Orange City Attorney John Cash Smith said the city is not planning to sue the Sabine River Authority for the recent flooding of the Sabine River. Smith, who previously represented the river authority in lawsuits, said the river authority releases water from Toledo Bend dam based on federal guidelines and cannot be sued.
On Tuesday, the Orange City Council met for the first time in five weeks in an official, legally posted meeting. However, during the comments part for council members, District 1 Councilor Pat Pullen said “the council met quite a few days to make sure the city” was handling the flood disaster.
Part of the business Tuesday included the disaster proclamation Mayor Jimmy Sims had signed on March 12. The declaration, which was released to the public on April 7 in the meeting agenda, reads that the disaster resulted “from the rising water associated with the water release from the Toledo Bend Dam.” The declaration does not mention rainfall amounts.
The river authority has said the record water releases from Toledo Bend reservoir came because of heavy rains, including almost 20 inches falling over the reservoir.
City Attorney Smith said he represented the authority in two flood lawsuits. One was dismissed by summary judgment by a federal court in Beaumont. The other, in a state court in Newton County, was reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals.
“As long as they (Sabine River Authority) follow the law that regulates that dam, they cannot be held liable,” Smith said.
The reservoir was not designed for flood control, he said. “It’s a water storage and electrical production facility. It must have a certain low level and a certain high level,” he said.
Smith said the heavy rains caused the flood and the river authority with the releases from the dam was “passing through the flood that was going to happen anyway.”
The city is trying to get recovery money from the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The council approved extending an agreement with lawyer Tim Richardson of Maryland, who has been the city’s BP consultant for the past few years. The city extended his contract for six more months. The city’s cost for Richardson’s services is $4,000 a month.
City Manager Shawn Oubre said the city previously has received a settlement for lost sales taxes. Richardson now is working with Orange and consortium of Orange County entities to money to be used for environmental projects. The consortium plans to get a countywide sewer system.
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