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East Feliciana Police Jury resolution opposes Amite Basin master-plan reservoirs; ARBC defers action
Summary
East Feliciana Parish Police Jury presented a certified resolution opposing reservoirs in the Amite River Basin Commission(ARBC) 2025 master plan. The ARBC read the resolution and heard multiple public comments opposing proposed reservoir options; no formal action was taken and the commission placed the matter on the next meeting agenda.
The Amite River Basin Commission on July 8 received a certified resolution from the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury opposing the reservoirs described in the commission—s 2025 master plan. Legal counsel Larry Bankston read the resolution into the record and commissioners said no action would be taken at the meeting; the item will be placed on the ARBC—s next meeting agenda.
The resolution, dated July 7, 2025, states that East Feliciana Parish "oppose[s] the Amite River Basin Commission master plan reservoirs," and requests notice of that opposition be sent to the ARBC. Larry Bankston read the wording to commissioners during the meeting.
Multiple residents and local elected officials from East Feliciana and neighboring parishes used the public-comment period to urge the commission to reject reservoir options that would inundate private lands. Resident Jeffrey Duvall said he would work with the commission on retention alternatives but added, "I am against the reservoir." Vice President of the East Feliciana Police Jury Chrissy O'Quinn said her parish was surprised by the plan and by ARBC—s prior vote on the master plan; she said a crowd of several hundred turned out at a Bluff Creek meeting two weeks earlier to oppose the reservoir options.
Other public commenters raised concerns about long legal battles, undisclosed or underestimated costs, the permanence of land loss, and conflicts with existing land uses including planned solar leases. Billy Andrews, a property owner who said his land would be inundated, told commissioners solar projects and reservoirs "do not go good" together. Carmen Overton, a longtime parish resident, asked who would fund the projects and said older residents and landowners want to be heard.
ARBC Executive Director Paul Sawyer told the commission the reservoir concepts entered the master plan in response to a legislative mandate directing DOTD and state partners to evaluate retention options in the upper basin. Sawyer said the master plan is a baseline, mandated by statute, and described it as a working document intended to guide longer-term discussion and to preserve the commission—s ability to access state funding. He said the commission would take the East Feliciana resolution up at its next monthly meeting.
No formal vote on the East Feliciana resolution or on master-plan reservoirs occurred on July 8; the commission recorded that no action was taken and scheduled the matter for a future agenda.
