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TCEQ Cites Hallett Mine for Five Violations But Issues No Fines

Reduce Flooding — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 15:35:30 +0000

During late February, 2025, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) investigated the Hallett Sand Mine on the West Fork San Jacinto and cited it for five violations. The violations included failure to: However, the TCEQ report mentions no fines or financial penalties. The Commission simply closed the case after the violations were resolved, even […]

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TCEQ Investigates Exposed Pipelines at Porter Sand Mine, Finds More Alleged Violations

Reduce Flooding — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 20:51:54 +0000

9/5/25 – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has completed investigating exposed pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids at a sand mine in Porter operated by Texas Frac Sand Materials Inc. TCEQ documented the pipeline issue and referred it to the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates pipelines in the state. As of this writing, […]

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Triple PG Sand-Mine Lawsuit Slides to Year 7 as Problems Get Worse

Reduce Flooding — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 22:40:11 +0000

8/14/25 – A State of Texas lawsuit against the Triple PG sand mine that began in 2019 will now be tried, at the earliest, in 2026. Meanwhile problems at the mine have gotten worse. Breaches in their dikes that triggered the lawsuit have recurred. And five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids (HVL) are now exposed […]

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Editorial: The Perils of Pendulum Politics

Reduce Flooding — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 02:32:11 +0000

3/22/25 – Enough of the pendulum politics already! We seem to swing from the left to right, from over regulation to no regulation, oblivious to any middle ground. The latest agency in the Washington crosshairs: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). No doubt, most business people can cite an extreme example of EPA overregulation. And no […]

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Hallett Finally Plugs Year-Long Leak in Sand Mine

Reduce Flooding — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 03:46:38 +0000

2/27/25 – Hallett Materials has finally plugged a year-long leak in its Porter sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork. According to residents who live near the leak, an investigator from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) visited the mine yesterday. For more than six hours, he sampled water leaking from the mine. […]

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Only 4 Days Left To Comment on New TCEQ Sand-Mining BMPs

Reduce Flooding — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 20:24:39 +0000

1/21/25 – The TCEQ is soliciting public comments on its proposed new “best management practices” (BMPs) for sand mining. The comment period closes at 11:59 PM on 1/24/25. That’s this Friday. Regrettably, few people have submitted comments to date. Yet, when it comes to reducing downstream flood risk, few things are as important. BMPs are […]

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Better Sand-Mining BMPs Needed to Control Sediment Pollution

Reduce Flooding — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 23:53:17 +0000

1/13/25 – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has proposed new Best Management Practices (BMPs) for mining in response to a mandate from the 2023 session of the Texas Legislature. However, in my opinion, the recommended BMPs will do little to nothing to help control sediment pollution from mines in the Lake Houston Area. The […]

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New TCEQ Sand Mining BMPs Ignore Pit Captures

Reduce Flooding — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 23:18:17 +0000

12/13/24 – Proposed new Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Best Management Practices (BMPs) for sand mines ignore what miners are supposed to do in the case of pit captures. “Pit capture” happens when a river breaks through the dikes of a sand mine. It can have serious consequences including, but not limited to: Identifying […]

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TCEQ Report on West Fork Pit Capture Doesn’t Mention “Pit Capture”

Reduce Flooding — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 16:05:02 +0000

9/2/24 – On 8/26/24, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a report on a San Jacinto West Fork pit capture. “Pit capture” happened when the river cut through an abandoned sand pit on a point bar instead of taking the long way around it. Worldwide, many environmental consequences have been linked to such […]

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Another Sand Pit Captured, More Breached by San Jacinto West Fork

Reduce Flooding — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 02:54:08 +0000

Today, I discovered another sand pit captured by the San Jacinto West Fork. I also discovered two more dikes breached. That makes at least four San Jacinto West Fork sand pits seriously damaged in the last storm. See the photos below. Photos Taken on 6/8/24 Pit capture is a phenomenon where the river cuts through […]

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River Bank Collapses, Taking Half of Sand Mine Road

Reduce Flooding — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 00:29:39 +0000

