Increasingly, the politics of place will become environmental politics, and environmental politics will become the politics of water. As the one thing that everyone absolutely needs to survive, the one thing that a place needs to be habitable, the one thing that we have denied its importance for so long, water is looking to return to the center of our thoughts with an absolute vengence. Ok, maybe not that kind of emotion, but there is no way around the importance of water in the coming decades. Millions around the world don’t have access to clean, fresh water, and while that may not be a pressing issue for the U.S., the access to clean, fresh water here is certainly an issue- and states are starting to bump into increasingly powerful environmental lobbies.

Even Texas, which has long seemed environmental-activism proof, is dealing with a new set of issues:
The City of Dallas and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) are suing the Federal Fish and Wildlife Departments' move to designate around 25,000 acres of forested wetlands along the Neches River. Dallas claims to have been planning to build a reservoir there sometime in the next 50 years…
And this is where we run into the inevitable conflict: Dallas will need, presumably, all the water it can get as it continues to grow, and I’m sure the Fish and Wildlife Department could see that. So in 2006 they created the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge, and Dallas and TWDB say they did not conduct the necessary environmental assessments- wait, what?

Is the city really pointing the finger at Fish and Wildlife saying that the department didn’t do enough environmental investigation? That’s wild. Perhaps Fish and Wildlife should ask whether Dallas is doing much along the environmental investigatory side of any expansion they plan on… how can a city question the establishment of a wildlife refuge on the grounds that it will be disruptive to the environment?

Well, Dallas is saying that they will need the water (which is probably true), and that the refuge disrupts the human environment in Dallas- the water supply, the economy and the future of water planning in the city.

In July of last year a judge denied the motions to require more extensive environmental study because, "establishment of the refuge will not alter the condition of the land as it is today."
Love it.

"When you have issues like this, nontraditional allies are generally formed -- in this case between land groups and environmentalists. This is quite common on reservoir issues -- even timber groups have joined with conservation groups to help protect property," said Gina Donovan, executive director of the Houston Audubon Society.

Yep- interesting to see environmentalists and land groups on the same side of an issue- but for me, the bottom line remains the same. Dallas is freaking out over the need for water. They know they will be needing it in the near future and are trying to keep all of their options open.

If the F&W is smart, they’ll be designating everything they can see all over the country, because in 20 years there will be nothing left without a designation- whether as protected or as slated for development.