Texas Third Court of Appeals denies City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, and Maverick County Hospital District’s appeal of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership’s Coal Mine Permit 

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016

The Court of Appeals for the Third District of Texas in Austin, Texas denied the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, Maverick County, Maverick County Hospital District, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and George Baxter’s appeal of the Railroad Commission of Texas granting the application of  Dos Republicas Coal Partnership (DRCP) for renewal, revision, and expansion of its surface coal mining and reclamation permit on January 29, 2013 in a written memorandum decision issued on December 29, 2015.

The Appellants appealed the 261st Travis County District Court’s affirmation of the Railroad Commission of Texas granting the open surface coal mining and reclamation permit to DRCP.

The Texas Third  Court of Appeals decision of December 29, 2015 found that there was no reversible error in the 261st Travis County District Court’s judgment affirming the Railroad Commission of Texas permit to DRCP to open and operate a surface coal mine and reclamation permit on January 29, 2013 on the banks of Elm Creek, a direct water tributary of the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border.

All of the Appellants’ points of error were denied and found to have no reversible error, causing a setback to the Appellants’ opposition to the opening of the controversial open surface coal mine owned by DRCP, a Texas Partnership composed of two Texas Limited Liability Coporations who are owned by a Mexican subsidiary of Mexican steel and coal giant, Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A., near the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas and its Mexican sister-city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.

Appellants will review the decision of the Texas Third Court of Appeals affirming the controversial open surface coal mining permit originally granted by the Texas Railroad Commission and decide what options they may seek to pursue, including a possible writ of certiorari petition to the Texas Supreme Court in Austin, Texas.