Dos Republicas Coal Partnership Appeal Deadlines Set by District Judge
By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013
126th Judicial District Judge Darlene Byrne of Travis County in Austin, Texas ruled on Thursday, September 26, 2013, on the Scheduling Order of the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership Eagle Pass Mine appeal case by the City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, George Baxter, and the Paquache Clan of Texas Tribe.
Judge Darlene Byrne granted the Railroad Commission of Texas’ Plea to the Jurisdiction against the Paquache Clan of Texas Tribe represented pro se by Maria Torres of San Antonio, Texas severing the case of the Paquache Clan of Texas Tribe because they were not official parties to the Railroad Commission of Texas pubic hearings. The Paquache Clan of Texas Tribe allege that the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership open surface coal mine will destroy sacred burial, religious, and archaeological sites of their Native American Indian ancestors on the permit site of the Eagle Pass Mine.
Judge Byrne also set the Scheduling Order for the remaining parties’ case against Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and the Railroad Commission of Texas. Judge Byrne set the Plaintiffs’ Briefs to the Court are due on October 23, 2013 and the Railroad Commission of Texas Brief to the Court is due on January 13, 2013. Judge Byrne also set the Plaintiffs Reply Brief to the Railroad Commission’s Brief is due on February 7, 2014.
Judge Byrne also scheduled the Final Hearing on February 25, 2014 at her 126th Judicial District Court in Austin, Travis County, Texas. Judge Byrne told the parties that she expects to have a final opinion either immediately before Spring Break 2014 or during Spring Break 2014.
Plaintiffs City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and George Baxter are appealing the Railroad Commission of Texas’ January 26, 2013 decision to grant foreign-owned Dos Republicas Coal Partnership a permit to construct, operate, and manage an open surface coal mine named “Eagle Pass Mine” only three miles north of the city limits of Eagle Pass in northern Maverick County, Texas on the banks of Elm Creek, a direct water tributary of the Rio Grande River just one or two miles upstream of both the City of Eagle Pass and City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico municipal potable water treatment plants on the Rio Grande River.
Plaintiffs allege on appeal that the Railroad Commission of Texas erred in granting the permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership because Dos Republicas failed to meet some of the requirements of the Railroad Commission and Texas law to open and operate an open surface coal mine and are seeking to deny the permit, or, in the alternative, return the case back to the Railroad Commission of Texas for further public hearings.
Plaintiffs have vehemently opposed the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership open surface coal mine because they contend the open pit coal mine will contaminate and pollute their water and air in Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas, as well as U.S.-Mexico border communities downstream from Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. Dos Republicas Coal Partnership deny Plaintiffs’ claims and state they will abide by all local, state, and federal laws regarding coal mining and the environment. At the Railroad Commission of Texas public hearings, Dos Republicas Coal Partnership representatives admitted to not having sufficient water rights to operate the Eagle Pass Mine and would seek to obtain enough water rights if the permit was granted.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership plans to mine the open pit coal mine in Eagle Pass and sell the coal to one of its Mexican subsidiaries who in turn will sell the Texas-produced coal to the Mexican Government-owned Federal Electricity Commission (Comision Federal de Electricidad) who in turn will burn the Texas-produced coal in its two coal generated electricity plants called Termoelectrica Jose Lopez Portillo (Carbon I) and Carbon II in Rio Escondido, Coahuila, Mexico, just 14 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Dos Republicas Coal Partnership plans to ship the coal from Eagle Pass to Nava, Coahuila, Mexico by railroad. The Mexican government-owned Carbon I and II coal-generated electricity plants are known to be the largest coal electricity plants in Latin America and are among the largest polluters of Carbon Dioxide, Mercury, and Arsenic to the State of Texas and United States.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership is a Texas partnership comprised of two Texas corporations known as Eagle Pass Coal Corporation and Maverick County Coal Corporation who are owned by a Mexican company called Mineria del Norte, S.A. de C.V. (MINOSA) who in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mexican steel and coal conglomerate Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. de C.V. and Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., headquartered in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico and majority owned by the Alonso Ancira Elizondo family of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico and San Antonio, Texas.
Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s parent company, MINOSA, already owns and operates a controversial open surface coal mine in northern Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico near the banks of the Rio Grande River across from northern Eagle Pass, Texas, called Tajo Zacatoza/Norte. MINOSA has been operating the Tajo Zacatoza/Norte open surface coal mine since at least March of 2011.
Should Dos Republicas Coal Partnership ever open its Eagle Pass Mine, MINOSA, or Grupo Acerero del Norte, will own and operate two open surface coal mines on the United States and Mexico border near the banks of the Rio Grande River at Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.
During recent flooding on June 14-15, 2013 of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico and the Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Mexican news reports stated that the MINOSA Tajo Zacatoza/Norte open pit coal mine in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico flooded and had its flood waters pumped into creeks and tributaries discharging into the Rio Grande River upstream from both the Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico potable water treatment plants.
Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. de C.V. is also applying to the United States Surface Transportation Board and the State Department for a permit to own, construct, and operate a private international railroad bridge north of the proposed Eagle Pass Mine in Eagle Pass to transport the bituminous lignite coal from Eagle Pass to Nava, Coahuila, Mexico to the Mexican government-owned Carbon I and II coal generated electricity plants, as well as other international freight, under another Texas company named Eagle Pass Railroad, LLC.
