Elm Creek Fish Kill draws EPA and TCEQ to investigate the water and Border Coal Mine

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015

Hundreds of fish in Elm Creek and private ponds who draw their water from Elm Creek were found dead on Friday, October 9, 2015 after 12 inches of rain drenched Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas in a 24 hour period on October 8, 2015, causing severe flash floods on Elm Creek and the water turn black.  Concerned Maverick County residents allege that the large fish kill on Elm Creek and adjacent private ponds may possibly be due to the opening of the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Eagle Pass Coal Mine and the discharging of its coal mining waste and stormwaters from its detention ponds and mine into Elm Creek during or after the 12 inch rainfall on October 8th, calling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to investigate the water quality in Elm Creek and adjacent private ponds and the cause of the giant fish kill.

The Elm Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande River and its waters directly discharge into the Rio Grande approximately one mile upstream from both the City of Eagle Pass, Texas and City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico municipal water treatment plants whose sole source of potable water is the Rio Grande. The City of Eagle Pass Waterworks System municipal water treatment plant provides potable water to over 60,000 residents in Maverick County while the City of Piedras Negras municipal water plant serves over 200,000 residents.  Both municipal water treatment plants are on the U.S.-Mexico border and draw their water from the Rio Grande River.

Representatives of EPA and TCEQ visited Eagle Pass, Texas and took water samples from Elm Creek and surrounding ponds for testing to determine the cause of the large fish kill on Elm Creek and private ponds and why the creek’s water turned black during and after the October 8th thunderstorms poured 12 inches of rain in Maverick County, announced Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu.  The test results will take at least two weeks, added Mayor Cantu.

Maverick County resident Amanda Garcia, who owns a private property on the banks of Elm Creek with a private pond, reported that over 150 fish were found floating and dead on her pond and that the pond’s water had turned black, which had never happened before in previous floods of Elm Creek.  Garza expressed concern about the coincidence of start of coal mining operations at Eagle Pass Mine and the giant fish kill in her pond, which draws its waters from Elm Creek.

Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Public Relations Director Martha Baxter stated that the alleged fish kill and water color changes on Elm Creek and adjacent ponds may be attributed to the discharge of coal mining waste and stormwaters from the detention ponds and mine of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Eagle Pass Mine, which was permitted by the Railroad Commission of Texas on January 29, 2013 despite overwhelming opposition by Maverick County residents and public officials. Baxter noted that the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, Maverick County, City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County Hospital District, and many local farmers, ranchers, and property owners warned both the Railroad Commission of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of this possibility occurring if they granted permits to operate an open surface coal mine on the banks of Elm Creek to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership.

George Baxter, Vice-President of the Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, stated that his group vociferously advised the Railroad Commission of Texas and TCEQ that the Eagle Pass Mine’s detention ponds were designed to handle six inch rainfalls but the area had had periodic rainfalls of 12 to 18 inches in past years and the coal mine’s detention ponds would not be able to handle the flooding caused by large and sudden thunderstorms such as the October 8th incident.

Eagle Pass Waterworks System General Manager Jorge Barrera and Eagle Pass Public Works Director and current Interim City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr. presented a map of the Eagle Pass Mine permit boundaries to the Eagle Pass City Council during January 2011 depicting that over two-thirds (66%) of the coal mine was in the FEMA 100 year flood plain.  Barrera and Chavez admonished the Eagle Pass City Council that the Eagle Pass Mine would be prone to flooding.

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership denies that the fish kill is due to its coal mining operations.

Currently, the City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, Maverick County Hospital District, and local farmers, ranchers, and residents are appealing the Railroad Commission of Texas permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership to operate the open surface coal mine known as Eagle Pass Mine before the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas.