Letter to the Editor/Opinion: Dos Republicas Coal Mine is bad for Maverick County
As you know, on March 27, 2014, State District Judge Darlene Byrnes in Austin, Texas affirmed the coal mining permit granted by the Railroad Commission of Texas to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership on January 29, 2013.
One thing that has not changed, even with this court decision, is that the Dos Republicas open pit coal mine is bad for Eagle Pass and Maverick County. If it becomes operational, the coal mine will discharge its wastewater into Elm Creek and then the Rio Grande, the sole source of our drinking water. The coal at this mine contains iron sulfide, which, when it contacts air and rain water, forms sulfuric acid runoff. The sedimentation ponds which are supposed to catch this runoff are only designed to contain 6 inches of rain in 24 hours. Of course, just last June 2013, we had rainfall of 15 inches in 24 hours, which would have caused these ponds to overflow into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande.
If and when it commences operation, the coal mine will also be a continuous source of air contamination emanating not only from the mine itself, but also off of the 150 car train that will transport the coal through town to Mexico every day. Maverick County still has a rate of bronchitis, emphysema and asthma twice as high as the rest of the state. The mine will only worsen this, especially for the very old and the very young. Pete Gallego and Seco Mines Elementary Schools are only a mile or so from the mine boundary. Liberty, Glass, Kennedy Hall and Robert E. Lee schools are all located very close to the railroad line.
If ignored, this coal mine is not going away. Rather it will continue to expand like some kind of monster until it consumes large portions of Maverick County. A map showing the area that Dos Republicas has requested be studied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for future mining is attached to this letter. Dos Republicas Coal Partnership has told the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they intend to increase the size of the coal mine from its present 6,346 acres (10 square miles) to 25,000 acres (40 square miles), an area 6 or 7 times larger than the size of Eagle Pass. This coal mine is projected to be in operation for at least 18 years, probably longer.
Dos Republicas has claimed at various times that it will create a number of jobs with the mine. Over time, this number has dwindled from 250 jobs down to 40. Today, the vast majority of those working at the mine site are from the Dallas, Houston and Austin areas. Very few are from Eagle Pass.
The famous environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has written that when a coal mine comes into a town, one of the first things it tries to do is gain political control of the community by placing its own candidates in elected office. That way, the city becomes the servant of the mine, not vice-versa. We must not allow this to happen here in Eagle Pass.
For the good of this community, the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association will continue to oppose this coal mine, including appealing this most recent district court decision. This coal mine is just too big, too close to town and will operate for too long for it not to pose a serious threat to the health and safety of the citizens of Eagle Pass and Maverick County. Accordingly, we and the more than 8,000 residents of Maverick County who signed letters and petitions against the coal mine, would like to respectfully ask the City Council, Commissioners’ Court, and Hospital District to show the same steadfast opposition to this coal mine that you have always shown and to continue the fight against it by appealing the district court decision to the Texas Third Court of Appeals. I do not know what our chances of prevailing are; but if we fail to appeal, our chances of stopping the coal mine are zero. It is never wrong to fight for the health and welfare of our citizens and we owe it to the people of Eagle Pass and Maverick County to do everything we can to protect them from the dangers posed by this coal mine.
Sincerely,
George Baxter
