Posted 1:08 am Saturday, March 14, 2009
Judges Rule In Favor Of Neches Refuge
By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer
A three-judge panel has ruled in favor of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed on Thursday the July 2008 decision made by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis.
"We're absolutely thrilled," said Janice Bezanson, executive director of the Texas Conservation Alliance. "We felt from the beginning this was an important place for a wildlife refuge."
She said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified a roughly 25,000-acre site for the refuge back in the 1980s between Jacksonville and Palestine.
It wasn't until 2003 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began writing an Environmental Assessment, and public hearings followed in 2004 regarding the establishment of the refuge, Bezanson said.
In January 2005, the city of Dallas was updating water plans, she said, and decided they wanted to put a reservoir, called the Fastrill Reservoir, on the same site sometime in the distant future.
Then from spring of 2005 to June of 2006, Bezanson said the wildlife service worked with Dallas to see if there was another place the refuge could go that was as good as the identified site.
However, they never found another site, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced in June 2006 that they were creating a refuge, she said.
Dallas and the Texas Water Development Board then sued in federal court in January 2007.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "did not adequately assess the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of designating a 25,281-acre site within Anderson and Cherokee Counties as a refuge in the same location of the Fastrill Reservoir site that is included in state and regional water plans," states a news release from the Texas Water Development Board at the time.
Ken Petersen, general counsel for the water development board, said they also alleged that a more full-blown environmental impact statement should have been done before refuge boundaries were established.
U.S. District Judge Solis ruled in favor of the refuge in July 2008 and the decision was then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in fall 2008.
Now that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the July 2008 decision, Petersen said representatives from the water development board are in consultation with an assistant attorney general.
"It's an important matter to the board and we take it very seriously," said Leslie Anderson, spokesperson for the water development board.
In addition to specific refuge issues, the Texas Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Neches River and others are proposing that the Neches river be studied so it can be included in the Wild and Scenic River System.
"(The) tourism industry for the most part has been very enthusiastic about it," Bezanson said.
She said congress first has to pass a bill to authorize the study of the river, and the study would be done from below Lake Palestine down to Beaumont.
Bezanson called the area of the Neches River where the refuge is located a "wonderful wildlife habitat" with various trees and wildlife such as squirrels, turkeys and otters.
A one-acre easement of land donated by local citizens has already been put in the refuge, she said.
Bezanson also mentioned that there are ducks, geese and songbirds who stop in the refuge area to feed when they are migrating.
"The Neches River refuge is an exceptional wildlife habitat -- one of the most important wildlife areas left in Texas," she said. "Thousands of Texans wrote letters or signed petitions in support of its creation."
Staff Writer
A three-judge panel has ruled in favor of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed on Thursday the July 2008 decision made by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis.
"We're absolutely thrilled," said Janice Bezanson, executive director of the Texas Conservation Alliance. "We felt from the beginning this was an important place for a wildlife refuge."
She said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified a roughly 25,000-acre site for the refuge back in the 1980s between Jacksonville and Palestine.
It wasn't until 2003 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began writing an Environmental Assessment, and public hearings followed in 2004 regarding the establishment of the refuge, Bezanson said.
In January 2005, the city of Dallas was updating water plans, she said, and decided they wanted to put a reservoir, called the Fastrill Reservoir, on the same site sometime in the distant future.
Then from spring of 2005 to June of 2006, Bezanson said the wildlife service worked with Dallas to see if there was another place the refuge could go that was as good as the identified site.
However, they never found another site, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced in June 2006 that they were creating a refuge, she said.
Dallas and the Texas Water Development Board then sued in federal court in January 2007.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "did not adequately assess the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of designating a 25,281-acre site within Anderson and Cherokee Counties as a refuge in the same location of the Fastrill Reservoir site that is included in state and regional water plans," states a news release from the Texas Water Development Board at the time.
Ken Petersen, general counsel for the water development board, said they also alleged that a more full-blown environmental impact statement should have been done before refuge boundaries were established.
U.S. District Judge Solis ruled in favor of the refuge in July 2008 and the decision was then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in fall 2008.
Now that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the July 2008 decision, Petersen said representatives from the water development board are in consultation with an assistant attorney general.
"It's an important matter to the board and we take it very seriously," said Leslie Anderson, spokesperson for the water development board.
In addition to specific refuge issues, the Texas Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Neches River and others are proposing that the Neches river be studied so it can be included in the Wild and Scenic River System.
"(The) tourism industry for the most part has been very enthusiastic about it," Bezanson said.
She said congress first has to pass a bill to authorize the study of the river, and the study would be done from below Lake Palestine down to Beaumont.
Bezanson called the area of the Neches River where the refuge is located a "wonderful wildlife habitat" with various trees and wildlife such as squirrels, turkeys and otters.
A one-acre easement of land donated by local citizens has already been put in the refuge, she said.
Bezanson also mentioned that there are ducks, geese and songbirds who stop in the refuge area to feed when they are migrating.
"The Neches River refuge is an exceptional wildlife habitat -- one of the most important wildlife areas left in Texas," she said. "Thousands of Texans wrote letters or signed petitions in support of its creation."
