It’s baaack! With the help of WTUL 91.5fm, GRN is getting the word out about the resurrection of theWashington Parish Dam.Listen as I talk to WTUL’s JanetHaysabout this waste of taxpayer money. Since 2001, this project has come back from the dead, again and again, to haunt Northshore residents. Each time, the purpose of the dam changes, from water extraction to water conservation, to real estate and ‘development opportunities.’ Will Louisiana taxpayers now be forced to foot the bill to displace Washington Parish residents and to create a cheapsource of water for hydrofracking?This Damwill destroy 1000 acres of wetland forest, habitat for the Gopher Tortoise, flood out residents,as well as force the relocation of at least 9 historic cemeteries from Washington Parish. Washington Parish residents have fought the proposal since 2001. The Reservoir Commission is out of line with its duties to Article IX of the Louisiana Constitution, and out of date in pushing a project that looks like it was designed in 1933. In 2015, there is no need to dig up grandma and kill tortoises to supply water to one of the wettest areas of the nation, on top of one of the nicest aquifers in the nation. If this weren’t simply a real estate grab, and attempt to cash in on the Tuscaloosa Shale, the Reservoir Commission would consider infiltration wells, or protecting and promoting Washington Parish’s Scenic Rivers, the Pearl and the Bogue Chitto.Letters of oppositioncan be written to Sarah Koeppel at the Army Corps, and Elizabeth Johnson at DEQ.Army Corps of Engineers Descriptionhttp://www.mvk.usace.army.mil/Portals/58/docs/regulatory/publicnotices/SYK-MVK-2012-1240%20.pdfFurther documentation has been released by GRN’s FOIAhere:GRN’s letter of opposition can be viewed here.2005 LPB Documentary on the local opposition to the Dam:http://wm.lpb.org/swi/20051104ReservoirProject_256k.wmv2005 LPB transcript:http://bit.ly/145ZRktScott Eustis, M.S. is GRN’s Coastal Wetland Specialist
