Dos Republicas Coal Partnership awards KBR Eagle Pass Mine coal handling contract
By: Jose G. Landa
An Exclusive Eagle Pass Business Journal News Story/Copyright 2013
For many years, City of Eagle Pass and County of Maverick former publicly elected representatives and local business persons reported being personally visited and lobbied by representatives of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and being told that they and the local community should support the controversial open surface coal mine named “Eagle Pass Mine” because former Texas Governor and President George W. Bush supported the controversial project on the United States-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Texas, near the Rio Grande River, and that it was already “a done deal.” The glove finally came off on May 23, 2013, when KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root), a Houston, Texas based company and a former subsidiary of Halliburton, announced that it had been awarded a contract by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership to provide detailed engineering and technical assistance services for the Eagle Pass Mine near Eagle Pass.
Former United States Vice-President Dick Cheney was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton before becoming vice-president. Cheney served as U.S. Vice-President for two terms with former President George W. Bush. Cheney also served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993 during the administration of President George H. W. Bush. Cheney led Halliburton until 2000 when he left to run for vice-president on a ticket with George W. Bush. KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton until 2007 when it spun-off as an independent company of its own.
Halliburton and KBR were the largest American contractors who financially benefitted the most from the Bush-Cheney Iraqi War.
According to KBR, the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership contract includes option analysis, detailed engineering for the material handling system and technical assistance during the construction phase of the Eagle Pass Mine project.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, whose three Commissioners are Republicans, approved on January 29, 2013, Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s application to renew, revise, and expand Permit 42-A (now renumbered to 42-B), Eagle Pass Coal Mine, to build and operate an open surface coal mine on the banks of Elm Creek, a direct water tributary of the Rio Grande River, only three miles from the city limits of Eagle Pass, Texas and in a densely populated area of northern Maverick County on the United States-Mexico border.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership is a Texas partnership comprised of two Texas corporations, Eagle Pass Coal Company and Maverick County Coal Company, who are subsidiaries of a Mexican-owned company called Minera del Norte, S.A. de C.V. (MINOSA), who itself is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mexico’s steel and energy giant Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. de C.V. and its affiliate subsidiary Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (AHMSA).
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership seeks to export by railroad the bituminous coal from the Eagle Pass Mine to Mexico and sell it the Mexican government-owned electricity company known as Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to burn at its extremely polluting two coal fired electricity plants named the Jose Lopez Portillo (Carbon 1) and Carbon 2 located in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico, only a few miles from the United States-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the two Mexican government-owned Carbon 1 and 2 coal-fired electricity plants are among the largest polluters of the air and environment in Texas, southwestern United States, and middle-United States, including the Big Bend National Park in Texas.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership also owns another company called Eagle Pass Railroad, L.L.C., a Texas limited liability company, who is currently seeking a permit from the United States Surface Transportation Commission and the U.S. State Department to build and operate a private international railroad line and bridge north of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico to transport the Eagle Pass Mine coal from Texas to Mexico as well as other general commodities and goods such as beer, etc. between the United States and Mexico. Union Pacific Railroad already owns a private railroad bridge which services the Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila port of entry. If approved, the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Eagle Pass Railroad, L.L.C. would become the second international railroad line and bridge at this U.S.-Mexico border.
The City of Eagle Pass, Texas, the County of Maverick, the Maverick County Hospital District, the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and George Baxter have appealed the Railroad Commission of Texas decision granting Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Permit 42-B to build and operate the highly controversial open pit coal mine named the Eagle Pass Mine, but locally referred to as the Dos Republicas Coal Mine by Maverick County citizens. This appeal to a State District Court in Travis County, Texas is currently pending. In the event of an adverse ruling, any party may appeal to the Texas Court of Appeals and, if necessary, to the Texas Supreme Court.
Among the numerous reasons for opposing the controversial Eagle Pass Mine, opponents contend that the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership-owned open pit coal mine will contaminate and pollute the Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River, its sole potable water source, only two miles upstream from both the City of Eagle Pass and the City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico municipal water treatment plants on the Rio Grande; pollute the air and environment causing many pulmonary diseases, particularly among children and elderly; cause the federally endangered species of Ocelot and Jaguarandi cats to become extinct; destroy many Native American burial sites and archaelogical sites within the coal mining permit area; and contaminate the sole potable water source, the Rio Grande, for U.S.-Mexico border communities downstream from Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras to Brownsville, Texas-Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over three million people.
The citizens of Eagle Pass and Maverick County have vowed to oppose and fight the highly controversial Eagle Pass Mine project by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership until they have exhausted all personal, political, social, and legal options.
