A motion before the Caddo Commission to ask state and regional authorities next week to stop large-scale water withdrawals from Caddo Lake died in Monday’s work session without a second.
An agenda item on the Feb. 2 Caddo Commission work session agenda calls for promoting a moratorium to the Red River Compact Commission and the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources on withdrawing water from Caddo Lake for any use other than small residential or commercial for 365 days or until a study of the effect of exceeding currently permitted levels can be obtained.
The resolution cited concerns about the long-term sustainability of the lake in light of a proposed data center near Caddo Lake.
Without a second, there was no further discussion of the resolution.
As the governing body headed into executive session, they offered a chance to speak with two citizens who came after the public comment period. One of those citizens was Vicki L. Moore
Moore, who has lived in Caddo Parish for 47 years and spent the past two years living on Blanchard-Latex Road, an area where data center developer STACK Infrastructure has purchased more than 500 acres.
“You are my representation on the committee,” Moore said. She expressed concern about the water in Caddo Lake, noting that it has been without water for days and said that in the two years she has lived in Blanchard, she has been without water longer than she has ever been in Shreveport. Mostly, she expressed disappointment with the Commission for not moving forward to discuss Kracman’s proposal.
“We don’t know where you live. So I don’t know where I live,” she said.
Commissioner Victor Thomas addressed comments on the proposal.
“We plan to address this issue in the appropriate manner,” he said. “We didn’t want you to leave here feeling defeated and that we didn’t care about your water problem and that we didn’t care about Caddo Lake.”
Most of the commissioners who spoke thought it was too soon, saying there was nothing to confirm that the planned development was, in fact, a data center.
What data center is in Blanchard? Data center developer STACK Infrastructure tied to Caddo, Bossier land deals.
However, Kracman said the resolution had nothing to do with Blanchard Utilities or the data centers. “We all say how much we care about Caddo Lake, but if we’re not willing to have the conversation about it, how much do we really care?” A sentence that drew applause from the audience.
He went on to say that this was one of the most proactive things he has done since becoming commissioner and simply called for a recess so that “smart” people could conduct a study.
STACK Infrastructure is clearing land at Blanchard Latex and Stateline Roads – a site that sits on the Texas-Louisiana line between Blanchard and Mooringsport.
This silent rejection of the Kracman legislation echoed as the Blanchard area grapples with a water crisis.
Is Blanchard having water problems?
Blanchard Mayor Jim Galambo said on Facebook February 1 that Blanchard Water System is experiencing a production problem that affects local municipalities.
On Monday, Feb. 2, Galambo told the Shreveport Times that the Blanchard Water System had some production issues at the plant with equipment due to the cold weather.
On Sunday, the Blanchard Water System cut off valves for some customers to allow the water system to fill their tanks.
As of Monday, the water outage has yet to be resolved after leaks were discovered, forcing the water system to empty tanks.
Blanchard Water Crisis: Blanchard Utilities water outage affects several towns, closes schools
“We battled,” Galambo said. “We had to go find the leaks. We finally found them all and we have crews on site. We’re getting them to make repairs.”
Mooringsport Mayor Ty Gordon posted on Facebook, “Currently Mooringsport and Oil City are still OFF… NO exact restoration time at this time.”
This water outage caused Herndon Magnet School, Mooringsport Elementary School, Blanchard Elementary School, Donnie Bickham Middle School and Northwood High School to cancel.
“District leadership continues to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates as additional information becomes available,” Caddo Parish Schools said.
Kracman, who proposed the moratorium, told The Times in an earlier interview that he had received calls from constituents who opposed the data center and environmentalists concerned that Caddo Lake could not handle millions of gallons of daily withdrawals under the developers’ contract with Blanchard.
“Let’s get people who are qualified to evaluate what the lake can or can’t take before it’s just arbitrary against a data center,” Kracman said. “I’d rather weigh and measure that’s fine, and I think everyone can appreciate pausing and gathering some facts.”
A measure in New Orleans similar to the one Krackman is proposing led to the cancellation of a data center project.
Is a data center planned for the Blanchard area?
A global data center developer with a growing footprint in the United States is linked to several large land purchases in Caddo and Bossier parishes, according to public property records.
STACK Infrastructure, a Denver-based digital infrastructure company, is connected to acquisitions through SAC III Acquisition Co. LLC, which is listed in several purchase agreements for data center development properties in northwest Louisiana.
SAC III Acquisition Co. is listed as the buyer for several transactions in Caddo Parish and Bossier Parish, including more than 500 acres in Blanchard at the corner of Blanchard Latex and Stateline roads. The property is on the border between Louisiana and Texas.
Public records show that SAC III Acquisition Co. lists its address as 1700 Broadway, Suite 1750, Denver, Colorado, the same address used by STACK Infrastructure.
STACK Infrastructure develops and operates hyperscale data centers for large enterprises, cloud service providers and companies focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads. The company provides data center capacity in major markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
The company is backed by investment firms IPI Partners and ICONIQ Capital, both of which specialize in large-scale infrastructure and technology investments.
This article originally appeared on the Shreveport Times: Caddo Commission kills Caddo Lake proposal without debate