-Austin, TX

In a highly anticipated decision which has been awaited by some for over a decade and has been opposed by a large contingent of Maverick County residents, The Texas Railroad Commission has approved a strip mine which will be located approximately six miles north of Eagle Pass in the Thompson Road sector of Maverick County. A delegation which included Eagle Pass Mayor ramsey English-Cantú and County Judge David Saucedo were present and were even given the opportunity to make final statements publicly on the issue before the decision was officially handed down. The decision came down just before 3:00 P.M. and of the three commissioners present at the hearing, the votes cast were two for, one against. The Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, which is based in Mexico, will begin mining coal within the next twelve months and will subsequently be transporting via rail to power plants in Nava, Coahuila where it will be transferred to be incinerated and used for power, according to permit application documents filed at the Railroad Commission. Despite efforts by local dignitaries who attended the hearings in Austin on Tuesday as well as by an adamant local committee who attended countless public hearings on the matter, the commission chose to grant permits to the Mexican-US group, who has been seeking permission to mine since at least 1993. One of the leaders of the Maverick County Environmental & Public Health Association, George Baxter, was constantly in the public eye opposing the project citing proximity to residential areas and posed health risks to residents. Baxter made his concerns known to both City Council and Commissioner's Court on several occasions with his committee members en masse, attempting to gain support from public officials in this matter also producing evidence that similar projects in Mexico have caused irreparable damage to the environment and in the surrounding areas around the mines. Dos Republicas spokesman Rudy Rodriguez, who has been in Austin attempting to garner a favorable decision for his associates and has assured the commission that Dos Republicas would adhere to any and all EPA guidelines along with state mandates and regulations in order to insure the people of Eagle Pass and Maverick County, has argued that this would not be the case, especially on the United States side of the border. Conversely, project would provide quite a significant amount of jobs and would boost the local economy in many ways. Diana Sanchez, a member of the MCE&PHA, informed the News Gram that their fight is not over and that their attorneys will in fact be filing an appeal to the decision.