At the abandoned Williams Brothers sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork, a strip of land – approximately 400 to 500 feet long and up to 50 feet wide – collapsed into the river during the flood in late January. The dramatic erosion, during a relatively minor (2-5-year) rain event, dramatizes the destructive power […]

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West Fork Sludge Fest

Reduce Flooding — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:35:04 +0000

The San Jacinto West Fork has turned into a sludge fest again. I took the picture below on 11/11/23. Not since the day that the West Fork turned white have I seen the contrast so dramatic at the confluence with Spring Creek. In that prior case, the cause was obvious. Two sand mines were discharging […]

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2023 Legislature Scorecard on Flood Issues: 2 Wins, 4 Losses, 1 Toss-up

Reduce Flooding — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 20:40:41 +0000

The 2023 legislature scorecard, just five years after Hurricane Harvey, shows that flooding is fast becoming forgotten in Texas. Of the seven issues I tracked, the Lake Houston Area had two wins, four losses, and one that could be ruled a coin toss depending on your point of view. In the Win Column Let’s look […]

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Harvey: A 5-Year Flood-Mitigation Report Card

Reduce Flooding — Sat, 27 Aug 2022 03:09:38 +0000

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Harvey. Many in the Lake Houston Area have asked, “Are we safer now?” The answer is yes, but we have a long way to go to achieve all our goals. Here’s a five-year flood-mitigation report card. It describes what we have and haven’t accomplished in 29 areas. So […]

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TCEQ Finds Nothing Wrong With Preserve At Woodridge Construction

Reduce Flooding — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 15:34:26 +0000

A TCEQ investigation found nothing wrong with construction practices at the Preserve at Woodridge despite photographic evidence. On April 23, 2022, I received multiple complaints about silty stormwater in Bens Branch. I confirmed discoloration in the water and followed it upstream. The source appeared to be the Preserve at Woodridge on Woodridge Parkway opposite the […]

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Triple PG Wastewater Apparently Killing Trees on Neighboring Property

Reduce Flooding — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 20:59:00 +0000

Despite multiple reprimands from the TCEQ and a lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, the Triple PG mine apparently continues to discharge process wastewater onto neighboring properties. Photos taken on 5/4/22 show those neighboring properties under water despite unusually dry weather and record heat recently. Those same properties were not flooded just days after Tropical […]

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RV Resort Still Leaking Stormwater into County Park

Reduce Flooding — Sun, 22 May 2022 22:43:33 +0000

The detention basin at the Laurel Springs RV Resort was supposed to have been a dry-bottom pond. Despite one of the driest springs on record, it’s still holding water. And it’s still leaking into Harris County Precinct 3’s Edgewater Park. Despite: The threat of a lawsuit by the County Attorney. A notice of enforcement from […]

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Mysterious Black Spots in RV Resort Detention Pond Contained Oil, Grease

Reduce Flooding — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:59:15 +0000

Black spots in the detention pond at the Laurel Springs RV resort at 1355 LAUREL SPRINGS LANE near Kingwood contained measurable oil and grease concentrations. TCEQ’s Second Investigation of Site The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) received multiple complaints about construction practices at the RV Resort going back to January. The first investigation found […]

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Silty Detention Pond Flushed into Bens Branch

Reduce Flooding — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 20:11:56 +0000

Contractors at the controversial mini rent home development called the Preserve at Woodridge Forest flushed a silt-laden detention pond into a stormwater channel leading to Bens Branch this week. The silty water migrated at least two miles downstream. The pictures below show the trail of silt. On 4/17/22, Easter Sunday, I photographed a full pond […]

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TCEQ Issues Notice of Enforcement to Laurel Springs RV Resort

Reduce Flooding — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 22:52:28 +0000

After an unannounced investigation of the Laurel Springs RV Resort construction site on February 2, 2022, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a Notice of Enforcement (NOE) Letter to the contractor, Higbie Ventures of Texas, Inc. The TCEQ investigation found Higbie: Failed to maintain Best Management Practices in effective operation condition Had not […]

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