Local citizens request TCEQ to deny Dos Republicas Coal Partnership permit renewal
Over 300 Eagle Pass Maverick County citizens attended the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) public meeting on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 7 P.M. originally scheduled at the Seco Mines Community Center on Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application to renew the TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 to discharge industrial waste, mine seepage, and storm water into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River.
The TCEQ public meeting was relocated to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Seco Mines to accommodate the large overflow of Maverick Countians attending the public meeting demanding that TCEQ deny Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application to renew TPDES Permit WQ0003511000.
Every single speaker who requested TCEQ to be allowed to speak both during the informal and formal comment periods at the public meeting spoke against the renewing of the TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 discharging highly toxic industrial waste, mine seepage, and storm waters into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River which may affect the public water supply of the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County.
Eagle pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu representing over 35,000 residents of the City of Eagle Pass eloquently advised the TCEQ that the City of Eagle Pass vehemently opposed the renewal of Dos Republicas Partnership TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 because Dos Republicas had lacked transparency and honesty with the City of Eagle Pass elected officials, administration, engineers, and staff with regard to providing critical information needed by the City concerning their TCEQ application. Mayor Cantu stated Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s lack of transparency with the City of Eagle Pass casting distrust of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership.
City of Eagle Pass City Attorney Heriberto Morales told TCEQ that the City’s research discovered the addresses disclosed in Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application for itself and its two Texas general partners’ corporations, Eagle Pass Coal Corporation and maverick County Coal Corporation, in San Antonio, Texas did not exist and had no physical address nor employees at said address. Morales presented TCEQ with a copy of a City Resolution approved an hour before the TCEQ public meeting by the City Council opposing the renewal of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application for renewal of TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 and requested party status and a contested hearing on behalf of the City of Eagle Pass.
City of Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System engineer Jaime Kypuros, Jr. advised TCEQ that the municipal water supply company had grave concerns regarding the discharge of industrial waste, mine seepage, and storm water into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River because the City of Eagle Pass water pump is on the Rio Grande River downstream of Elm Creek and said discharges may affect the public water supply. Kypuros also advised TCEQ that over 50% of the permitted Dos Republicas coal mine site lies on the 100 year flood plain of Elm Creek and the proposed coal mine project is designed for only a 10 year flood. Kypuros advised TCEQ that the City of Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System opposes Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application for renewal of TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 because Dos Republicas has not provided the City of Eagle Pass information with sufficient specificity and clarity to evaluate its application.
Maverick County Precinct 3 Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales representing Maverick County Commissioners Court and over 60,000 Maverick Countians advised TCEQ that Maverick County opposes the renewal of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Permit WQ0003511000 and presented Maverick County Commissioner Court’s Resolution to that effect.
Maverick County Court Attorney Ricardo Ramos told TCEQ Maverick County requests Dos Republicas Coal Partnership application to renew TPDES Permit WQ0003511000 be denied and the county seeks party status and a contested hearing.
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas general counsel Gloria Hernandez advised TCEQ that the tribe opposes Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application to renew the permit and requests party status and a contested hearing.
Elizabeth Burkhardt, a Houston, Texas attorney, advised TCEQ she had been retained by the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas to oppose the permit and that tribal members living on the Kickapoo reservation were suffering pollution and contamination from the two coal-fired electricity plants in Rio Escondido, Coahuila, Mexico, which the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership coal mine has alleged contracts to sell its Maverick County coal.
Burkhardt also advised TCEQ that Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and its string of foreign-owned Texas and Mexican corporations are only designed to avoid liability to the community in the event of a lawsuit judgment against them. Burkhardt requested TCEQ use its regulatory discretion to deny Dos Republicas permit.
Dr. Hector R. Treviño, a family physician in Eagle Pass, advised TCEQ to consider the public health and environmental effects the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership coal mine would have on the community and reminded TCEQ about the British Petroleum (BP) Oil Well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which everyone said it was safe and look what happened there.
Dr. Carlos E. Hernandez, an obstetrician and gynecologist and a Board of Director of the Maverick County Hospital District, advised TCEQ he opposed renewing Dos Republicas permit because of the health effects the coal mine would have on the community and requested party status and a contested hearing.
Dr. Carlos E. de la Peña, a dentist and property owner near the Dos Republicas coal mine site, advised TCEQ he opposed Dos Republicas’ permit because of the health and environmental effects such a mine would have on the community and his property. He requested TCEQ to deny the permit.
Eagle Pass Independent School District Superintendent Jesus Sanchez advised TCEQ the public school district’s position is to deny Dos Republicas Coal Partnerships’s permit because of the environmental and health effects the coal mine would have on school children, including students at Pete P. Gallego Elementary and Seco Mines Elementary who are near the coal mine site. Sanchez told TCEQ that the welfare and safety of the children comes first.
Rosa O’Donnell, a property owner on Thompson Road, mother, and wife, advised TCEQ she has been fighting Dos Republicas for the past 17 years and has attended every contested hearing and Dos Republicas has lied to the community for the past 17 years and is now lying to TCEQ and the community. O’Donnell requested TCEQ deny Dos Republicas’ permit because it would affect her water supply from the Maverick County Water irrigation & Control District No.1.
Ladye Herring, a property owner on Thompson Road, mother, grandmother, and wife, requested TCEQ deny Dos Republicas’ permit because Dos Republicas has been dishonest with her and the community for the past 17 years. Herring advised TCEQ she is concerned about her water supply from the Maverick County Water Irrigation and Control District No. 1 being affected, the children’s health, mine blasting, and other issues.
Tricia Cortez of the Rio Grande International Study Center in Laredo, Texas requested TCEQ to deny Dos Republicas permit because the Rio Grande River water downstream from Elm Creek would be contaminated by the Dos Republicas coal mine and requested party status and a contested hearing.
Maria de Lourdes Valenzia Gomez of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico advised TCEQ and the Eagle Pass community to deny Dos Republicas permit because in Piedras Negras, Coahuila the citizens did not have a voice like here when the Piedras Negras City Council approved the Tajo Norte-Zacatosa and sold out the residents of Piedras Negras to coal mining, contaminating their water supply.
Other speakers requesting TCEQ to deny Dos Republicas’ permit at the public meeting included Randy Lawrence, Gabriel De La Cerda, Martha F. Ramirez, Martha M. Ramirez, former Maverick County Judge Enriqueta Diaz, George Baxter, Jeanie Benavides, Roy Cooley, Rebecca Robinson, Juanita Martinez, Luis Martinez, Veronica Ruiz and others – each contributing their voice and concerns why TCEQ should deny Dos Republicas permit.
Although there were local citizens in support of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership coal mine project in attendance at the TCEQ public meeting, these citizens intentionally chose not to speak at the public meeting for unknown reasons.
