{"id":31471,"date":"2013-09-25T11:30:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T16:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=31471"},"modified":"2013-09-25T11:30:20","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T16:30:20","slug":"crucial-permits-approved-for-lake-ralph-hall-in-north-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/25\/crucial-permits-approved-for-lake-ralph-hall-in-north-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Crucial Permits Approved For Lake Ralph Hall in North Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h4>\n
\"This

Flickr.com<\/p>

This eroded channel on the North Sulphur River near Ladonia would become part of the Lake Ralph Hall reservoir.<\/p><\/div>\n

From KERA News:<\/em><\/a><\/h4>\n

State environmental commissioners have approved crucial permits for Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County.<\/p>\n

The vote was historic, marking the first time since 1985 that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved the construction of a lake that would be a water supply.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Toby Baker said the step forward comes at a pivotal time.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now what we\u2019re dealing with in the state of Texas is a population that is growing exponentially and a water supply that is remaining static, exacerbated by one of the worst droughts we have ever had,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

The Upper Trinity River Authority plans to build Lake Ralph Hall along the North Sulphur River, northeast of Dallas.<\/p>\n

The reservoir, named after the Rockwall congressman, would be about the size of Lake Grapevine when completed in a decade or so.<\/p>\n

The Upper Trinity water district says the lake is needed to meet a growing population.<\/p>\n

But Flower Mound Public Works Director Ken Parr asked commissioners to deny the permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel there are some other options that are more cost effective that have not been addressed,\u201d Parr said.<\/p>\n

The City of Flower Mound, the water district\u2019s biggest customer, believes the population projections are inflated and its residents may see their water bills skyrocket more than the 15 percent that\u2019s estimated.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups told commissioners the project does not meet new standards for water conservation. Myron Hess spoke on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasic program components are missing.\u00a0 There\u2019s no enforcement mechanism, no rebate program to help residential or commercial users upgrade to more efficient equipment,\u201d said Hess.<\/p>\n

But state commissioners rejected those arguments and gave the green light for Lake Ralph Hall to move forward.<\/p>\n

The Upper Trinity Water District says it must still acquire some of the land gain approval from the Army Corp of Engineers before breaking ground in several years.<\/p>\n

Further reading:\u00a0Commissioners Expected To Approve Permits For New Reservoir<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From KERA News: State environmental commissioners have approved crucial permits for Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County. The vote was historic, marking the first time since 1985 that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved the construction of a lake that would be a water supply. Commissioner Toby Baker said the step forward comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[33,243,282],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31471"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31475,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471\/revisions\/31475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}