Border Environmental Group requests Equal Time with Eagle Pass Water Works System Board
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
As a result of a presentation made by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and its representatives at a May 5, 2015, Eagle Pass Water Works System Board of Trustees meeting, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association requested the Eagle Pass Water Works System Board of Trustees for equal time on the Agenda to make a presentation on the status of the Dos Republicas Eagle Pass Mine, which was granted and made by George Baxter, Vice-President, on behalf of the local environmental group challenging the controversial coal mine on Tuesday, June 9, 2015.
During the presentation, George Baxter thanked the Eagle Pass Water Works System Board of Trustees for giving the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association an equal opportunity to present an informative overview of the issues and status of the contested Dos Republicas open surface coal mine.
Baxter presented an overview of the ownership of the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership which is owned by a Texas limited partnership comprised of two Texas Limited Liability Corporations who in turn are majority-owned by a Mexican corporation known as Minera de Norte, S. A. (MINOSA), which is a subsidiary of the Mexican conglomerate Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. (GRUPO GAN). Baxter noted it was important to understand the foreign ownership of the Dos Republicas coal mining company in order to understand the complex inner-workings of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and the Eagle Pass Mine.
“We have here the Eagle Pass Coal Corporation and the Maverick County Coal Corporation. These are kind of interesting entities because they each consist of one person, each. They each have a president which is the same person for both entities. Who is also the Chief legal officer for AHMSA. They have no employees, no assets, no, nothing in the United States. Supposedly those two corporations together form Dos Republicas Coal Partnership,” said Baxter.
Baxter presented a detailed overview of the permitted area for the controversial coal mine known as the Eagle Pass Mine, showing detailed maps of the proposed mine area.
Baxter also presented another map detailing the coal mine area that is currently leased out to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership and which is in their proposed plans for future coal mining in Maverick County.
“”This extends down a mile away from town and out to U.S. Highway 57. They don’t have a permit yet from the Rail Road Commission to mine those areas,” added Baxter.
“Dos Republicas likes to say that the mine is 7 miles away from Eagle Pass. But if you actually measure it on the map from the closest point in city limits, it will be 3 miles,” said Baxter. This three miles is important because it would place the Eagle Pass Mine within the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the City of Eagle Pass.
Baxter stated that Dos Republicas plans are to mine over 2.8 million tons of coal per year that will be all taken into Mexico through the Union Pacific Railroad and its railroad bride between Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“They will put it on the Railroad and run it through the middle of town, every day. We will have all the adverse consequences but none of the energy benefits,” said Baxter.
Baxter presented the details of the sedimentation ponds built within the coal mine compound and how flooding issues could put those structures in jeopardy, thus potentially polluting or contaminating other water sources from overflow.
Baxter advised the Eagle Pass Water Works Board that as a result of the heavy rains which occurred during the month of June 2013, which had 15 inches of rain in a 24 hour span, woud have easily breached all the sedimentation ponds in the coal mining area, discharging the coal mine waste water into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River.
Baxter presented a map of the federally designated flood zones compared to the map of the coal mining area and stated that areas including sedimentation ponds are within the federally designated flood zone area.
“That means that in the event of a flood all that area will become flooded. The sedimentation ponds will become submerged and whatever is in there will be washed out. Whatever is in the coal mining blocks that is being mined at the time will be washed out downstream to other properties,” noted Baxter.
Baxter stated that many homes in the Elm Creek Subdivision had been flooded and if the coal mine would have been in operation during that terrible flooding, things would have been worse for those homeowners because they would have had to contend with contamination from coal mine residue as well.
“This would have increased financial losses to those homeowners,” said Baxter. Not only would it affect their financial losses, but also their health due to coal mining waste.
Baxter advised the Eagle Pass Water Works System Board that Dos Republicas is planning to expand the coal mining surface area.
“Dos Republicas has already notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they want to expand the mine in the future,” added Baxter.
Baxter stated that Dos Republicas had notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2013 that they wanted to have some additional land studied so the Corps could give them an environmental statement on that land.
“They plan to add 25,000 acres to the mine. This is 40 square miles. Add it to the 10 square miles they already have and this would be 6 to 7 times the size of Eagle Pass,” said Baxter.
