City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, and Maverick County Environmental & Public Health Association’s Appellate Oral Arguments of TCEQ Water Discharge Permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership to Be Held October 5th

By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017

Oral arguments for the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, Maverick County, and Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association’s appeal of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) grant of a renewal, extension, and expansion of a controversial coal mining waste discharge permit to Dos Republicas Coal Partnership will be heard on Thursday, October 5, 2017, at 2 P.M. in the Travis County 353rd Judicial District Court in Austin Texas.

On July 6, 2016, TCEQ granted Dos Republicas Coal Partnership a renewal, extension, and expansion permit for discharging coal mining waste from its controversial Eagle Pass Mine into Elm Creek and the Rio Grande River approximately one to one and a half miles upstream from both the City of Eagle Pass and the City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico municipal water treatment plants on the banks of the Rio Grande River, jeopardizing the sole water source for over 60,000 Maverick Countians and over 250,000 residents of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.

The City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, and Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association appealed TCEQ’s decision to grant Dos Republicas Coal Partnership the renewal and expansion of its coal mining waste discharge permit from its open surface coal mine near Elm Creek on FM 1588 (Thompson Road) into Elm Creek and Rio Grande River.

Appellants contend the renewal and expansion of Dos Republicas Coal Partnership water discharge permit will contaminate and pollute the sole potable water source from the Rio Grande for over 60,000 Maverick Countians as the coal mining waste discharged from the Eagle Pass Coal Mine into Elm Creek and Rio Grande will travel downstream into the City of Eagle Pass Municipal Water Treatment Plant intake water pump on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Dos Republicas Coal Partnership denies the allegations that its Eagle Pass Mine coal miming waste discharges into Elm Creek and Rio Grande will contaminate and pollute Elm Creek and Rio Grande River, Maverick Countians sole source of potable water.

A press conference by the City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association, and Native American tribal representatives will be held following the oral arguments before the Travis County 353rd Judicial District Court in Austin, Texas.

All Maverick County citizens are invited to attend the key court hearing for the appellate oral arguments of this salient appeal by the City of Eagle Pass, Maverick County, and Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association on behalf of over 60,000 residents.