Five Highly-Volatile-Liquid Pipelines Exposed at Triple PG Mine on Caney Creek
7/24/25 – Five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids (HVLs) have become exposed and undermined by erosion associated with sand-mining activity near Caney Creek in Porter. Some of the pipelines have been shored up. Others hang suspended in mid-air. See below.
This is not the miner’s first tangle with pipelines. In 2020, miners exposed a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas pipeline in the same general area. That forced Kinder Morgan to abandon its line and drill a new one 75 feet beneath the mine.
The Triple PG daredevils had been pushing the safety envelope by trying to mine sand between the pipelines.
From Railroad Commission website in August 2021. Note how miners had started mining past Kinder Morgan pipeline on bottom. Compare this with photos above taken today that show pipelines exposed where clustered green lines are.
The exposed HVL pipelines observed today are part of a pattern at this mine. But it’s not the only dangerous pattern, in my opinion.
Attorney General Lawsuit on Behalf of TCEQ
Back in 2019, breaches of two dikes at the same mine were left open for months. The mines released process wastewater through those breaches into the headwaters of Lake Houston for months. They also let White Oak Creek flow through the Triple PG sand mine (now operated by Texas Frac Sand Materials, Inc.) directly into Caney Creek.
Both White Oak and Caney Creeks flow into the San Jacinto East Fork and the headwaters of Lake Houston, which supplies drinking water for 2.2 million people.
The Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit on behalf of the TCEQ. An injunction forced the miners to close the breaches and reinforce the dikes.
The lawsuit sought $1,000,000 in penalties plus $25,000 for each day violations continued.
The dikes were originally repaired. But in August 2024, I photographed the same dikes…ruptured again in the same places. They still haven’t been fixed. Here’s how they looked today.
Original Case Delayed Six Years
Legal maneuverings and a change in ownership of the mine through a series of shell companies and trust funds have delayed the original lawsuit for six years in Travis County courts. See Case No. D-1-GN-19-007086.
Texas Frac Sand Materials now operates the mine even though Dr. Prabhakar R. Guniganti and his family still own the property. See the Montgomery County Appraisal District record below for the part of the mine with the five exposed HVL pipelines.
Guniganti, a cardiologist from Nacogdoches, is one of the PG’s in the original Triple PG Mine.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has already opened an investigation into both the pipeline and breach issues reported above.
Posted by Bob Rehak one 7/24/2025
2886 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.