“What does coal dust do to you when you breathe it in? The U.S. Center for Disease Control says inhaling it can cause chronic bronchitis, decrease pulmonary function, and emphysema,” said Baxter.
Baxter presented a study that was done in West Virginia focusing in counties with coal mines as compared to counties without coal mining.
“There was a 64 % increase in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in areas which had coal mines than those that didn’t.” added Baxter.
Baxter than made it a point to dispel a statement made by Dos Republicas representatives as to how the findings in West Virginia could not be compared to the Eagle Pass coal mine because West Virginia mining was under ground while here it is going to be open air.
“After doing some research, about 30 to 40 percent of the coal in West Virginia is from surface mining. Secondly, when you compare the data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration where they compare dust levels in surface mines and underground mines as you might expect it is less in surface mines but it is not zero , it’s not negligible it’s like 50 to 80 percent. It still is pretty dangerous.” Said Baxter.
Baxter then showed statistics of Cardio Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases rates in Maverick County which are three times higher than the state average.
“You know there is another COPD cluster up in East Central, Texas and if you compare it with the coal mining areas showed on the Corps of Engineers map, that area where the cluster is located at happens to be a coal mining area. Is that a coincidence? who knows?” Added Baxter.
Baxter proceeded to detail key issues that are seen from Sulfuric Acid that is created when coal meets water. “It corrodes metal pipes, structures, concrete, kills plants, and aquatic life forms, It is very dangerous and we are dealing with this if flood water may infringe into people’s houses.”
Baxter stated that Dos Republicas does not have all the required permits to operate as they have stated on many occasions to the public in Eagle Pass and Maverick County.
“It is not true. They do have the Rail Road Commission permit and it is being appealed in the Third Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were on the 20th of May and we a are waiting for a decision. The TECQ permit they do have the original permit which is for the 2,700 acre mine which was originally proposed, 20 years ago. They do not have a permit for the 6,346 acre mine. That is the permit they are applying for now and that is being opposed and the hearing on that is set for November 16, 2015. On the Flood Plain development, by law they need the permit from Maverick County to do anything in the flood plain and that was denied by Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo in March , 2014 and that denial was upheld in District Court here and is currently being appealed by Dos Republicas in the 13th Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi and there has been no hearing date set for that appeal. “added Baxter.
Currently, Dos Republicas is suing Maverick County in the 365th Judicial Court in Maverick County for damages from the denial of a flood plain permit by Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo. District Judge Amado J.. Abascal, III, abated the lawsuit until further notice due to the current status on the appeal process by Dos Republicas in the 13th Court of Appeals.
“Dos Republicas wants to say we want to be your good neighbor. Good neighbors don’t sue you or try to bankrupt you. By suing Maverick County, they are suing every taxpayer.” Added Baxter.
Baxter stated that Dos Republicas continuously states that they want to be as transparent as possible but they continue misleading and negating information that would contradict their claims of transparency.
“During the Rail Road Commission hearings, they were asked into what areas are you going to expand into and when are you going to do it. They absolutely refused to answer that question. Their lawyers made a motion during those hearings that would prohibit from any mention any of the following topics: the operation that Dos Republicas’ parent company is from Mexico; the environmental havoc that mining operations have brought over there in Mexico was off limits; any mention of the transportation of coal through the middle of town was also off limits; and the contract between Dos Republicas and North American Coal was also not discussed and is off limits. So we don’t know how much control Dos Republicas and the mining companies in Mexico have over the actual operation of North American Coal and management of Camino Real Fuels. They also have not been transparent about the use of chemicals as in June, 2011 at the public hearing they said we don’t use chemicals. At the Rail Road Commission hearing, 6 months later when it was pointed out that there wasn’t enough water to suppress dust, they said, oh well, we are going to use chemicals to suppress dust.“ added Baxter.
Baxter and members of the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association requested the Eagle Pass Water Works System Board of Trustees to stay clear of any interaction with Dos Republicas as it would be counter-productive to the united opposition by the City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, the Eagle Pass Independent School District , Maverick County Hospital District, and over 8,000 persons that have signed a petition against the controversial coal mine.
