Local attorney Sam Moseley said Wednesday he and businessman Tommy Whaley are attempting to create good jobs for Harrison County residents by asking that a portion of the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant site be reserved for the state of Texas. Moseley said he wants to make his motives clear because he's afraid he and Whaley have been misunderstood.

The plant operated from 1942 until 1997 and comprised 8,493 acres of land.

About 5,800 of those acres were transferred to the Department of the Interior and used to create the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

The remainder of the land was to be transferred to the refuge after the Army finishes cleaning up the contaminates the plant produced while it was manufacturing TNT and rocket motors, among other things.

Both soil, surface water and groundwater are contaminated, according to a U.S. Army Environmental Center Web site.

Controversy about the plan erupted when rumors began circulating about the proposed land transfer.

Marshall residents Jack and Mary Jane Sanders (who have a second house on the lake) then began a Web-based letter writing campaign designed to stop industry from using the Longhorn land and the water rights that go with it.