Last year the Texas Legislature directed the Texas Water Development Board to study the feasibility of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, with findings to be delivered ahead of the start of the next Legislative Session. The project, which was first introduced more than 50 years ago, would use eminent domain to take more than 200,000 acres of land from Northeast Texans to create a water source for the DFW region. Recently the board released a draft of the report, inviting public comment by October 25, 2024. In response, the steering committee for Preserve Northeast Texas issued the following statement:
“The draft report by the Texas Water Development Board is not a serious effort to assess whether the reservoir project would be good for Texas and Texans. It is superficial and uses a severely limited definition of what constitutes ‘feasible’. It does not seriously investigate the negative impacts on families, communities, school districts, industries, wildlife or the environment. Further, it ignores how the impact of conservation, water reuse and recycling, and the leveraging of existing untapped resources could address DFW’s water needs. It does not consider the many technological advancements that may have been made in the half century since the project was conceived.
“But perhaps the most stark and outrageous reason that this report is not a serious review is because its ‘feasibility’ is based on an estimated total capital cost of approximately $4.4 billion. Just two weeks after the report was released, the engineering firm who designed the reservoir, and who is expected to gain contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars if it is built, presented an updated cost estimate of more than $7 billion. All Texas taxpayers should be outraged by this and have seven billion reasons to say no to this flawed report and the controversial, unnecessary and outdated reservoir.”
Texans can share their feedback on this plan by sending an email to feasibility@twdb.texas.gov by October 25, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. CDT to be considered.
Preserve Northeast Texas Steering Committee
Bill Ward, Jim Thompson, Max Shumake, Shirley Shumake, Cass County Judge Travis Ransom, Stanley Jessee, Linda Price, Dr. Jim Marshall, Richard LeTourneau, Cynthia Gwinn, Gary Cheatwood, Janice Bezanson. For more information visit www.PreserveNortheastTexas.org.
