Stop Marvin Nichols Reservoir bill passes committee, but still needs another push

AUSTIN, Texas (KETK) – House Bill 2109, which aims to stop the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, has passed through committee but still needs to be heard on the Texas State House floor to be voted on.

East Texas supporters of the bill are encouraging everyone to call members of the Texas State House Calendar Committee to put HB 2109 on the schedule to be heard. Organizers said it is a bipartisan issue that affects everyone.

HB 2109 passed out of the Natural Resources Committee on April 23 but the Calendar Committee has decide when to allow it to be heard by May 15.

“Anytime you can keep it at the forefront of members minds it helps, because there’s so many things coming at us from different directions,” State Rep. Cole Hefner said.

The 57-year-old plan could flood up to 200,000 acres of land, leaving homes and schools to be moved. The possibility of the project coming to fruition has paralyzed hardworking East Texans like Casey Conway.

“I’m raising cattle and you always need a new hay barn or maybe you need to put in a new fence or whatever. You can’t justify putting that money into the place when this is over your head everyday day. You don’t know day to day, if that’s the day you’re going to lose it,” Conway said.

The last day for House bills to be considered on the floor is May 16 at midnight, but Conway fears it will not be chosen.

“My fear is that they’re playing too much politics and they’ll let the clock run out,” Conway said.

Hefner said there is not a lot of time left, but there is enough time for the bill to be pushed and heard on the floor.

“Some days you’ll have a bill that takes up a lot of time. Sometimes a bill might take up an hour, it may take 2 or 3 hours, but a lot of bills just take a few minutes,” Hefner said.

Conway said this bill is a priority and affects his family and generations to come.

“Our kids can’t even come back and live on the family land because we don’t want them investing that kind of money into something that they could lose like that,” Conway said.

If the bill passes the House, it’ll have to be voted on in the Texas Senate for the final time by May 28 before the 89th session comes to an end on June 2.