Public Meeting: Addicks Reservoir and the Grand Parkway

Title: Public Meeting: Addicks Reservoir and the Grand Parkway
Location: Houston Arboretum
Description: Addicks Reservoir and the Grand Parkway: Overview of the Sierra Club Litigation and Its Role In The Future of Buffalo Bayou, the Katy Prairie and the City of Houston

A meeting will be held Monday, September 19, to discuss the litigation that has filed in federal court over the impact of Segment E of the Grand Parkway on Addicks Reservoir which has been evaluated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as being subject to “catastrophic failure”. If Addicks Reservoir were to fail, much of the developed core of the City of Houston along Buffalo Bayou would be destroyed, including portions of the energy corridor, the Memorial Villages, River Oaks and the Central Business District.

The Sierra Club litigation was filed to require that the Grand Parkway project be stopped by the federal court due to its negative impacts on this dam which was given the highest (worst) dam safety evaluation available to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in July, 2010. This July 2010 document changed the operational plan for Addicks Reservoir, which also changes the reality for downstream property owners and for those proposing projects along Buffalo Bayou. In this meeting, attorneys Jim Blackburn and Mary Carter, hydrologist Larry Dunbar and Sierra Club Executive Committee Member Evelyn Merz will set out what they have learned in their research leading up to this important litigation and what they hope to achieve if successful.

Among other things, various ways for other organizations to become involved in actions around this litigation will be discussed. This is not just about birds and bunnies and wetlands and riparian habitat. This is also about safety, life and property as well as our natural ecological capital. It is about the future of our home we call Houston.
Start Time: 18:30
Date: 2011-09-19