Domino, Texas, was carefully selected as the location for International Paper's only Texas paper mill, primarily for its proximity to Wright Patman Lake and the Sulphur River.  Water is a key factor in a paper mill's operation but now it's something local officials fear could mean the end of IP near Texarkana.

Damming the Sulphur River to create a reservoir, the Marvin Nichols, is one plan being studied to address water shortage in Texas.  IP has two leading concerns about the reservoir, one of which is its impact on the distance traveled to gather raw material.  Raw material, called fiber, is the wood the mill processes into paper, and is already the mill's greatest expense.

"Our biggest raw material is wood and the proposed reservoir ... has a huge footprint, right in the bottomlands of the Sulphur River, so it takes a lot of the hardwood out of service," said Doug Wadley, environmental manager at the Texarkana mill.

Wadley said 90 percent of IP's fiber has been harvested from a 75-mile radius of the plant since it opened nearly 40 years ago.  "The Sulphur River bottom is a very plentiful hardwood-producing region," he said.  "We have sustainable practices where we continue to harvest the same land over and over again.  If we would have to go out 100 miles instead of 50 miles to get our fiber, fuel costs would just skyrocket."

Wadley said the global company has planted more trees than it has harvested over the course of International Paper's operation.  "We're a sustainable industry," he said.  "We've been here for over 35 years and have no intention of moving anywhere else."

Wadley represents the paper industry on the Texas Region D water planning group.  The state is divided into segments for planning water sustainability for the future.  Region D covers portions of 19 counties in Northeast Texas and includes Texarkana, Longview and Paris.  The Dallas metroplex is in Region C.

The local mill began operation in 1972 and underwent an upgrade in 1990 that cost several hundred million dollars.  Wadley said about $20 million is spent at the plant annually to keep equipment state of the art and the operation competitive.  "It's a tough market for the paper industry right now," Wadley said.  "We're doing everything we can to keep our costs down, and a huge reservoir on the Sulphur River would make us less cost-competitive."

Three IP mills elsewhere were shuttered in October.  Nearly 800 locals work at IP's Texarkana plant hailing from the Texarkana and Atlanta/Queen City areas.  Payroll totals $70 million annually but the mill is responsible for external employment as well.

"It's about a 3-to-1 ratio ... for every mill employee we have vendor relationships, supplier relationships," Wadley said.  "There's probably 2,000 to 3,000 direct jobs related to this paper mill in this area, from the timber harvesters to the truckers that bring the wood to us to all the other jobs that support this facility"

Wadley said the lake footprint is bad enough but mitigation makes it worse.  Mitigation is land designated for protection to offset that taken for the reservoir.  The area to be flooded is surveyed to determine the species and populations of trees, grasses and wildlife, and similar area is sought out for preservation.

"The desire of the Corps of Engineers is to go as close to that area as they can and find the same type of land, and they want to be in the same river basin," Wadley said.  "There's not that much land left in the Sulphur River bottoms to mitigate.  Basically you'd have to take it all and some people estimate that there's not even enough if you took it all to meet the requirements of mitigation."

Wadley said there is no clarity on the ratios for mitigation, but he has heard it is up to 10 acres for every acre of lake.  He referred to a ratio of almost 2 to 1 for mitigated land when Cooper Lake was built near Sulphur Springs.  "It's like 25,000 acres," Wadley said.  "Cooper Lake itself, I think, was 16,000 acres.  You're talking 200,000 to 300,000 acres on top of the footprint of the lake that would be taken out of service.  The tree farmers couldn't cut their land anymore so ... it makes us go further and further out to get our wood."

Marvin Nichols poses another threat to IP by diverting water presently flowing past the mill in the Sulphur River.  IP's location is crucial to a gravitational operation as water is drawn from Wright Patman, then discharged into the river.  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issues IP a permit to release the treated water, which stays proportionate to the amount of water already flowing in the river.

"We can't just release when we want to release," Wadley said.  "There has to be a certain amount of flow in the river and it's a proportion of the river flow we can release.  Typically in the summertime we don't discharge at all because the river is usually very low," he said.  "Most of our discharge is in the fall and winter and early spring when the conditions are better in the river and there's usually a lot more rain and river flow."

To hold the water before discharge, IP has a 1,200-acre holding pond.  If the holding pond filled up and the river did not have enough water in it that the mill could discharge, it would have to stop operation.

Wadley, like many others impacted by the proposed Marvin Nichols footprint, said local opposition is not because of greed.  "It's pretty scary to us that folks would be pushing for it when we feel like there's other options," he said.  "There's other solutions to provide the same amount of water that Marvin Nichols would to our friends in the metroplex that need it."

One of those options the local mill supports is raising the level of Wright Patman Lake.  The company holds water rights there but believes adjusting the level could be a simpler solution is all parties' interests are protected.

"As long as we did it wisely, as long as we were part of the process, we feel like we can make that option work," Wadley said.  "It doesn't impact nearly as much timber; if you have to mitigate any land, it wouldn't be that great."

The mill's main concern about raising Wright Patman for the metroplex is making sure enough water is sent from the lake into the Sulphur River for IP's used water to be discharged.

Wadley said employees in all aspects of the mill are concerned about the reservoir issue.  "Every other time I go out there someone is asking, 'What's new with Marvin Nichols?  What have you heard about Marvin Nichols?'  It's on their minds," he said.  "A lot of folks own land they are afraid will be taken as part of mitigation; they get it twofold."

Wadley said some timber growers are also hesitant to replant trees under the threat of Marvin Nichols.  "The threat of that will cause some people not to invest in their property anymore, so 10 years down the road when we're trying to get wood, it's not going to be there in some cases," he said.

"It's something we can overcome if we have honest debate and honest discussions and really look for solutions that benefit everybody," Wadley said.  "We've got to approach it in the right way ... let's pick a solution that doesn't shut down one of the biggest drivers in Northeast Texas."