Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 9, 2004 Page: 4 of 30
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Page 4A, The Hondo Anvil Herald, Thursday, December 9, 2004
Opponents dominate public meeting
By William Hoover
Anvil Herald Correspondent
URS team leader Jaya Zyman-
Ponebshek briefed the audience
last Thursday regarding
Southwest Gulf Railroad and
Environmental Impact Statement
before turning the floor over to
the public for comment. Each
person was to limit their
comments to three minutes at the
Surface Transportation Board’s
Section of Environmental
Analysis public hearing.
The majority of the 30 plus
speakers asked that the quarry
be considered a connected
action, not an effect of the
railroad, so the quarry would
also require an environmental
study. The other primary
complaint was that the creation
of the railroad, with the authority
of a public utility, was Vulcan’s
method of obtaining the powers
of eminent domain it desired.
The first speaker was Medina
County Environmental Action
Association legal advisor David
Barton. He said he hoped STB
would do the right thing for the
heretofore agricultural
community of Quihi. However,
Barton said the Draft EIS did not
bode well for the community.
“The right thing is significantly
different than what is presented
in the Draft EIS which seems to
ignore the obvious fact that, if not
for the quarry, the rail would not
exist,” he said.
The MCEAA attorney decried
the STB’s apparent bias saying
the Draft EIS failed to take into
consideration submission of
impacts from the community
and MCEAA. “It merely reflects
Vulcan Material’s submissions,”
he said.
Barton said the SGR, which
would be a public utility, had no
purpose other than to support the
railroad and the STB should not
play along to help Vulcan obtain
the power to condemn the
property of private landowners.
“It is clear this march by
Vulcan to get common carrier
status is being done purely to
thwart the will of the majority
of the community,” said the
attorney. “(Vulcan) did not start
this process until it became clear
it would be unable to purchase
or lease the land it needed.”
Anyone can build a private
rail line without STB approval.
But, by gaining STB approval,
a railroad also obtains common
carrier status and related powers
of condemnation.
"STB should separate itself
from this charade,” said Barton.
“The DEIS fails by not
addressing important watershed
issues. It chooses to evaluate
trucking issues for a nonexistent
quarry while not addressing the
direct impact of businesses
building along the rail route. The
rail is totally dependent on the
quarry and should be classified
as a connected action.”
Barton also lambasted STB
for not performing proper flood
studies before compiling the
Draft EIS. “The area is already
a flood hazard and the rail line
will only increase that,” he said.
"The DEIS does not even
address the diversion of two
watersheds, which run into the
quarry, will have on flooding
problems created by the rail.”
Robert Fitzgerald, president of
the MCEAA, also called on the
STB to consider the environmental
impacts of the quarry before
approving the railroad. “We
believe STB has not carefully
considered the detailed
information submitted concerning
significant environmental
impacts,” he said “And we see
little or no evidence in the DEIS
that the STB has made information
available to other agencies
involved in the permit process."
In judging the quarry and the
railroad as not connected actions,
STB failed to look closely at both
the quarry and the railroad from
the beginning, according to the
MCEAA president. “Vulcan even
told the public, ‘If we don’t get
the railroad, we won't open the
quarry’,” he said. “If this were not
true, why wouldn’t Vulcan have
obtained the appropriate permits,
open the quarry, and operated it
with trucks, just as it has done at
many other of its quarries.”
MCEAA technical adviser Dr.
Lynn Kitchen faulted the STB
for not involving all sides in the
development of the EIS and
ignoring comments expressed
during the scoping process.
Kitchen has been a teacher at the
University of Texas at San
Antonio for 14 years.
“One of the most important
aspect of National Environmental
Protection Act, that I always
emphasize to my students, is
public involvement," said
Kitchen. “Putting the opposition
on the team that develops and
designs the the DEIS is very
important and allows you to
develop a plan that works. You
need to show the public the respect
they deserve. Treat the public with
the respect you treat Vulcan."
Kitchen criticized URS for not
performing an actual field work
to determine the environmental
impacts of the SGR and
encouraged the federal agency to
change course. “Overall, the EIS
is based on general information
from the project area,” he said.
“Although it alludes to field
studies, no actual data is
furnished. The lack of detailed
analysis is obvious and
demonstrates SEA’s and SGR’s
lack of respect for the
community. You can turn this all
around if you can represent the
public good and not Vulcan.”
Archeologist Tom Hester said
he too found the EIS to be riddled
with inaccuracies, especially
regarding cultural assets. Hester
noted the Draft EIS claimed URS
completed impact studies on
historic sites within the rail
corridor. ““Their preliminary
cultural resources report was a
joke,” said Hester. “They either
wasted the money or they did not
get enough money from STB to
do a decent level of
reconnaissance. I’ve been doing
archeology for 40 years and I
have never seen anyone claim to
do reconnaissance and come up
with such a mess."
Hester was impressed with the
work of URS scientist Dr. Daniel
F. Cassedy, who Hester said had
spoken to him and other people
familiar with Quihi’s archeology
and history. “His report was much
better,” said the archeologist. “It
has some technical errors but he
is to be commended for
recommending Vulcan build none
of the proposed rail routes and
that the Dunlay to Medina Lake
route be reexamined."
The archeologist lambasted the
cultural resources section of the
Draft EIS indicating few
archeological sites in the area were
listed other than the ones which
had already been photographed.
Last summer, Hester’s own
private research group discovered
10 new archeological sites along
Elm Creek. “That is just going to
the sites because the landowners
told them the sites were there,”
said Hester. “URS did not even ask
the landowners if there were any
sites around."
There is a significant
difference between quarries and
railroads in San Antonio and the
quarry and railroad proposed in
Quihi, according to Hester. "For
a 21 st century limestone hauling
railroad to be put through the
middle of this historical zone
further contributes to the
destruction of Texas’ landscape.”
