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Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance
Minutes March 22, 2004
The meeting was called to order by Larry Kelly.
J. B. Meyers lead the group in the opening prayer.
There were no new members or visitors present.
There were no changes to the Agenda.
Minutes of the February 23, 2004 meeting were approved and accepted as read. Minutes of the November 24, 2003 meeting were read and approved.
Jana Lehman gave the Treasurer’s Report for February. Current balance is $1737.33. A printed report will be forwarded to Larry Kelly.
Old Business:
East Texas Regional Water Planning Committee Report: No report. Bill Heugel, representative, was not present.
Status of Current Lake Level Efforts:
Today Larry Kelly contacted Joe Salter, LA Representative, and Dennie Williams, a representative of CLECO. Dennie Williams has said that CLECO and Entergy have reached an agreement on how to implement the new law on the lake level that will take effect on May 1, 2004. Soon there will be a meeting of the Lake Level Advisory Committee, and then the issue will go to the PSC. It has been estimated that CLECO would need to recover about $100,000 and Entergy would need to recover about $300,000 to make up the difference in the cost of power generation on the lake versus buying power. After the Committee makes its presentation to the PSC of Louisiana and gets their approval, it will have to go before the SRA of Texas for approval.
After getting the approval of the TX SRA, it will probably have to go before the PUC of Texas for approval. We need to be prepared to support this effort, should it come before the Public Utility Commission (PUC) for their approval.
The recommended solution is to move the power production up earlier in the peaking season and not take 80% of the power during the last three months of peaking season, and when the level reaches 168 msl the power companies would quit generating and acquire power from other sources. Discussion followed on whether or not the earlier power generation would affect the spawning season.
CO-Chairman for Texas: Larry urged the members to make a concerted effort to find someone for Texas CO-Chairman. After the new LA law is implemented and in place, Larry will be cutting back on his time spent as Louisiana CO-Chairman and turn it over to someone else. This organization needs to set new goals and keep interest in the TBBSA active. Stan Verret suggested getting the TX SRA to hold another of their meetings here in Hemphill. Larry also mentioned an e-mail regarding the upcoming town meeting on March 24th where Senator Todd Staples will be speaking. This would be an excellent opportunity to ask about getting a representative from our area nominated to the SRA Board.
LA SRA Board: Larry said the list is out for the new board members of the LA SRA from Sabine Parish. They include Donald LeMeux, Bob Thrasher, Mayor Freeman and Bobby Williams. Three of these people have been very active attending SRA Board meetings.
New Business:
Larry announced the appointment of Mr. John D. Parker of Lufkin to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. This is the first time there has been someone from Deep East Texas appointed to serve on this Commission. There will be a reception held for him in Lufkin later this month. A couple of people were interested in attending this function, and Larry will e-mail the information on the time and date to those interested.
Closing Comments:
Jana announced she has more hats for sale, if anyone is interested.
Stan reported selling 959 pounds of boiled crawfish for the American Legion on March 20th.
Larry reported all the tickets (1500 sheets) for the raffle of the Bass Pro Boat have been sold. The Lake Association will end up with $1000, the Civic Association will get $1500, and Wal-Mart will give a grant of $1000 for the Lake Association. The Bass Unlimited tables at Cypress Bend are selling out fast. There will be more boats and other items being raffled off at the May 14th affair, and all profits will go back to support the lake.
Betty noted the Deep East Texas Development Association (DETDA) has changed its name to Piney-woods Economic Partnership. No one has volunteered to be our representative to that organization.
Approval of New Members: None
Approval of Payment of Outstanding Bills: None
Next Meeting Date: April 26, 2004
Meeting Adjourned.
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