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Friday, November 9, 2001
House OKs $2 million for controversial Valley dam project
Some say Brownsville Weir is a thinly veiled bid for misguided development
By Lynn Brezosky
Associated Press
   BROWNSVILLE - A federal appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday includes funding for construction of a controversial Rio Grande dam.
   Proponents of the Brownsville Weir say it will capture desperately needed water that is being swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico, lessening dependence on upriver, Mexican-controlled dams.
   "This is an innovative way of working to conserve every single drop of water available to us in South Texas," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. The $2 million approved Thursday to move the project to the construction phase is on top of $8.5 million Washington lawmakers previously granted for the design phase, and hopes are more federal funding will come during the next few years.
   Opponents are dismayed by the project's progress, saying the dam will alter salinity levels of a crucial estuary, threatening spawning grounds for white shrimp and other aquatic species.
   Others say the dam will flood the very lands other federal agencies are spending millions of dollars to preserve as habitats for endangered species such as the ocelot and the jagarundi.
   "It will make a travesty of the Rio Grande Valley Natural Wildlife Corridor," said Mary Lou Campbell of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.
   Discussed since '80s
   The approximately $40 million dam has been in the talking phase since the late 1980s, when Brownsville planners became concerned about potential water shortages. Brownsville, along with the entire Rio Grande Valley and much of northern Mexico, relies on the river for both drinking and irrigation water.
   But the needed water comes from dams hundreds of miles to the north, and recent developments prove there's no guarantee the water will make it to the end.
   Taps in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the river from Brownsville, ran dry for days this summer because pumps couldn't access a river so low it more resembled a stream.
   Nonnative river weeds have slowed river flow, but there is also a dispute with Mexico, which says drought conditions prohibit it from releasing water in accordance with a treaty signed in 1944.
   Stopped short of Gulf
   In March, the Rio Grande petered out before reaching the Gulf, creating a growing sand bar that eventually featured wooden stakes to mark the U.S. Mexico-border. Bulldozers were brought in this summer to reopen the channel, but it closed again Nov. 1.
   "The Rio Grande would not be able to supply water forever, especially to Brownsville, because we're the last stop," Brownsville Public Utility Board spokeswoman Emily Ordeman-Salazar said.
   The dam would be built about eight miles downriver from the Gateway International Bridge crossing to Matamoros, backing water up into a reservoir some 30 to 40 miles long.
   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must complete an environmental impact study before any construction can begin, Ordeman-Salazar said, and Texas Parks and Wildlife has committed to a 6-year post project Aquatic Resource Management study.
   The city also is working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to develop a mitigation plan for any disturbed habitats, she said.
   Bid for development
   Karen Chapman of the Austin-based Texas Center for Policy Studies said the project is a thinly veiled attempt to attract development.
   If the river stopped before the Gulf, as it has now, Campbell said, there would be nothing to collect.

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