The first person to speak
favorably about the URS work
was Vulcan technical adviser
Darrel Brownlow. He thanked
the SEA for its work preparing
the Draft EIS, which he said was
objective and comprehensive.
"The SEA has done a thorough
job of taking into account the
views of people and groups
interested in the area of the
proposed line,” he said. “SGR
intends to work with the
appropriate local, state, and
federal agencies to ensure the
public interest is protected on
matters such as flooding
concerns, traffic safety, and
cultural issues among other issues
identified in the Draft EIS.”
Brownlow said SGR and
Vulcan would consult with
persons or groups interested in
constructive dialogue on the rail
line as the EIS public process
moves toward its Jan. 10 deadline.
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BMA wants URS out of the picture
Concerns aired
over quarry blasts ’
future effect on dam
By William Hoover
Anvil Herald Correspondent
Bexar-Medina-Atascosa
Water Control and Improvement
District#l Secretary Will Carter
last Thursday drew into question
the validity of the environmental
analysis of a railroad which
would serve a quarry in northern
Medina County. The environ-
mental analysis is being
conducted by URS Engineering.
Carter said the BMA board will
meet on Monday to discuss hiring
a new engineering firm to conduct
blast testing to determine if Vulcan
Materials’ proposed quarry on the
Edwards Aquifer recharge zone is
a threat to the Medina Lake Dam.
The dam was built into the
limestone outcropping over the
recharge zone in 1912.
BMA had hired URS to
perform dam safety studies and
had been assured by URS the
quarry would not affect the dam.
However, Carter and the rest of
the BMA board were unaware
Vulcan had also hired URS, as a
third party contractor, to conduct
an impact statement regarding
the environmental effects of the
Southwest Gulf Railroad.
Carter voiced his concerns to
the Surface Transportation Board
officials during a public hearing
on Thursday. The hearing was
held so the STB’s Section of
Environmental Analysis could
take public input regarding
Vulcan’s proposal to build the
seven-mile long SGR through
Quihi to its 1,760-acre quarry site.
On Monday, Carter said he
had learned about the quarry one
year ago and was assured by
URS, then BMA’s engineer, that
the quarry would not effect the
dam. However, Carter said he
was shocked to learn URS was
working for the quarry owners.
Although other quarries are
within seven miles of the dam,
none of them are located on fault
lines which connect with
Medina and Diversion dams.
"They (URS) say there are other
quarries closer to the dam, but
that is not the problem,” Carter
said. “The quarry is dead on
strike (aligned) with Diversion
Dam and Medina Lake Dam.”
When a structure is on-strike,
or geologically aligned with an
existing fault, vibrations can
easily run down the fault line,
like cascading dominoes to their
end point. “When you start
blasting on-stnke, you are going
to cause damage,” said Carter.
“Blasting energy follows the
plane of least resistance and that
would be up the fault line under
the quarry to our two dams.”
The BMA secretary said
seismic companies often have to
pay damages to well owners
because the seismic shifts caused
by their equipment can shear
well casings. “Seismic testing is
just a fraction of the energy that
will come from daily blasting at
the quarry,” noted Carter.
Vulcan had a number of
engineering firms it could have
chosen to conduct the EIS but it
chose URS because of its
reputation, according to
Vulcan’s Medina Quarry project
manager Tom Ransdell.
BMA is concerned blasting
along the fault line could shear
the casings on the relief wells
under Medina Dam. The relief
wells remove upward hydraulic
forces on the dam and keep its
foundation firmly grounded in
the limestone base. "I don’t think
you get a true objective picture
of the relationship between the
dam and the quarry when you
have the same engineering firm
studying both,” said Carter.
“Vulcan says the quarry is seven
miles away and I’m wrong. But
if the faults start shifting, it could
be a problem. If seismic testing
shears well casings, what will
blasting do to our relief wells'7”
Carter hopes BMA can
convince URS to pay for blast
testing to determine the seismic
effects on the dams. However,
Carter wants BMA’s board of
directors to hire a different
engineering firm to perform
independent blast tests.
"My concerns are legitimate.”
he said. “Our geologist pulled a
1954 map from the US
Department of the Interior. Back
then, they show the Diversion
Lake Fault runs from our diversion
lake right smack through the
quarry. The fault under Medina
Lake Dam is a splinter of the
Diversion Lake Fault. We need to
look at this to make sure they are
not jeopardizing the integrity of
those dams.”
The issue of seismic and blast
testing near the quarry site to
ensure the safety of BMA’s
reservoir will be on the water
district’s Monday agenda.
VULCAN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE IA
cultural resources study. The
study is governed by the Section
106 process of the National
Historic Preservation Act.
‘To date, we have identified
30 above-ground resources that
could potentially be affected by
the proposed project as well as
one potential historic district,”
said Ghosh. ‘The entire Quihi
area is within a potential rural
historic landscape because the
land use has remained
unchanged for a great number of
years.”
The designation means the
Quihi area is potentially eligible
for the National Register of
Historic Places as a historic
district. Ghosh said the district
could be protected by a
programmatic agreement with the
Texas Historical Commission.
“Based on our research and the
recommendation of the THC, we
developed a document called a
programatic agreement which
sets forth remaining steps for
completion of the 106 process.”
After a briefing on the
preliminary results of the Draft
EIS, each speaker was given
three minutes in which to
comment. Only 5 of 37 speakers
voiced approval of the EIS and
Vulcan’s proposal to serve its
quarry with a railroad which
would divide and threaten
Quihi’s historic community.
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 9, 2004, newspaper, December 9, 2004; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth818849/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hondo Public Library.