Gov.Abbott sends words of hope to those opposed to Marvin Nichols

The conflict over the massive, proposed reservoir in the Sulphur River bottoms of Northeast Texas continues on this week, even as a gross example of water waste is being constructed on the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard in Rowlett. The so named Sapphire Bay resort will include a 7-acre man-made lagoon and a 600-foot special lagoon made for surfing. Those in Northeast Texas who are asking Region C for conservation efforts instead of taking their land for a lake are calling into question just how many gallons of water daily will this man-made recreational use only water hog require?

But those on Preserve Northeast Texas, the Sulphur Oversight Society and everyone else opposed to the massive land grab in the Sulphur Basin received some encouraging words this week by the man that runs Texas, Governor Greg Abbott.

In a television news show this past week, Governor Abbott spoke about the controversy over the lake, saying the words that the folks in Northeast Texas have been waiting to hear from Austin for a long time. Gov. Abbott stated, “What we must do is explore other options.”

Abbott said no option should ever include taking somebody’s land and that is the message that those who are opposed to the lake’s construction have been saying for more than 20 years.

Abbott also said that the Texas legislature and the Texas Water Development Board are looking for options other than taking the land of people in East Texas.

Those are words sweet to the ears of all of those that oppose the lake’s construction and the massive amount of acreage that would be lost to Northeast Texas farmers, ranchers, businesses and tax bases. And that loss of acreage is staggering, as the 66,000-acre footprint of the lake would also require two or three, or possibly more times that amount in mitigation acres. That mitigation would put the impact of Marvin Nichols Reservoir at close, possibly over, the land mass of 1/3 of the state of Rhode Island.

Cuthand resident David Aiken compares the whole project to this analogy. “If I’m a rancher and I’m out of grass, I don’t force my neighbors to let me graze their land and then buy more cattle.”

Aiken notes that is essentially what Region C is asking of the people in Region D, taking our lands to supply their needs, all the while inviting water intensive businesses and individuals to move there.

Another aspect of the proposed reservoir is the staggering cost that was proposed to be near $4.4 billion in 2018 but would have to be much higher in 2023 as land costs, construction costs and other peripheral costs have risen dramatically since that estimate.

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.