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2.6.06 Lake study is killed A legislative committee on Monday voted to kill a proposal to spend $3 million studying the feasibility of a hydroelectric dam and massive lake between Omaha and Lincoln. Testifying in favor of the bill were Sen. Pam Brown of Omaha, former Mayor Hal Daub, and two others: a champion sailor and a University of Nebraska at Omaha professor. But where, asked several committee members, were the Chambers of Commerce from Omaha and Lincoln? Who, beyond a state senator, former politician and two citizens supported the idea? Sen. Lavon Heidemann of Elk Creek, said quick action was needed because of the stress the proposal was causing to residents of Ashland, who feared that their town would be flooded. "I watched the mayor (Ashland's Ronna Wiig) and saw how nervous she was, and I realized what her stress level is and tried to imagine what she is going through the last two weeks," he said. Brown's Legislative Bill 1121 would have allocated $3 million for study of a possible hydroelectric dam and lake on the Platte River near Interstate 80. The bill brought about 175 Ashland residents to the Capitol to rally against the bill and attend the Appropriations Committee hearing. "Everyone wants this, but they don't want it in their back yard," said high school student Michelle Loftus. "But why Ashland?" Loftus, an 11th-grader, led fellow residents in a cheer before the hearing began: "A bill was made to drown our town. We're here to say we're not going down." Opponents and supporters saw starkly different effects of a lake. Those intent on preserving Ashland and the Platte River valley said a thriving community would be lost along with habitat for some endangered species. Backers of a lake said its impact on the regional economy would be staggeringly beneficial. Brown said a lake could raise annual regional personal income by $895 million and state tax revenues by $60 million. Those figures, she said, are updated from a 1971 study conducted by the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City. Ashland could benefit from the lake, she said. The community's total property valuation of about $84 million would triple in land value alone if it were to be relocated to hillsides above a lake, she said. That estimate, she said, is based on land values at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and Lake Okoboji in Iowa. But residents of Ashland, population 2,500, said the impact would be devastating. Craig Pease, superintendent of the Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools, is quick to compare, with pride, his students to the rest of the state. The approximately 820-student district, he said, ranks among the top in the state for ACT results and has one of highest percentages of Regents Scholarship winners. All of its 11th graders scored proficient on a statewide writing assessment. Top executives, including Jeff Raikes of Microsoft Corp. and astronaut Clay Anderson are graduates. "It's going to destroy a community and school district," Pease said. The lake would have been the largest between Lake Michigan and the Great Salt Lake. Water would have covered about 80 square miles, with the project costing an estimated $2 billion. The lake would have inundated well fields for Lincoln and Omaha, parts of Highway 6, rail lines, utility lines and much of Ashland. Wiig said cost estimates fall far short. By the time the well fields and other lost infrastructure are replaced, she said, costs could reach $10 billion. |
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