On April 21st, 2020, I reported on a sand mine that was river mining in the San Jacinto West Fork without a permit. It’s unlikely that any penalties will result. In fact, three weeks later, neither the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), nor Texas Parks and Wildlife Division (TPWD), have even investigated the incident. State Representative Dan Huberty is calling on the heads of both agencies to understand why.
No Investigation by TCEQ or TPWD
The operation is called the Spring Wet Sand and Gravel Plant. Multisource Sand and Gravel Co., LTD, based in San Antonio, operates the plant.
I filed a complaint with the TCEQ on April 21. TCEQ referred it to the TPWD for investigation because TPWD regulates sand mining in rivers. Yet Parks and Wildlife did not even investigate the incident.
A TPWD game warden in Montgomery County said, “We need to catch them in the act. And even if we do, the fine is like getting a speeding ticket – inconsequential. It’s only about $500 per dump truck. At this point there’s no way to prove how much sand they removed. A better solution would be to have TCEQ pull their permit. We see these kinds of things right before a mine goes out of business. They just go out there and get the last sand they can get before they leave.”
Spring Wet Sand and Gravel may not have reached the end of operations yet, but pickings are getting slimmer as some of the photos below will show.
Scope of Mining More Apparent in May Photos
Compared to April 21 (when the SJRA was still releasing water from Lake Conroe), a recent flyover on May 11th revealed the full scope of the river mining.
Measurements in Google Earth show the point bar occupied about 7.5 acres. Assuming an average height of three feet, that area held more than 36,000 cubic yards of sand. That would equate to about 3,600 regular dump trucks (10 yards per average load).
At $500 per truckload, that totals $1.8 million. And that doesn’t even include the 8% tax that TPWD gave up on sales. But it’s not worth their time?
You have to catch a lot of hunters and fishermen without licenses to make up that kind of money. You would think it might be worthwhile for TPWD to investigate … even if it’s just half that much. That could probably pay the salaries of at least a dozen full-time employees.
Photo taken on May 11. Looking downstream outside the Spring Wet Sand and Gravel Plant, just south of SH 99.Closer shot reveals scrape marks from excavator are still visible. See lower right. Also note little pile of orange sand left behind.
The presence of the orange pile in the right foreground may provide a clue as to why the miners did not excavate lower in this location. Sometimes color continuity of sand from batch to batch is important. For instance, when making concrete blocks for a building, owners usually want the color of all the blocks to be uniform.
Looking upstream from the opposite end of the point bar.The platform used by mining equipment may provide a clue as to the depth of the excavation. Spring Wet Sand and Gravel plant in the backgroundand road leading to river excavation.Looking a little more to the south shows the full extent of Spring Wet Sand and Gravel’s operations in the background.On May 11, the only activity visible inside the entire mine was the dry mining shown above. This may not be the end for this mine, but pickings appear to be getting slimmer.Spring Wet Sand and Gravel’s main processing facility
State Representative Huberty’s Response
Upon learning that TPWD chose not to investigate the river mining, State Representative Dan Huberty immediately contacted the directors of TPWD and the TCEQ to request explanations. Huberty has fought for a decade to regulate the industry in a way that protects both the public and law-abiding miners.
Dangers of River Mining
The type of river mining shown here is called “bar scalping” by scientists who study the impact of river mining. Some see bar scalping as the least destructive form of river mining. In general, though, most scientists still warn about dangers of river mining.
Increases in river bed and bank erosion both up- and downstream
Loss of agriculture land, houses and infrastructure
Failure of roads, dikes and bridges
Lowering of groundwater reserves
Reduction in water quality
Reduction in diversity and abundance of fish
Changes to riverside vegetation
For those reasons and more, river mining is prohibited in most countries of Europe. According to the World Wildlife Fund, “Europe has shown that developed economies can continue to prosper without resorting to river sand. Its supplies now come from crushed quarry rocks, recycled concrete and marine sand.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2020
987 Days after 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200511-RJR_2022.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-05-13 16:21:552020-05-13 16:22:17River Mining Without Permit Goes Without Investigation
On top of normal disaster preparation advice, FEMA and the CDC have released special instructions this year for hurricane preparation during the COVID pandemic.
Pet owners: Pre-identify shelters, a pet-friendly hotel, or an out-of-town friend or relative where you can take your pets in an evacuation. Local animal shelters may be able to offer advice on what to do with your pets if you are asked to evacuate your home.
Find out if your local public shelter is open, in case you need to evacuate. Your shelter location may be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In your go-kit, include items that can help protect you and others from COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer, or bar or liquid soap if not available, and two cloth face coverings for each person. Face covers should not be used by children under the age of 2. They also should not be used by people having trouble breathing, or who are unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Practice social distancing. Stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms’ length) from other people outside of your household.
Avoid touching high-touch surfaces, such as handrails, as much as possible. If not possible, wash hands or use hand sanitizers containing 60% alcohol immediately after you touch these surfaces.
Keep your living area clean and disinfect frequently-touched items such as toys, cellphones, and other electronics.
If you feel sick when you arrive at the shelter or start to feel sick while sheltering, tell shelter staff immediately.
