Let me express my gratitude to Oran Caudle of Texarkana for providing an overnight transcription of the press conference, during which Congressman Max Sandlin of Marshall, State Representative Barry Telford of DeKalb, State Representative Bob Glaze of Gilmer and State Representative Mark Homer of Paris addressed the public and the press inside the Justice Building. Roberto (3 August 2002)

Hello All:

The ball is now definitely rolling with us. Although the representatives at the press conference never said never, it is nonetheless a setback for supporters of Marvin Nichols and hurts their public relations campaign.

Following is the transcript I made from my video recording of today's meeting.

Congratulations to all,
Old, Old Oran

Following is a transcript of a Press Conference held on August 2, 2002, at 4:00 p.m. at the Bi-State Criminal Justice Center in Texarkana. The participants were US Representative Max Sandlin and Texas Representatives Barry Telford-DeKalb, Bob Glaze-Gilmer, and Mark Homer-Paris. Scheduled but not present was Texas Representative Tom Ramsay-Mt. Vernon.

Prior to the press conference the participants were interviewed informally by the press. Rep. Sandlin introduced all the participants.

Rep. Max Sandlin began the meeting.

"First, we want to thank the regional water planning group for their efforts in attempting to identify sources of water for the state, the hard work they've done to accomplish that goal. However, we are here today asking Region D to withdraw the recommendation of Marvin Nichols as a proposed reservoir. There are many questions and not many answers.

"First, we have a question about the impact of intensified conservation plans in the urban area. How much water will these urban areas save if they enact conservation plans? What are those plans? How can they be increased? How can they be modified? What can we do to see that we save water in urban areas thus lessening the need for water from areas such as our own? We don't have answers for that.

"We also don't have the answers to the potential costs of alternative sources of water, including Sabine River Authority, potentially Texoma, desalination. We just don't have the answers to that, and those are answers we need to very important questions before we go forward with the project such as this.

"Finally we need to look at the question and get some answers concerning the devastating effect that this will have on the timber industry here in Northeast Texas. Timber Industry is the way many of our citizens make a living. It's important for the tax structure of county and city governments, and we just don't have an answer about how this will impact that industry. And that's a very important question. And it's a very important answer that we need answered.

"And we always, underlining always, always want to respect private property rights. Certainly there are public needs for private property, we recognize that. But until such times as these questions are answered, and answered with firm hard data, and answered in a way that we can be satisfied with their accuracy, and until that time we just feel like that it would be important to withdraw the request to have Marvin Nichols as a proposed reservoir.

"Now we're not saying 'don't confuse us with the facts.' We're not saying that we don't want the facts. In fact, we do want the facts. We're not saying that all studies forever should end on proposed reservoirs either here or across the state. What we are saying is that the time is simply not right for Marvin Nichols. Too many questions, too few answers, and that's about the size of it."

Rep. Barry Telford after being introduced by Rep. Max Sandlin:

"Max has covered about everything. I want to reiterate a few things. Number one, I want to reiterate my absolute support for the Texas Water Plan as it has been written. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that plan. Nothing. We set up a system to do that, so that to reach people in the regions and representatives of the people in those regions could have an impact on that to make those decisions. There's nothing wrong with that.

"I'm also unalterably opposed, and will always be opposed, to bring the Texas Water Plan back before the Texas House of Representatives, or the floor of the Texas Senate. Anyone who truly believes that's what we ought to do is one of two things. They either do not understand the dynamics of the House and Senate, or they have their own agenda and could care less about East Texas water rights. And I am deeply concerned about that.

"I have said from the beginning that I support that water plan. I have said from the beginning that I have no position on Marvin Nichols. But as more and more things have come to light, and as the heat of a campaign came to a close, I made the decision that when we found out that it is very possible that in a worse case scenario some 400,000 acres could be removed from timber production in Northeast Texas, folks, that got my attention. That got my attention.

"I'm here today to ask that Region D reconsider their actions. Continue the studies. I've never been one known to say, as Max said, 'Don't confuse me with the facts.' That's what we want is the facts.

"I want to say one other thing, to reiterate and add to what Max said. I want to thank Region D, and we have at least one of the representatives from Region D here that I know, John Bradley, Jefferson area, that is on that Region D Water Planning Board. These people serve free. They are paid nothing. I also want to say, whether you agree with them or not, whether you like them or not, I want to say thank you to the Sulphur River Basin Authority. They get paid nothing. They, like the people standing here (Telford gestures hand toward fellow participants) like the people on the other side of this issue, are interested in one thing. That's what's best for Northeast Texas, that's what we're all interested in.

"But I do know this, the timber industry has been mighty good to a lot of folks in Northeast Texas for a lot of years. It will continue to be good. And it would be at least a shame to destroy one industry without knowing whether or not we're going to destroy it.

