Rep.VanDeaver files two bills about Marvin Nichols Reservoir
(AUSTIN) - Rep. Gary VanDeaver (New Boston) wants his constituents in House District 1 to know that he filed two bills on Monday, House Bill 2109 and House Bill 2114, to help block the further development and land grab of the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir that has been talked about and included in state water plans since 1968. The proposed reservoir would not only submerge 66,000 acres of prime timber and farmland in Northeast Texas, but it also requires twice as many acres for the reservoir’s required land-use mitigation.
House Bill 2109 requires the executive administrator of the water development board to remove a proposed reservoir from a state water plan if construction has not begun within 50 years. Rep. VanDeaver said: “It is unreasonable to think that the state has the right to call ‘dibs’ on private property to be taken at some point more than 50 years in the future. We see an entire generation of landowners who are afraid to build a house, a barn or make other long-range plans because the state has laid claims to their land to be taken if future needs require it.”
House Bill 2114 is a best practice, transparency bill to prevent engineers who have been involved in the preparation of a state or regional water plan from participating in the construction of a reservoir. Rep. VanDeaver said: “I believe this bill is a common-sense approach to ensuring that we are not creating conflicts of interest by allowing a firm to have a strong voice in recommending which projects should be pursued and then allow those same firms to collect millions if not billions of state dollars for overseeing the completions of those projects. This brings much-needed transparency to the entire process.”
These two bills will tighten the state’s water planning process to ensure that Texans living in areas with water resources will not be targeted, held hostage nor have to live in fear for decades over possibly losing their homes, businesses and land. Rep. VanDeaver said: “As Texans, we hold dear the right to own private property and value the importance of transparency in any attempt to take private property by eminent domain. These bills provide much-needed guardrails to this important process. I look forward to working with my colleagues this session to ensure that the state’s future water needs are met while protecting the private property rights of all Texans.”
These bills can be found at Texas Legislature Online (https://capitol.texas.gov/). Texas House District 1 that includes Bowie, Cass, Lamar, Morris and Red River Counties.