A state district judge in Austin on Friday overturned the permit Texas regulators had issued for Lake Ringgold, a reservoir the city of Wichita Falls wants to build in Clay County.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of the 459th District Court in Travis County ruled from the bench after hearing oral arguments in the landowners' challenge to the approval the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave the project, KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls reported. Clay County Judge Mike Campbell said in a statement that more than 60 supporters from the county filled the courtroom.
What was at stake
The Texas Conservation Alliance, which backed the landowners, said the lake would submerge thousands of acres used for ranching and by wildlife, including native tallgrass prairie and land along the Little Wichita River. The Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association put the figure at more than 16,000 acres of agricultural land and habitat.
The landowners had asked for a closer look at the reservoir's projected water needs, the alternatives to it and its effects, according to the conservation group.
Both sides
"Texas needs reliable water supplies, and we need to make sound decisions about how we meet those needs," said Janice Bezanson, the alliance's senior policy director, who argued a project this size has to be justified by demonstrated need.