"We need the studies to back the things up. Some of those studies are ongoing now. And I feel like that within the next 6 months, 8 months, to a year we'll have more data that we need.

"So, I'm here to ask that Region D, we'll be sending a letter, at least put this on a shelf for a while, until we can get some real answers. I'm saying it again, 'don't confuse me with the facts,' but I do want facts. Real facts. Especially about jobs for our area. Because if you look at Northeast Texas, we're not one of the areas that's booming with economic activity. We need every job that we currently have, and every job that we can get. Thank you very much."

Rep. Dr. Bob Glaze after being introduced by Rep. Max Sandlin:

"Just want to reiterate one point that Representative Telford finished on, and that's the economic portion of this area. I sit on the Appropriations Committee, so I look at the numbers, frequently. And recently, in the past, in fact the last couple of weeks, I read through the numbers for Northeast Texas, and we are over 30 percent under per capita income for the average in the state. Which means we don't want to give up a job. Not one if we can help it. And we certainly don't want to lose an industry.

"So until we have the facts we're taking this position, and hope that we can bring the facts up that truly water is, and we must have the water, we must have taken care of it, it must be planned, and plan is the key word. It's not just tomorrow we're worried about, it's the next hundred years. You have to have water secured. We got the water planned, as Chairman Telford mentioned, is one that can work, can be effective.

"So until we have a good plan, we are going to take this stand and look forward to keeping as many people happy as possible. Thank you."

Rep. Mark Homer after being introduced by Rep. Max Sandlin:

"You know, I believe everything's pretty much been said, so I just want to echo everything that my colleagues have mentioned and show my support for the opposition of the proposed Marvin Nichols Lake at this time, and do ask the Region D Planning Board to reconsider that proposed lake.

"Again, as Max has said, there are so many unanswered questions out there. There's the potential loss of jobs for our timber industry and anything else that goes along with that. The loss of our family farms. The ranches that are out there that will be gone forever. The mitigation question that's out there. The underutilized facilities that we have in existence today.

"And then the conservation question in Dallas. The Dallas area is the highest per capita consumers of water. So I think they need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide, before we punch another hole in the ground, what can we do to correct the problem.

"And until all those questions are answered, I stand pat with my colleagues that we just don't need this at this time. And I guess that's about all you can say."

Following the individual statements, Rep. Max Sandlin stepped forward and asked the press for questions and offered one-on-one interviews for the press if wished. No questions were asked of the participants in the group setting.

Final Press Conference Statement, Made by Rep. Max Sandlin:

"Thank you for coming. We appreciate it. I think that it's good for the landowners, it's good for timber, and it even gives the Region D folks additional time to plan and to think about alternatives for the future. So we appreciate all our communities working together in a common way to accomplish this goal. Thank you for coming out today."

State Rep. Barry Telford, who says he has never taken a firm position on the Marvin Nichols Reservoir before, did so Friday at a press conference at the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana.

"I have said from the beginning that I support the State Water Plan and that I had no position on Marvin Nichols but as time has gone by, more things have come to light ..." he said. "Some 400,000 acres of hardwood timber could be removed from timber production through lake construction and mitigation ... that got my attention."

Though Telford, D-DeKalb, stated he has never publicly supported the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, he has made several comments to the press in favor of the State Water Plan, which includes the proposed reservoir.

Telford, who was joined on Friday by U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Texas, and state Reps. Dr. Bob Glaze of Gilmer and Mark Homer of Paris, made public his request to the Region D Northeast Texas Water Planning Group to withdraw the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir from the regional water plan because of a lack of existing information on the strong economic impacts the reservoir would have on Northeast Texas.

"There are too many questions and not enough answers and until we have firm, hard data ... it is simply not the right time for Marvin Nichols," said Sandlin.

Some of the issues Sandlin said that needed to be addressed include the impact of intensified conservation plans in urban areas, the potential cost of underutilized sources such as Lake Texoma or the technology of desalinization and a study on the devastating effects that the reservoir would have on the timber industry in East Texas. "The timber industry is vital to the tax structure of both city and county governments," said Sandlin.

Telford even had an opponent run against him in the March primary simply because he would not take a stand on the Marvin Nichols issue. In a Jan. 6, 2002, Bowie County Citizens Tribune article, Telford's Democratic opponent, Gary English stated, "I am ready to take a stand. My wishes are and will be the same as the people's wishes. I do not have to sit on the fence and think about it."

Dan Teafatiller, who is running on the Republican ticket and will face Telford in the Nov. 5 general election, has stated that he also is opposed to the lake. In the same article, Teafatiller stated, "The Bowie County vote on Proposition 19 showed that people are not in favor of building Marvin Nichols. I am going to attempt to stop it for many years and hopefully keep it from being built at all."

