Hallett Finally Plugs Year-Long Leak in Sand Mine
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.
A short time later, Hallett, a self-proclaimed environmental leader, started plugging the leak. It had created a river of sludge several hundred feet wide that led straight to the drinking water supply for 2 million people…for more than a year.
History of Leak
Photos taken on February 8, 2024, show that bulldozers created the leak. Those dozer tracks in the image below certainly don’t appear accidental.
I ran a story about the year-long leak that same day. The post also took the TCEQ to task for magically overlooking the river of what I call Houdini sludge. It can escape from anything, anytime, year round, day or night – without detection by even the most eagle-eyed TCEQ investigator. Slippery stuff, that sludge!
Seriously, I’m sure Hallett will send a blind, part-time, sub-assistant foreman to some TCEQ gulag for re-education and environmental sensitivity training. That should placate the reluctant regulators.”
A note from the sacrificial sub-assistant’s ophthalmologist should also sufficiently explain the “accidental” oversight enough to get Hallett off the hook with a strongly worded apology and a ten dollar fine.
TCEQ’s Biggest Investigation Ever?
The investigator sampling the water this week wouldn’t say much except that this was “the biggest investigation he had ever been a part of.” Of course, previous TCEQ investigators couldn’t find water falling out of a rowboat with a seeing-eye dog.
Pics of Fix
Hallett reportedly parked a bulldozer near where the investigator was working. This afternoon, a resident sent pictures of a pile of dirt the bulldozer pushed against the rising tide of sludge. It was about as deep as a stack of chocolate pancakes at IHOP. See below.
What more could a TCEQ commissioner up for reappointment ask?
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/27/25
2739 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
