Dos Republicas Coal Partnership seeks Amended Water Quality Permit with TCEQ

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

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership of 5150 North Loop 1604 West, San Antonio, Texas 78249, which operates the Eagle Pass Mine, a surface coal mining operation in Eagle Pass, Texas, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to amend and renew Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPEDS) Permit No WQ0003511000(EPA I.D. No TX 0109011) to authorize an increase in the mining acreage; the addition of sedimentation ponds and Outfalls 014-020; the removal of Outfalls 002, 005, and 009-013; and the addition of effluent limitations to Outfalls 001, 003, 004, 006-008, and 014-020.

The Dos Republicas Coal Partnership amended application to TCEQ states that the discharges will consist of stormwater run-off, mine pit water, and a minor contribution of facilities water that will be collected, treated and discharged on an intermittent and flow variable basis.  The facility is located on the northeast side of State Highway 1588, three miles northeast of U.S. Highway 277, and approximately five miles northeast of the City of Eagle Pass, in Maverick County, Texas 78852.

The amended Dos Republicas Coal Partnership application states that the discharge route of stormwater run-off, mine pit water, and a minor contribution of facilities water that will be collected from the Eagle Pass Mine is from the mine area to unnamed ditches; thence to Elm Creek; and thence to the Rio Grande River below the Amistad Reservoir.

The amended Dos Republicas Coal Partnership application for the TPDES Permit No. WQ0003511000 is available to the public for viewing and copying at the Maverick County Courthouse, 500 Quarry Street, Suite 2, Eagle Pass, Texas.

The TCEQ Executive Director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application. After technical review of the application is complete, the Executive Director may prepare a draft permit and will issue a preliminary decision of the application.  Notice of the Application and Preliminary Decision will be published and mailed to those who are on the county-wide mailing list and to those who are on the mailing list for this application.  That notice will contain the deadline for submitting public comments.

The public may submit public comments or request a public meeting on this application.  The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comments or to ask questions about the application.  TCEQ will hold a public meeting if the Executive Director determines that there is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator.  A public meeting is not a contested case hearing.

After the deadline for submitting public comments, the TCEQ Executive Director will consider all timely comments and prepare a response to all relevant and material, or significant public comments.  Unless the application is directly referred for a contested case hearing, the response to comments, and the Executive Director’s decision on the application, will be mailed to everyone who submitted public comments and to those persons who are on the mailing list for this application.  If comments are received, the mailing will also provide instructions for requesting reconsideration of the Executive Director’s decision and for requesting a contested case hearing.  A contested case hearing is a legal proceeding similar to a civil trial in state district court.

The public may request a contested case hearing.  To request a contested case hearing, you must include the following items in your request: your name; address; phone number; applicant’s name and proposed permit number; the location and distance of your property/activities relative to the proposed facility; a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the facility in a way not common to the general public; and the statement “I/We request a contested case hearing.”  If the request for contested case hearing is filed on behalf of a group or association, the request must designate the group’s representative for receiving future correspondence; identify an individual member of the group who would be adversely affected by the proposed facility or activity; provide information discussed above regarding the affected member’s location and distance from the facility or activity; explain how and why the member would be affected; and explain how the interests the group seeks to protect are relevant to the group’s purpose.

Following the close of all applicable comment and request periods, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for reconsideration and/or for a contested case hearing to the TCEQ Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting.

The Commission (TCEQ) will only grant a contested case hearing on disputed issues of fact that are relevant and material to the Commission’s decision on the application.  Further, the Commission will only grant a hearing on the issues that were raised in timely filed comments that were not subsequently withdrawn.

If you submit public comments, a request for a contested case hearing or a reconsideration of the Executive Director’s decision, you will be added to the mailing list for this specific application to receive future public notices mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk.  In addition, you may request to be placed on: (1) the permanent mailing list for a specific applicant name and permit number; and/or (2) the mailing list for a specific county. If you wish to be placed on the permanent and/or the county mailing list, clearly specify which list(s) and your request to TCEQ Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below.

The public may submit all written comments and requests for a contested hearing or reconsideration to: Office of the Chief Clerk, MC 105, TCEQ, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087 or electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/about/comments.html.

If you need more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call TCEQ Public Education Program, Toll Free at 1-800-687-4040.  Si desea informacion en Espanol, puede llamar gratis al telefono 1-800-687-4040.

Further information may also be obtained from Dos Republicas Coal Partnership at the address stated above or by calling Mr. Leland Starks at (830) 421-5017.

The City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, George Baxter, and many other local farmers, ranchers, and property owners/citizens oppose the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s open surface coal mine known as Eagle Pass Mine from discharging its coal mining waste water, stormwaters, and other collected waters into the Elm Creek and Rio Grande River just a mile or so upstream from the City of Eagle Pass Roberto Gonzalez Municipal Water Treatment Plant on the Rio Grande, the sole potable water source for over 60,000 Maverick Countians.

The TCEQ Amended Notice of Receipt of Application to Obtain Water Quality Permit Amendment and Renewal Permit No. wq0003511000 was issued on May 2, 2014.

The public is invited to respond and/or participate in the relief provided in the TCEQ Amended Notice described above.