Millwood water plan would run 130-mile pipeline to North Texas lake, records show

The plan to sell Millwood Lake water into Texas would use a 72-inch pipeline running about 130 miles to Bois d’Arc Lake in North Texas. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained the records, and the Texarkana Gazette reported the details Sunday.

Bois d’Arc Lake is about 90 miles northeast of Dallas. It supplies water to about 2 million people in 80 North Texas communities, the Gazette reported. The pipeline would carry some 100 million gallons a day.

The Texarkana, Arkansas, Board of Directors voted unanimously on Oct. 13 to let the Southwest Arkansas Water District apply to the state for the transfer. We covered that vote here. The vote does not approve a sale.

Who is behind it

The project is being developed by Heartland Water Partners, backed by Grey Rock, a Dallas private equity firm. Griffin Perry, son of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, co-founded Grey Rock, the El Dorado News-Times reported. That story said there was no indication Rick Perry is involved.

Heartland has already spent about $600,000 on engineering, land routing, legal work and a political risk assessment, the Gazette reported. That figure comes from a document titled “Millwood Water Supply Talking Points.” City Manager Tyler Richards emailed those talking points to Mayor Allen Brown on May 7. They said Heartland would spend $20 million to $40 million over 12 to 18 months before a final decision to build.

Richards also wrote, according to the Gazette: “Heartland will not proceed to this next phase without assurances that the political risk in Arkansas has been adequately mitigated.”

Heartland CEO Kevin Lafferty said design and testing would take 12 to 18 months, and construction could take up to four years, the News-Times reported.

State senator won’t carry it

State Sen. Jimmy Hickey, a Texarkana Republican, has refused to sponsor the deal in the Legislature, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Oct. 24. Hickey’s district covers Howard, Little River, Miller and Sevier counties and part of Hempstead County. The paper said he worries lawmakers could go after Texarkana’s state income tax exemption for border residents. Richards noted in a July 30 email that state Rep. Carol Dalby, also a Texarkana Republican, opposes it, the paper reported.

Any sale would need approval from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and then the Legislature. The commission’s next meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 9:30 a.m. in Little Rock, according to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s calendar. No agenda has been posted. If the commission approves, the public would get 120 days to comment. Then the plan would go to the Legislature, the Gazette reported.

The project also covers Millwood water rights held by Hope, Ashdown and Ogden. Under the draft agreement, each city would say in writing by Nov. 1 how much water it will commit to the project, the Gazette reported.