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On
the timber industry:
"According to the principal economist for the Texas
Forest Service, Marvin Nichols would cause a loss to the
timber industry alone of 400 to 1300 jobs and $87 million
to $275 million in annual revenues." |
It
is expected that about one-half of the mitigation will not
be located in the five-county area … There is much
currently-available timberland that is either not in production
or is currently under-harvested within a 100 mile radius
of the proposed reservoir. |
On
economic activity:
"Water providers in the DFW-North Texas area are planning
a $1.7 billion reservoir on the Sulphur River, Marvin Nichols
Reservoir, which would flood 72,000 acres of productive
farms and forests." |
Marvin
Nichols will boost total state economic activity by $2.0
billion to $2.4 billion during the construction phase of
the proposed reservoir development. Total labor income in
the state will increase between $510 million to $623 million
through the creation of 14,000 to 17,000 person-years of
employment. |
On
regional water needs:
"North Texas has not fully utilized existing water
sources. North Texas does not require new reservoirs to
meet future (fifty years) water needs." |
Texas
can’t conserve enough water to guarantee future supplies.
Nor are there enough fail-safe alternatives to give up building
more reservoirs. Not with Texas likely to add 10 million
residents over the next 25 years … If legislators
don’t start acting on the long-term plan, Texas could
lose $9.1 billion in economic activity by 2010 … Without
putting into place the water plan’s range of strategies,
the state risks losing $98.4 billion in economic activity
by 2060 … Texas can’t meet it’s long-term
water needs without them. |
On
forest and agricultural land:
"More than 60,000 acres of forest and agricultural
land will be destroyed." |
Based
on U.S. Forestry Service data, the reservoir and mitigation
area represent less than 3 percent of regional totals. However,
net annual growth adds about 153.9 million cubic feet of
hardwood timber to the region’s inventories. |
On
mitigation of producing land:
"Construction and mitigation of Marvin Nichols Reservoir
would require condemnation of 235,000 to 720,000 acres of
private land … More than 40 miles of river and 30,000
acres of increasingly rare bottomland hardwood forests would
disappear forever." |
A
more reasonable estimate of the mitigation factor is 1.54
to 1, the mitigation required for the most recently developed
reservoir in Texas … Removing 101,000 acres of producing
land will reduce the net volume of growing hardwood stock
by 104.7 million cubic feet or about 2.8 percent of total
available volume, less than one year’s net annual
growth. |
On
privately-owned land:
"Thousands of Texans would be forced to sell the family
land that provides their annual livelihoods." |
None
of us have a vested interest other than what we think is
best for Northeast Texas. The Coalition will be very vested
in seeing that property owners are treated fairly, equitably,
and respectfully, understanding the issue of condemnation
of private land to be very personal in nature. |
On
water rights:
"We'll be giving our water away." |
The
facts are this water flows into the Gulf ultimately. Which
is to say ... it's not in a "stored capacity".
The $300 million dam has to be constructed in order to capture
the water, before it flows through the region. Then the
Dallas water districts will have rights to 80% of the water,
for paying 100% of the cost of construction, estimated at
a total of over $2.1 billion. Northeast Texas will have
rights to 20% of the water, which is the equivalent in acre-feet
to twice the size of Lake Bob Sandlin. This water will be
used for local residences, industry, and development in
Northeast Texas. |
