ransom, landowners speak against Marvin Nichols

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. Many at the meeting came away with the feeling their presentation was “whitewashed” making it sound to those that are new to the story as though the impacts would be minor.

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 Nich- ols 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. Thompson disputed the numbers presented by the engineering firm and countered their presentation with the fact that the timber industry is a key economic catalyst for many of the counties that would be negatively impacted by the reservoir and the timber there could not be replaced by timber from another area of the state.

Thompson also noted that he had shared the numbers from the Freese and Nichols study with leaders in the timber industry in Northeast Texas and they had found them “laughable”.

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.

Eddie Belcher invited the members of Region C to come visit his land in the Marvin Nichols footprint. Belcher and his family have lived in the Sulphur River basin for generations, going back to when his great great grandfather first settled there in the 1920’s. Not only would he lose his generational farm and the resources his land provides, but he also stands to lose what his family has protected for future generations.

Belcher’s story is one that can be echoed by scores of other landowners that would see their legacy buried underwater or lost to mitigation if the lake is ever constructed.

Perhaps the most poignant remark in the meeting came from Cass County Judge Travis Ransom.

Ransom echoed Belcher’s invitation to the Region C Water Planning Group members to visit the Sulphur Basin and see the impacts for themselves. Ransom told those Region C planners, “Your Texas miracle should not be our Texas nightmare.”

The TWDB has also extended the comment period for making public comments on the feasibility study. A draft report regarding the findings of this feasibility review is now available for a 30-day public comment period, after which the TWDB Executive Administrator will finalize and submit the report to the Legislative Budget Board and Governor by January 5, 2025.

Input must be emailed to feasibility@twdb.texas. gov by October 25, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. CDT to be considered by the Executive Administrator.