Sierra Club and TCONR Blast Lawsuits over Wildlife Refuge
Dallas and State Lawsuits “Ridiculous” and “Without
Merit”
(Austin)—Spokespersons for the
Sierra Club and the Texas Committee on Natural Resources
(TCONR) today labeled as “ridiculous” and “without
merit” two lawsuits trying to block a new Neches
River National Wildlife Refuge in East Texas. Separate
litigation was filed yesterday by the City of Dallas
and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to reverse
a decision by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service last
summer to establish the new Refuge. Dallas had identified
the site for an eventual new water reservoir.
The litigation
claims that the federal agency should have prepared
an environmental impact statement or a formal environmental
assessment before making that decision.
“The attempt by Dallas and TWDB to try to use
the environmental impact statement process to block
creation of a national wildlife refuge in order to
promote a reservoir is nothing short of ridiculous,” said
Sierra Club state director Ken Kramer. “The reservoir
would destroy one of the most ecologically sensitive
habitats in the United States. It’s a perversion
of the NEPA process (the National Environmental Policy
Act, or NEPA, is the federal law that sets up the environmental
impact study procedures for major actions by federal
agencies).
A federal court has already ruled in a similar
case in Texas that preparation of an EIS was not necessary
for an action to protect wildlife habitat. This new
litigation is totally without merit.”
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife bent over backward
to meet every provision of NEPA,” added Janice
Bezanson, issues coordinator for TCONR. “The
agency even contracted for an extra socioeconomic assessment
of the impacts of creating the wildlife refuge. At
Dallas’ request, Fish and Wildlife also did an
analysis of alternatives sites for the refuge and found
that none of the alternatives matched the value of
the site selected. I am fully confident that the Fish & Wildlife
Service assessment will withstand the strictest review
by any court.”
“The most absurd aspect of this litigation is
that it’s directed at building a new water supply
reservoir for Dallas that is totally unnecessary,” said
Kramer. “Dallas and the Metroplex have some of
the highest per capita water use figures of any metropolitan
area in Texas.
In the most recent state water plan
the 2003 per capita water use in Dallas was 238 gallons,
contrasted to the per capita water use in San Antonio
of 142 gallons. Dallas wants to flood East Texas and
major wildlife habitat to provide water to keep lawns
green during the summer.
If Dallas becomes serious
about water conservation and using existing water supply
reservoirs to meet any remaining needs, the prospect
of building a new reservoir won’t even be in
the picture.”
Bezanson noted that the new Neches National Wildlife
Refuge has widespread support in East Texas and that
a number of Texas officeholders have endorsed creation
of the refuge.
