A North Texas city wants to build a new reservoir to blunt the effect of future droughts. But many local ranchers say it would destroy their way of life.
Historically, reservoir construction has pitted rural people against city planners in a lopsided contest, says Jim Blackburn, an attorney and professor of environmental law at Rice University. That’s how things are shaping up in current-day Clay County. “I won’t count these landowners out, but ultimately they’ll be confronted with the imbalance of the law,” he says. “You can fight as long and as hard as you want, but your greatest reward will just be a bigger pile of money. You’re still gonna lose your property.”