Harrison County Judge Wayne McWhorter said he believes a proposed industrial site at Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge has failed because Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is not lending her support to the original concept.

McWhorter, local attorney Sam Moseley and city businessman Tommy Whaley proposed last year that the U.S. Defense Department give from 1,500 to 2,000 acres – which border Caddo Lake – to the county or state for industrial development.

That land had been scheduled to be transferred to the wildlife refuge, after contamination problems were addressed.

After McWhorter, Whaley and Moseley approached Hutchison (R-Texas) and Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-1st), the defense department put a hold on the land transfer.

It would have taken an act of Congress to give the land to the county or state, since the Department of the Interior had already requested the land, land advocates have said.

McWhorter said Thursday that Hutchison told him in a December phone conversation she supported giving only 100 to 200 acres to the industrial site.