Texas Democrats pass resolution opposing Marvin Nichols

Acting on a resolution that was submitted by Red River County Party chair Hunter Evans earlier this year, the Democratic Party of Texas officially passed over the weekend official opposition to the proposed reservoir in Northeast Texas.

The action solidified Northeast Texas opposition to the behemoth water project that would claim a large portion of Red River County and inundate thousands of acres of bottomland hardwoods and family farms and also negatively impact local tax bases and cost many their jobs.

The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has been opposed by water planners in Northeast Texas since it first became an issue more than 20 years ago. Region D (Northeast Texas) has repeatedly fought and lobbied against the efforts of Region C (Dallas area) water planners to keep the reservoir out of the state water plan, and local land owners and businessmen like Ward Timber have gone as far as filing, and winning, a lawsuit to block the reservoir’s construction.

Region C was able to get the project into the most recent Texas Water Development Board’s State Water Plan, but Saturday’s move by the state’s Democratic Party is a strong indicator that the fight to keep the project coming to fruition is still a major issue.

The resolution that was passed on Saturday reads as follows:

“WHEREAS, The Texas Democratic Party states in its platform that we believe ‘we owe future generations a clean and healthy planet’; and

WHEREAS, The Texas Democratic Party states in its platform that we believe ‘that our lives, homes, communities, and country are made secure by the preservation of our precious natural resources’; and

WHEREAS, The Marvin Nichols Reservoir, which has been proposed on the main stem of the Sulphur River in Red River, Titus, and Franklin Counties, would flood 66,000 acres of heritage farmland, hardwood forest, and wetlands; and

WHEREAS, Over half of the land to be taken is bottomland hardwood forest or other forested wetlands and upland forest; and

WHEREAS, At least 80 percent of the water produced by the proposed reservoir would be piped to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we oppose the creation of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir.

Hunter Evans, SD 1 Red River County Chair”