Saw this a a local news station and couldnt believe it. You know I have heard this for years and never seen nothing about it and now I guess it might happen.

The Sabine River Authority of Louisiana will hold a public hearing Thursday to sell Toledo Bend water to a group of private Texas investors who plan to pipe the water to Dallas and other areas. The SRA-La is based in Many, La., and is a separate entity from the Sabine River Authority of Texas, which is based in Orange. The two groups split control over the river and Toledo Bend Reservoir. The boundary between the two states runs through the middle of the river and reservoir. The public hearing will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at Cypress Bend Resort along Toledo Bend and outside of Many. The SRA-La board of directors is expected to vote on the sale at a meeting Jan. 26. A copy of the contract and a place to make comments can be found on the entity's website, http://www.srala-toledo.com. The private company Toledo Bend Partners LP has made the proposal to pay about $55 million a year to the Louisiana SRA for 600,000 acre-feet of fresh water, or about 195 billion gallons. The contract could last for 99 years. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal must give final approval to the deal.

Wow.

Here's an idea, put water restrictions on Dallas or put a tax on heavy users. What's next, Dallas buying water from the mississippi?

That's what our lakes have been built and are used for...water storage for use.

Outdoorsman are on the backburner and recreation is really just a byproduct.

Sad but true!!!!

Too many people around.......

Been a lot of shady stuff over the bend and politics. I heard some old stories fromsome oleder people in zwolle. When the lake was about to be impounded the made many people there move and sell there land and paid them dirt cheap per acre for the land. Then after the lake filled up and they saw some places the water didn't cover that they thought it would they resold the land back for conciderable more. Some pepople tried to buy back the land they were forced to sell and couldn't because the price was so jacked up.

What we really need a vote on is some new people over the SRA who give a [censored] about sportsman and all the economy loss in the area with these low lake levels.

Yah, lakes are ultimately for water supply but this is a private group who stands to make a butt load of money being the middle man...and it will always be the more water, the more money!

does not surprise me at all

Some good news in the last 2 days. Gov. Jindal has announced that he does not approve of the current contract proposal.

Lots of us here on the Bend have been emailing the governor's office everyday to get the point across that this is a horrible deal.

If you want to help the situation, email gov. Jindal.. go to http://gov.louisiana.gov/ then click interact, then click contact ...

If you can, go to the meeting tomorrow night and let these morons at the SRA that you don't approve of this contract proposal.

If this gets passed it will require a new pipeline to get the water from Toledo Bend to Dallas or wherever. Regardless of the routing of the new pipeline, there will many more landowners that get shafted and added to this list!

If Dallas needs more water, then build some more lakes or dredge out some of the mud holes they already have. Don't bumm water from other parts of the state. Another solution is to send all illegals back--problem solved, water requirement cut 65%

Texas has a rep for throwing money around. Back in the 1970's Texas tried to purchase land in Colorado and make it a "Texas State Park"; now that takes nerve!

It's good to be the king!

+1

If a private group is doing this and trying to build a pipeline across Texas, will they be able to utilize the eminent domain laws to buy the land for a pipeline?

I would say yes, since water is a natural resource that will be used for the good of the people of the state. Hard to survive without it. I also doubt that anyone would put up $55 million without having assurances that ED could be used. No one with that kind of money is stupid.

Guys, this deal is not as bad as it sounds if a few drought stipulations can be added to the contract. The SRA currently uses more water than this contract calls for by generating for electricity. They don't make squat by selling the electricity. They will make tons more money by selling the water and will no longer have to generate for electricity. So the end result is that less water overall will be taken from the lake. IF they use the extra funds to build more parks, better maintain current parks, etc., then it is a win, win.

They just need to tweak the contract to limit the amount of water that can be purchased in drought conditions and also put some restrictions in there as to where the money can go so that the state doesn't take it all.

My question is why is the SRA-LA doing this instead of the SRA-TX? The intake structure will have to be built on the LA side and then the water gets piped back across the lake. Stupid.

Texas has done resource studies and is wanting to hold on to all of it's water. Louisiana is one of only 7 states in the country that hasn't done a resource study so they were willing to sell their water. It's all about the $$$$$$$$.

Inside source tells me that the SRA guy will announce at the meeting that this deal is being put on hold indefintely.

I posted this note I wrote to SRA-LA after Christmas .. Perhaps it will help. There is a meeting at Cypress Bend at 6pm tonight to address the issues involved. -- JB

http://www.tb-guide.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=406

Yes....When the pipes were laid from TB to the power plant in Rusk county years ago, we were offered about 25% of the going rate (in Panola county) for a Right Away and when we did not accept we were then condemned. There was also provisions in that original deal to expand the Right Away width by another 60+' in the future. This expansion provision was/is for two additional pipes to feed water to the Dallas area. Looks like I better get ready to be bent over and screwed again!

I would like to know what the "going rate" is and what you were offered...