Caddo Lake water motion dies in Commission session with no discussion

Ian Robinson, Makenzie Boucher and Misty Castile, Shreveport Times

Mon, February 2, 2026 at 11:57 PM UTC

5 min read

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A motion before the Caddo Commission to ask state and regional authorities next week to halt large-scale water withdrawals from Caddo Lake died in Monday's work session without a second.

An agenda item on the Caddo Commission's Feb. 2 work session agenda calls for the advancement of a moratorium to the Red River Compact Commission and the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources on the withdrawal of water from Caddo Lake for any use other than small or commercial residential use for 365 days or until a study of the effect of exceeding currently permitted levels can be obtained.

The resolution cited concerns about the lake's long-term sustainability in light of a proposed data center near Caddo Lake.

Without a second, no further discussion on the resolution was to be had.

As the governing body moved toward an executive session, they offered the chance to speak to two citizens who came in after the public comments period. One of those citizens was Vicki L. Moore

Moore, who has lived in Caddo Parish for 47 years and has 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 commission," Moore said. She expressed concern over the water in Caddo Lake, noting she had been without water for days and saying in the two years she has lived in Blanchard, she's been without water more than she ever was in Shreveport. Mostly, she expressed disappointment in the Commission for not at least moving forward to discuss Kracman's proposal.

"We don't know where you stand. So I don't know where I stand," she said.

Commissioner Victor Thomas addressed the comments about proposal.

"We plan to address this issue in the proper form, " he said. "I didn't want you leave here feeling defeated and that we cared nothing about your water issue and that we care nothing about Caddo Lake."

Most commissioners who spoke felt it was too early, saying nothing has confirmed that the planned development is, in fact, a data center.

What data center is in Blanchard? Data center developer STACK Infrastructure linked to Caddo, Bossier land deals.

Kracman, however, said the resolution had nothing to do with Blanchard Utilities, or with data centers. "We all say how much we care about Caddo Lake, but if we're not willing to have the discussion 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'd done since becoming a commissioner, and he was simply asking for a pause so "intelligent" people could conduct a study.

STACK Infrastructure is clearing land at Blanchard Latex and Stateline Roads — a site straddling the Texas-Louisiana line between Blanchard and Mooringsport.

This silent dismissal of the Kracman's legislation echoed as the Blanchard area struggles with a water crisis.

Does Blanchard have issues with water?

Blanchard Mayor Jim Galambo stated on Facebook Feb. 1 that the Blanchard Water System was experiencing a production issue affecting 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 the valves to some customers to allow the water system to fill up its tanks.

As of Monday, the water disruption had yet to be resolved after leaks were discovered, forcing the water system to drain the tanks.

Blanchard water crisis: Water outage at Blanchard Utilites affects multiple cities, closes schools

"We’ve been struggling," Galambo said. "We had to go find the leaks. We finally now have found them all, and we’ve got crews on site. We’re getting them to make the repairs."

Mooringsport Mayor Ty Gordon posted on Facebook, "Currently, Mooringsport and Oil City are still OFF... NO exact restoration time at this moment."

This water disruption has caused the cancellation of Herndon Magnet School, Mooringsport Elementary School, Blanchard Elementary School, Donnie Bickham Middle School and Northwood High School.

"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 a previous interview that he had received calls from constituents opposed to the data center and from environmentalists concerned that Caddo Lake cannot sustain millions of gallons of daily withdrawals under the developers' contract with Blanchard.

"Let's get the people who are qualified to assess what the lake can or cannot take before we're just arbitrarily against a data center," Kracman said. "I would rather weigh and measure that it's OK, and I think everybody can appreciate taking a pause and getting some facts together."

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 across the United States is tied to several large land acquisitions in Caddo and Bossier parishes, according to public property records.

STACK Infrastructure, a Denver-based digital infrastructure company, is connected to the purchases through SAC III Acquisition Co. LLC, which is listed on multiple purchase agreements for properties intended for data center development in northwest Louisiana.

SAC III Acquisition Co. is listed as the buyer on 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 sits on the Louisiana-Texas border.

Public records show 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 across 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 Shreveport Times: Caddo Commission kills Caddo Lake proposal with no debate

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