Toledo Bend
Bi-State
Alliance

Since our last meeting there has not been a great deal to report.

Larry Kelly was invited to and attended a meeting in Baton Rouge hosted by Mr. Aubrey Temple, Chairman of the Board of Directors Sabine River Authority of Louisiana and Mr. Terry Rider of Governor Foster's staff. In attendance were State Senators James David Cain and Mike Smith, Louisiana State Representative Joe Salter, Commissioner Dale Satig, Louisiana Public Service Commission and members of the PSC staff, SRA Louisiana Staff including Executive Director Linda Curtis, Mr. Barton Rumsey and attorney Larry Mann as well as representatives from Entergy and Cleco. The water level of Toledo Bend was the subject of the meeting. While no decisions were reached it was made clear that Governor Foster is interested in this issue and seeing it resolved. The power companies were asked to look closely at this problem.

Information indicates that the Attorney General's opinion concerning the Power Sales Agreement between the Sabine River Authorities and the Power Companies should be released in the near future. The Alliance is awaiting that document with great anticipation.

Members of the Alliance attended the meeting of the Sabine River Authority of Texas March 18, 1999. Attending for the Alliance included Ms. Janna Lehman, Alliance Co-Chairman, and President of the Concerned Citizens of Sabine County, Mr. & Ms. Sterle, representing the Sabine County Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bill McCarty, President of the South Toledo Bend Property Owners Association, Burkeville, Texas, and Larry Kelly, Alliance Co-Chairman and President of The South Toledo Bend Civic Association, Many, Louisiana. The group was well received at the meeting and the board discussed much information. Included in the information was the recreation plans of the Authority and the projected water requirements within the Sabine Basin of Texas through the year 2050. We will discuss these items in more detail at our next meeting, at 6:30 PM Monday March 22, 1999.

We are also awaiting information from the FERC. The Sabine River Authorities should be making an interim, 60-day, report to the FERC. The report was due to the FERC this week. We have not received a copy of the report and do not know if it in fact has been filed.

In addition to the problem of low water there is another major problem facing Toledo Bend Reservoir. That is the new aquatic plant Giant Salvinia Molesta. If you are not familiar with this fern and what it looks like, pictures can be found on the web sites of the Sabine River Authority of Texas or the Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance web page (www.toledo-bend.com/alliance/) under the Documents page.

Our state legislators are working well on our behalf with the water level problem. However, we do not seem to be able to get Governor Bush to actively participate in solving this problem. He, through his staff, simply refers us to the Sabine River Authority of Texas. Of course if the Sabine River Authority would solve our problem as they should and are capable of doing then we would not be asking Governor Bush for assistance.

We remind everyone, that to complain to each other is not going to solve our problem. It takes action, such as writing or otherwise contacting our elected officials such as Governor Bush and Governor Foster requesting their support. We need our US Senators and Representatives to write the FERC requesting that they order the Sabine River Authorities to change the operating schedule of Toledo Bend to that of Simulation #6 of the Brown & Root Study dated July 1998. To date, all of our local state senators and representatives in Louisiana and Texas have done so, as has Congressman Jim Turner of Texas. All of our US Senators and Congressmen have sent inquires to the FERC, now we need them to request this order be issued to the Sabine River Authorities. You can help! Don't just talk about the problem; help to resolve it by writing these letters.

The Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance continues to work towards our goal of improving Toledo Bend Reservoir as a recreational resource of both Louisiana and Texas. Our 24 member organizations consist of over 5000 individuals. Our member organizations want to see continual improvement of Toledo Bend. If the reservoir is to ever meet its potential, continual improvement and change will always be necessary.

Everyone is invited to attend our meetings, they are held the 4th Monday of each month at 6:30 PM at the J. R. Huffman Public Library in Hemphill, Texas.