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Toledo Bend BI-State Alliance
Meeting Minutes
October 23, 2000
The meeting was called to order by Larry Kelly
J.D. Myers lead the group in prayer.
The attendees introduced themselves.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as modified. The new member organization which joined at the last meeting was the Concerned Citizens for Clean Water.
The treasurer was absent but Larry Kelly reported we had $2277.76.
The agenda was modified to include a discussion about the J. R. Huffman Library.
Bill Heugel reported that the next meeting of the East Texas Water Planning group will be Nov. 9, 2000 in Nacgodoches at the Holiday Inn. The time is 9 AM.
Charles English reported on the DETDA meeting.
DETDA received a grant from the Texas History Commission of $80K to be used to improve tourism.
Steps are being taken to control the developments in rural areas. This especially applies to developments around cities where developers put in substandard roads and water systems. The new legislation will help to control these developers and make sure that standards are met.
Meetings with legislatures and DETDA members will be held in December. The time and place for the meeting will be announced. This is an opportunity to meet with the legislators and discuss issues. TBBSA needs to be well represented at the meeting.
DETDA will also sponsor an East Texas delegation to go to Austin to meet with the new legislators.
The legislators from East Texas met to try and form a coalition to defeat the removal of Jr. Water Rights. TBBSA members need to support this effort. A detailed discussion of Jr. Water rights and interbasin transfers followed the mention of this activity.
Lake Level Project
Larry Kelly is working with senators in LA to prepare a lake level bill.
Larry stated the SRA LA adopted a motion directing all the staff to do everything they can to support the 168 ft lake level. He felt the LA board was supportive of the 168 level. He also stated that at the request of one member of the La. Board he had drafted a resolution in support of adopting the 168' msl.
At the SRA TX board meeting Larry gave the board members a copy of a consolidated contract and the draft resolution that was drafted for the SRALA board.. He asked the board to pretend they were from Missouri and establish a show me attitude with the SRA staff.
He pointed out the contract clearly indicates that the power companies can only generate based on the water the SRA gives them and that the contract says nothing about secondary power during the peak period.
Charles English and Larry Kelly met with Don Covington in Orange. Mr. Covington is a board member for the SRATX. Mr. Covington stated he had already met with the lawyer and was asking the staff to tell him how the lake level can be met not how it can't be met.
English and Kelly also met with Mr. Sammy Dance who is a member of the joint board. They felt the meeting went well and he asked many questions.
The plan to have meetings with each of the board members will be continued.
Larry stressed that the board members did not have adequate information on the contracts and operations and that the staff had been doing things the same way for so long they thought it was the only way it could be done.
A need to have more Texas people attend the SRATX meetings was stressed. At the last meeting where 7 TBBSA members attended only 2 were from TX.
There has been no letter yet from FERC in response to the SRA letter saying they could not have meetings until the law suits had been cleared with the people below the dam.
A similar letter had been sent to FERC regarding meetings with people below the dam and the FERC response was to tell the SRA to have a meeting in December. The meetings will be conducted by FERC.
Larry Kelly has been trying to get the SRA board members to see the letters sent to FERC before they are sent. Some members of the SRA of LA Board were surprised by the SRA response to some of the FERC letters.
The next SRATX meeting will be held in Tyler in December. The date and place will be provided later.
The next SRALA board meeting will be October 26, 2000, at the Pendelton location.
A lake management meeting will also be held on Wednesday October 25.
Larry Kelly will be attending the SRA workshops to be held on November 12,13, & 14 in Baton Rouge.
Other Issues
Larry Kelly informed the group that there was a rumor that a casino was being considered for the LA side of the lake. He asked the group what position the TBBSA should take concerning the Casino. A motion was made seconded and passed that the TBBSA should remain neutral on the casino issue at this time but that all members should contact their constituents and report back at the next meeting. At that time final a final decision on the position of the TBBSA can be made.
Maurice Patterson informed the group that the J. R. Huffman library was in need of funds. The library does not charged the TBBSA for the use of the meeting room. In 1999. The TBBSA donated $150 to the library. A motion was made, seconded and passed that a donation of $150 be made for the year 2000
The meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting and final meeting for the 2000 will be November 27, 2000.
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