City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, and Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association file appeal of Dos Republicas Coal Mine
By: Jose G. Landa
An Exclusive Eagle Pass Business Journal News Story/Copyright 2013
Local governmental entities, a local non-profit organization, and a member of a Native American tribe filed their appeal on Thursday, April 25, 2013 in State District Court in Travis County, Texas (Austin) of the highly controversial Railroad Commission of Texas split 2-1 decision on January 29, 2013 to grant Mexican-owned Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application to renew, revise, and expand Permit 42-A, now referred as Permit 42-B, Eagle Pass Mine, to construct and operated an open surface coal mine only three miles north of the city limits of Eagle Pass, Texas in a densely populated area in northern Maverick County, Texas on the United States-Mexico border.
The City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and Maria Torres, a member of the Pasquache Tilijuaya Coahuiltecan Tribe of Texas, filed individual appeals of the controversial Texas Railroad Commission’s decision to grant the foreign-owned Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, a Texas Partnership comprised of two Texas Corporations known as Eagle Pass Coal Corporation and Maverick County Coal Corporation which are owned by Mexican corporation Minera del Norte, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Mexico steel and coal giant Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. de C.V. and Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., to construct and operate an open surface coal mine on the banks of Elm Creek, a direct water tributary of the Rio Grande River, only a few miles upstream of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas and the City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico twin municipal water treatment plants on the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande River is the sole potable water source for Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, as well as all Texas-Mexico border communities downstream from Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras.
Appellants contend the Dos Republicas Coal Mine in Eagle Pass will contaminate and pollute Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River water only a few miles upstream of the two U.S.-Mexico border communites of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila from coal mine waste discharges into Elm Creek and leakage and seepage of coal mine sedimentation ponds into Elm Creek and underground acquifers, rivers, and streams who ultimately discharge into the Rio Grande River. Appellants also contend that Dos Republicas Coal Mine will contaminate and pollute the air in Eagle Pass and Maverick County with coal dust, coal dust from railroad cars, coal mining blasting, dust, and heavy traffic associated with the daily operation of a coal mine 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They also contend that the federally protected endangered species of the Jaguarandi and Ocelot cats habitat along Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River will be destroyed and cause the cats to become extinct. One appellant, Maria Torres of the Pasquache Tilijuaya Coahuiltecan Tribe in Texas, contends that Native American archaelogical and burial sites on Elm Creek and Rio Grande River will be destroyed by the Dos Republicas Coal Mine in violation of state and federal laws. Appellants contend the Texas Railroad Commission erred in granting Dos Republicas Coal Partnership the permit to renew, revise, and expand the open pit coal mine and denied the appellants due process and a fair hearing at the state administrative hearing.
Railroad Commissioner David Porter voted against the granting of the permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership on January 29th because the applicant’s water use plans were hypothethical and conjectural, not based on specific concrete scientific data. An open surface coal mine requires millions of gallons a day to operate and Dos Republicas Coal Partnership President and General Counsel, Andres Gonzalez Saravia Coss, testified at the administrative hearing that Dos Republicas Coal Partnership did not have sufficient water rights to operate the open pit coal mine but would try to obtain them if the Railroad Commission granted them the permit. With the current severe water drought in Texas, as well as in Coahuila, it is highly unlikely that Dos Republicas Coal Partnership will obtain sufficient water rights to operate the open pit coal mine. Even if Dos Republicas Coal Partnership were to obtain water rigthts, it would be a great waste when Texas communities in the Rio Grande Valley and Texas farmers and ranchers do not have water for their crops and livestock.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership plans to sell the low grade bituminous lignite coal to a subsidiary in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico who in turn will sell it to the Mexican government-owned, Federal Electricity Commission (Comision Federal de Electricidad), to burn in its two coal-fired electrictiy plants known as Jose Lopez Portillo (CarbonI) and Carbon II in Nava, Coahuila, only a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, who the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has documented as being two of the largest polluters of air and the environment in Texas and southwestern United States. Dos Republicas Coal Partnership plans to transport the coal through Union Pacific Railroad to Nava, Coahuila, Mexico in 100-150 railroad cars a day through downtown Eagle Pass and several public elementary schools.
A sister-company of the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership investors, Eagle Pass Railroad, L.L.C., is simultaneously applying with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Surface Transportation Department for a permit to design, construct, and operate a private railroad bridge and line from Nava, Coahuila, Mexico to Eagle Pass, Texas to transport the Dos Republicas Coal Mine coal to the two Mexican government-owned coal-fired electricity plants in Nava, Coahuila. Local governmental entities, farmers, ranchers, landowners, and environmentalists have requested the federal government to conduct a full-blown environmental impact study and assessment of this international railroad project.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership denies these allegations and promises to obey and abide by all local, state, and federal coal mining regulations.