Since then, however, Telford has been credited at Rotary Club meetings, Sulphur River Basin Authority meetings and even at a Texarkana Chamber of Commerce meeting for having a hand in protecting East Texas water rights. In fact, at a Feb. 16, 2002, public forum in DeKalb, Telford told about 80 East Texans that a member of the legislature could not keep a reservoir from being built.

"In my mind the Junior Water Rights Doctrine is the most important issue surrounding the construction of this reservoir," Telford said at the forum. "This doctrine has been under assault by the metropolitan areas of the state for the past three sessions. Because I had very key leadership roles in the House, I was able to stop these moves from occurring. That is just the simple truth."

Telford concluded his statements Friday by stating that he would not be bullied into making a decision as important as this one for Northeast Texas. "Even now, no one is saying no, never to this reservoir, we just want more information and until that is done, we can't endorse a project that could have had such serious effects," said Telford.

Telford, Sandlin and the other lawmakers intend to send a formal request to the Northeast Texas Regional Water Planning Group early next week.

Here is an email that I sent out regarding the following article about the press conference, which appeared in the Mount Vernon Optic-Herald on August 8.

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Good Evening. Many thanks to Billie Lindsey for alerting me to this article which appeared on August 8 in the Mount Vernon Optic-Herald. I drove to MV this afternoon and got a copy of this paper. Ratliff's comments are quite nauseating, and they reflect that tired old "propaganda line" of Huddleston and minions that if "we" don't build the lake, then "they" will out-vote our local representatives and build it anyway. And Ratliff's assertion that these million-dollar studies, now being funded by the SeRBiA, are necessary rings quite hollow to my ears, because, as you know, in my presentation to the SeRBiA on June 25, I recalled how 30 years ago, when my own father and others were attempting to build Lakes Bob Sandlin [no relation to Max Sandlin] and Cypress Springs, the State Water Board was /ALREADY THEN/ asking them about the "north reservoir"! If in the course of the past 30 years, they still haven't acquired all the facts and answers about this reservoir, without needing to spend more public money today, then we are being ruled by fools and crooks. But then we all know that anyway, don't we?! FYI:

http://www.sulphurriver.net/presentation.html

Personally, I don't think that it would be at all possible for a gang of legislators from Dallas and elsewhere, at this point in time, to "seize" our river and build themselves a lake. This is a no-brainer fantasy for the likes of such avaricious ilk as Ratliff, Huddleston and Burke.

The attitudes of Max Sandlin and Mark Homer, below, should rule the future of this debate. I'll vote for Sandlin with enthusiasm in November. It will be telling to see if any of these legislators actually shows up at the Gilmer meeting. Certainly Rep. Bob Glaze will be there, since he lives in Gilmer. We shall see!

According to recent editions of the Dallas News, the City of Dallas is in a dire budgetary impasse at the moment and has a municipal debt of $95 million. If Dallas is supposed to provide the major part of the funding for Marvin Nichols, but if Dallas is cutting municipal services and employees, as well as contemplating a tax increase just to get its own city debt reduced, where in the name of God, pray tell, will they ever find a billion dollars to finance this lake construction? As the Queen said to Alice in Wonderland, "Why, when I was your age, I could believe six impossible things before breakfast!" But Alice took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I can't! One can't believe impossible things!" she said to the Queen. So, Queen Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, should heed these words of Alice in Wonderland! Roberto

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POLITICOS LINE UP IN OPPOSITION TO MARVIN NICHOLS I RESERVOIR
By Pat Wright

Five local and area politicians on the state and national level went on record last Friday as opposing the construction of Marvin Nichols I reservoir, saying more studies are needed.

State Reps. Barry Telford, De Kalb, Dr. Bob Glaze, Gilmer, Mark Homer, Paris, current Dist. 2 Rep. Tom Ramsay, Mount Vernon (now a candidate for State Agriculture Commissioner), and U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, Marshall, appeared at a press conference at the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana Aug. 2 to make the announcement.

The five asked the Region D Planning Board (Northeast Texas) to rescind their recommendation to the State Water Board to build Marvin Nichols I.

Acting Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff said Tuesday he supports continued planning to construct the reservoir.

Drawings of Marvin Nichols indicate it will be contained primarily within Red River County, north of the Sulphur River. Areas south of the Sulphur River in Titus County will also be affected, as will a small portion of Bowie County. The low water end will reach about 15 miles into Franklin County along the Sulphur River channel.

A study of Marvin Nichols I in August 2000 indicated a surface area of 72,825 acres of which 45%, or 32,771 acres, was thought to be hardwood forests. Land that is lost to inundation must be set aside in other areas on a ratio determined by the value of the resource lost, according to federal law.

