The Collin County Observer

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DMN - Heard museum prepares for court fight

02/26/10

05:06:24 pm, by bill

, 243 words,

Categories: News Clippings, Observer Opinions, Environment, Quality of Life, Water

DMN - Heard museum prepares for court fight

Heard museum prepares for court fight

February 26, 2010
The Dallas Morning News McKinney Blog
Ed Housewright/Reporter

The Heard and the North Texas Municipal Water District are still battling over the district's plans to install a sewer line under the museum property.

The Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary offered an alternate route across its 289-acre site. But the water district rejected it.

"Efforts to resolve the dispute ... have failed," the museum says in a news release. "The lawsuit will be set for trial."

The museum and wildlife sanctuary, which opened in 1967, draws more than 100,000 visitors a year.

It fears the sewer line will damage native prairie grassland and wetlands.

The water district says the line poses no environmental damage.

link to the post on The Dallas Morning News McKinney Blog....

======

The Observer Comments:

Good grief...

"The water district says the line poses no environmental damage"

Wow! So the Water District is telling the Wildlife Sanctuary how to protect its habitat.

I assume that now The Heard's environmentalists will feel free to tell the NTMWD how to maintain water pressure.

For more coverage on this issue, see:

Eco-terrorism: Collin County style, CCO, December, 2009

Heard museum worried about sewer line planned on property, The Dallas Morning News, December 20, 2009

Panel sides with water district on plans to run sewer line under McKinney's Heard museum, The Dallas Morning News, December 16, 2009

Heard museum in McKinney battles water district over sewer line, The Dallas Morning News, October 29, 2009

Bill

Permalink 1 comment

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Michael Pezzulli [Visitor]

· http://www.courtroom.com

This latest threat to the Heard Wetlands is without a doubt one more coffin in the nail of a national treasure and the crown jewel of nature in Collin County.

When the Heard was unable to purchase the old McKinney Golf Course it seemed inevitable that the wetlands at the Heard along with many endangered species would be put at risk.

Was an Environmental Impact Study conducted? Do we know the results?

Do we know if the Federal Government has given permission for this massive sewer project through the Wetlands?

Wetlands are a crucial element of a balanced ecosystem. They have been dubbed the "kidneys" of the landscape since they remove excess nutrients, toxic materials and sediments from the water that flows through them. Reports indicate that restoring just one percent of a watershed's area to wetlands has the potential to reduce polluted runoff of nitrates and herbicides by up to 50%.
We live in an area of shifting soils and Blackland Prairie with it's incredible instability. Has a Plasticity Study been conducted to determine whether the proposed 42" sewage line that will disrupt a 110 foot wide, 3,500 foot long area of the Museum's Wildlife Sanctuary will never rupture? I suspect not, but what I do know is that we had better wake up and take a hard look at this "taking" by the water district. The City of McKinney knows all about the instability of this soil. See this report: http://www.mckinneytexas.org/Associations/144/data/forms/1025/Stream%20Bank%20Chapter%201.pdf

If we don't wake up and take a hard look at what is happening to the Heard, it may not be there for our children.

Permalink 02/27/10 @ 13:35

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The Collin County Observer

DMN - Heard museum prepares for court fight

02/26/10

DMN - Heard museum prepares for court fight

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