District Judge Darlene Byrne affirms Railroad Commission of Texas’ permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership to develop open pit coal mine on U.S.-Mexico border

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

261st Travis County District Court Judge Darlene Byrne entered a “Final Judgment on Appeal from Decision of the Railroad Commission of Texas in Docket No. C-5-0003-SC-42-C” affirming the Railroad Commission’s Final Order dated January 29, 2013 granting Dos Republicas Coal Partnership a permit to develop, construct, open, and operate an open pit coal mine on the banks of Elm Creek, a direct water tributary of the Rio Grande River, in Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Texas, on Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Austin, Texas, denying the appeal of the City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and George Baxter against the Texas Railroad Commission’s split 2-1 decision to grant the controversial coal mining permit on the United States-Mexico border.

Judge Darlene Byrne found that the Texas Railroad Commission’s “Final Order dated January 29, 2013 in Docket No. C5-0003-SC-42-C, which approved the application by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership for Renew/Revision/Expansion of Permit No. 42A, Eagle Pass Mine, Maverick County, Texas should be affirmed.”

Judge Byrne ordered “that the Rairlroad Commission’s Final Order dated January 29, 2013 in Docket No. C5-0003-SC-42-C, which approved the application by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership for Renew/Revision/Expansion of Permit No. 42A, Eagle Pass Mine, Maverick County, Texas is in all things AFFIRMED.”

Judge Byrne added that “all relief requested not expressly granted herein is DENIED. This judgment is intended to resolve all issues and claims of all the parties and to be final and appealable.”

The March 27th Final Judgement by Judge Byrne does not include any findings of fact and conclusions of law explaining the reasons for her decision to affirm the controversial Texas Railroad Commission’s January 29, 2013 decision to grant the open pit coal mine permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, which is a Texas Partnership comprised of two Texas corporations which in turn are subsidiaries of a Mexican company by the name of Minera del Norte (MINOSA), which itself is a subsidiary of Mexican steel and coal conglomerate Grupo Acerero del Norte (Grupo GAN).

Despite the overwhelming opposition by the citizens of Eagle Pass and Maverick County against the Eagle Pass Mine of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, Texas’ energy regulatory agency and judicial system to date have denied the pleas and environmental injustice concerns of the people of the State of Texas.

Judge Byrne’s decision to affirm the open pit coal mine permit is subject to further appeal to the Texas Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court should any party choose to appeal the final judgment. The parties have 30 days to file any motions and/or notices of appeal.

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership is opening an open pit coal mine on the banks of the Elm Creek only three miles north of the city limits of Eagle Pass (as the crow flies) discharging its coal mining waste water and storm waters into the Rio Grande River only one or two miles upstream from both the City of Eagle Pass’ Roberto Gonzalez Municipal Water Treatment Plant and the City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico water treatment plant on the banks of the Rio Grande River.

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership will sell the Eagle Pass Mine coal to one of its Mexican sister companies of Grupo GAN to resell to the Mexican government’s electricity company, Comision Federal de Electrictidad (CFE), to be burned in two coal-generated electricity plants known as Carbon I and Carbon II in Rio Escondido, Nava Coahuila, Mexcio, a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Dos Republicas plans to export and transport the Eagle Pass Mine coal to Mexico via Union Pacific Railroad through the City of Eagle Pass by 150 railroad cars daily.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Mexican Carbon I and II coal-generated electricity plants are among the largest air polluters in the State of Texas as well as the United States, including the Big Bend National Park.

With the opening of the Eagle Pass Mine, Grupo GAN will now have two open pit coal mines operating on the U.S.-Mexico border as it opened a coal mine named Tajo Norte/Tajo Zacatoza/Siglo XXI on or about March of 2011 in northern Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico near the banks of the Rio Grande River opposite of Eagle Pass, Texas.

Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association attorney Javier Riojas of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid stated that members are disappointed by Judge Byrne’s decision and will consult with their attorneys to discuss what legal remedies are available to the association and what members decide to do about it. It is unknown what the City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, and George Baxter plan to do, if anything, regarding Judge Byrne’s decision to affirm the Texas Railroad Commission’s January 29, 2013 permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership.

The citizens of Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas have been opposing and fighting against the opening of the Eagle Pass open pit coal mine for over 24 years because of the potential contamination of their sole source of drinking water, the Rio Grande River, the pollution of their air, increase public health diseases such as Cardio-Pulmonary and Cancer, the tremors to be caused by mine explosives, the coal dust from the daily 150 railroad coal cars used to export the coal into Mexico, the destruction of habitat and extinction of federally endangered cats such as the Ocelot and Jaguarundi, the destruction of Native American archaelogical and burial sites within the mine permit area, the potential contamination of the Rio Grande River for downstream users on the Texas-Mexico border, and many others.

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership denies these allegations and has stated that they plan to abide by all local, state, and federal coal mining laws.

Maverick County is one of the poorest counties in Texas and United States with over 95% of its population being Mexican-Americans and among the highest poverty rates, representing the classic environmental injustice scenario.