"Estimates of the acres of hardwood forest that would be lost, either from inundation or from mitigation, range from 30,000 to 400,000," according to David Weidman, manager of the Franklin County Water District, one of three local water authorities (LWA) which have asked for a detailed study of the exact number of acres that would require mitigation. The other LWAs are Titus County Municipal Water District and Northeast Texas Municipal Water District.

"It will take a year to complete," Mr. Weidman said, "and must include all the federal and state agencies, but we must have a site specific study of the number of acres and what kind of ratio, 1 to 1 or 1 to 10, will be necessary for mitigation.

"We want to be sure that Franklin County has the water it needs in the future. For this reason, the water district is providing funds to the Sulphur River Basin Authority that are being used for studies to determine the viability of the Marvin Nichols project. By participating, Franklin County will be assured of obtaining water from Marvin Nichols if it is constructed. If that lake is not built, the district will pursue further options to guarantee future water sources for the citizens of Franklin County," continued Mr. Weidman.

"There are a lot of alternatives that have not been explored," Rep. Ramsay said. "We don't know what might be feasible in 20 to 30 years, and the problem is taking property out of private hands.

"But, there is nothing that says the land taken for mitigation has to come from Northeast Texas," Rep. Ramsay said Monday. "It could come from along the Trinity basin."

"There are too many questions and not enough data," Congressman Sandlin said Monday. "As numbers have become available, questions have been asked and not answered.

"We have asked for proposals for conservation efforts for the Metroplex and have received no answers. We have received no answers as to the cost of alternative water from the Sabine, Texoma, desalination, and a comparison with the alternatives. There is no data that accurately sets forth for Northeast Texas the loss of jobs, the loss of tax revenues and an assessment of the loss of environment.

"There has been no firm number on the amount of mitigated land, land flooded and other land purchased by mitigation. The facts should be accumulated and a case made with the facts. There is no valid data to support the reservoir," Congressman Sandlin concluded.

However, data assembled by the Texas Water Development Board places North Central Texas, which included Dallas, in the lowest [sic -- highest?!] category of water use in the state. In terms of total water use, Region C, the North Central Texas Region, has over 25 percent of Texas' population and slightly over seven percent of the state's water use in 2000.

"No one has ever gone to the full extent to determine how much mitigated land will be necessary," Lt. Gov. Ratliff said. "There haas to be a certain amount of pre-design before anyone can say how much mitigated land will be necessary, but to say we want to know exactly how much before it happens, then it is not going to happen. That's not how it works. If you require that kind of information before you start, you won't start," Lt. Gov. Ratliff said.

"No one knew when Lake Cypress Springs and Lake Bob Sandlin were built that TXU would come and provide 2000 jobs for Northeast Texas, and no one knows what kind of industry Marvin Nichols will attract," Lt. Gov. Ratliff said. "You can't prove what will happen if we build it, but we do know they won't come if it is not there."

[COMMENT: This is a blatant lie by Ratliff. The local water board knew exactly what they were doing to attract TXU. In fact, TXU does not even rely on water from either of these lakes to cool its generators. They use water out of Lake Monticello, especially built for their power plant. Ratliff is one of the biggest money-grabbing, power-hungry liars to ever walk the face of the Earth! R.]

"We need to go on planning. We don't need to know all the answers before we start planning. That's what planning is all about. Neither Max Sandlin, nor Barry Telford, nor I can stop this lake," Mr. Ratliff said. "DFW has eight congressmen, seven or eight Texas Senators, and 25 to 30 members in the Texas House. The handful of representatives from Northeast Texas cannot stop this lake. There are three to four million people who need this water. Either the Sulphur River Basin Authority can build this lake and Northeast Texas get 20 percent of the water, or Dallas can come down here and build the lake and we won't get any of the water. All they have to do is get a permit from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.

"There are contracts under negotiation now for DFW to pay for all the construction cost and all the maintenance cost for 80 percent of the water, and we get 20 percent. Frankly, that's a whale of a deal. What people in our area don't realize is that Lake Cypress Springs and Lake Bob Sandlin are not going to provide the water we need forever. Mount Pleasant was close to using all the water it had permitted out of Lake Bob Sandlin before it bought water rights in Lake Cypress Springs. Frankly, I don't think we can stop it even if we throw our bodies in front of the train," Sen. Ratliff said.

"If that lake is forced upon us before we are ready for that lake, they will have a hell of a fight on their hands," Rep. Homer of Paris said. "We don't want to be a supply closet for Dallas. They ahve already grabbed our air so that their air quality looks betteer, and now they want our water."

Opposition of landowners immediately affected by the lake are expcted to continue.