Controversial Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Coal Mine Water Discharge Permit into Elm Creek and Rio Grande Administrative Hearing underway
By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015
Two State Office of Administrative Hearings judges are currently presiding over the controversial application of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership to renew, amend and expand its Texas Pollution Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Permit No. WQ 0003511000 to discharge its Eagle Pass Mine coal mining waste and stormwaters into Elm Creek and Rio Grande River at the William Clements State Office Building in Austin, Texas.
The contested administrative hearing commenced on Monday, November 16, 2015 and is expected to continue until Friday, November 20, 2015. Dos Republicas Coal Partnership is seeking to expand its previously issued TPDES permit to encompass its larger Eagle Pass Mine acreage site of over 6,300 acres from its original smaller 2,700 acres, an almost two and half times increase on acreage to be mined.
Administrative Judge Rebecca Smith has heard the earlier hearings but is now being assisted by a second Administrative Judge Newchurch during the final hearing. A decision is anticipated to be announced during early 2016.
A highlight of the first day of hearing was Judge Smith’s denial of the Paquache Clan of the Texas Coahuiltecan Tribe’s request for party status under the leadership of Tribal Chairwoman Maria Torres of San Antonio, Texas.
Native American tribes have been denied full participation, consultation with, federal legal rights, and constitutional equal protection by Texas state agencies issuing the various coal mining permits.
The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas had been a fierce opponent of the Dos Republicas’ Eagle Pass Mine until its Tribal Council held secret meetings with representatives of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership while their attorneys were representing them at a Railroad Commission of Texas hearing. Former Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas attorneys, Elizabeth Burkhardt and Gloria E. Hernandez, received a fax message from the Kickapoo Tribal Council under the leadership of Chairman Juan Garza instructing them to file a Motion to Withdraw and Order of Withdrawal from the contested hearings as the Kickapoo Tribe no longer desired to contest Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s coal mining permit in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Although the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas surreptitiously withdrew from contesting the Dos Republicas Coal Partnership coal mining permit, the Paquache Clan of the Texas Coahuiltecan Tribe have opposed the coal mine permit but have not been given equal protection of their federal and state constitutional rights to be heard in the proceedings.
Recently, the Comanche Nation of Lawton, Oklahoma approved a resolution in opposition to the controversial Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Eagle Pass Mine and any expansion of it in the future.
Witnesses from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, City of Eagle Pass, County of Maverick, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, Environmental Defense Fund, and Maverick County farmers, ranchers, and citizens are being presented and cross-examined during the week-long hearing.