Make sure children aged 2 and older wear cloth face coverings. Face covers should not be used by children under the age of 2. They also should not be used by people having trouble breathing, or who are unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Be a good role model—if you wash your hands often, your children are more likely to do the same.
Watch your children to ensure they stay at least 6 feet away from anyone who is not in your household.
Watch your child for any signs of illness and tell shelter staff if your child may be ill.
For monitoring upstream flooding levels, I find these two sites extremely helpful.
USGS Water on the Go – Includes information from almost every gage in the country. Especially useful if traveling. The app finds your location and automatically links to the gages nearest you.
Harris County Flood Warning System – Includes gages from Harris and surrounding counties, inundation mapping, customized alerts, historical flood levels, and more. Very powerful.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2020 with photo by Julie Yandell of her Harvey evacuations
988 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_0120.jpg?fit=1500%2C1125&ssl=111251500adminadmin2020-05-13 10:42:262020-05-13 10:44:15Special Steps to Take for Hurricane Preparation During COVID Pandemic
Last year, overland sheet flow from Perry Homes’ Woodridge Village contributed to flooding hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest twice. Construction slowed last fall, but has now turned into a beehive of activity. Just days before a deadline for a deal with the Harris County and the City of Houston to buy the property. Yesterday, dozens of pieces of heavy equipment swarmed over the northern section.
N3 is surprisingly far along, perhaps 30-50% complete
Contractors are filling in wetlands and bogs with dirt excavated from detention ponds
They are building a concrete pilot channel down the east/west portion of Taylor Gulley
And they appear to be blocking out some roads.
These construction crews appear to have completed more work in the last month than the original contractors did in the last year.
Purchase Deal Faces May 15 Deadline
Perry originally set a May 15 deadline for a City/County commitment to purchase the property. Perry said that if they didn’t receive a commitment by then, they would continue to develop the Woodridge Village property and to try to sell it on the private market.
When Harris County commissioners last met, they put two conditions on a purchase:
That the cash-poor City of Houston donate land worth $7 million (half the purchase price) to Harris County Flood Control District, to help defray the cost of other other flood-mitigation projects.
Sources close to the deal believe that if Perry Homes gets a firm commitment by the 15th, that will keep negotiations open.
However, the last City Council meeting before the deadline starts this afternoon (May 12). Donation of land to Harris County Flood Control is not on the agenda. Neither is an Atlas-14 resolution.
Harris County Commissioners Court publishesthe agenda this Friday for their Tuesday, May 19th meeting.
Pictures of Work in Progress as of 5/11/2020
Below are pictures of the Woodridge Village work in progress. All were taken on 5/11/2020. It certainly appears as though Perry Homes is hedging its bets in case the City and County don’t come through with an offer. For orientation purposes, the first image shows where detention ponds go.
Location of detention pondswithin Perry Homes’ property.Looking south along the eastern property line of Woodridge Village at excavation of the N3 detention pond.Looking southeast from the northwest corner of Woodridge near the Webb Street entrance. Shows initial work on the N2 pond.Looking southeast. Activity is where Mace Street extension into Woodridge Village would go.N2 Detention Pond ExtensionFilling in the bog adjacent to Woodland Hills. Note mud on left side of photo.Looking north from SW corner. S1 is in foreground. S2 is in upper right. N2 is triangular area in upper left.A tighter shot looking north along western boundary with N2 in foregroundyou can see three distinct zones of activity.Hovering over Village Springs in Elm Grove, looking north along eastern property boundary. S2 is in middle and N3 is taking shape above that.Where Taylor Gully makes a turn north of S2, contractors are installing a concrete pilot channel.Looking NW across northern section. Taylor Gully is on bottom left. S2 on upper right. Dirt excavated from various ponds is being used to fill in wetlands, center.Middle of eastern boundary, excavation work continues on N3 and a channel that will lead down to Taylor Gully.
After months of foot dragging, construction activity at Woodridge is now in high gear. Perry Homes says it expects to finish work on the detention ponds sometime this summer.
Sale or no sale, that’s good. Hurricane season is just a little more than two weeks away. These ponds won’t be fully functional by then, but every little bit helps.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/12/2020
987 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 236 since Imelda
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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200511-RJR_2718.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-05-12 12:05:022020-05-12 12:26:00Woodridge Village Turns Into Beehive of Construction Activity
River Mining Without Permit Goes Without Investigation
On April 21st, 2020, I reported on a sand mine that was river mining in the San Jacinto West Fork without a permit. It’s unlikely that any penalties will result. In fact, three weeks later, neither the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), nor Texas Parks and Wildlife Division (TPWD), have even investigated the incident. State Representative Dan Huberty is calling on the heads of both agencies to understand why.
No Investigation by TCEQ or TPWD
The operation is called the Spring Wet Sand and Gravel Plant. Multisource Sand and Gravel Co., LTD, based in San Antonio, operates the plant.
I filed a complaint with the TCEQ on April 21. TCEQ referred it to the TPWD for investigation because TPWD regulates sand mining in rivers. Yet Parks and Wildlife did not even investigate the incident.
A TPWD game warden in Montgomery County said, “We need to catch them in the act. And even if we do, the fine is like getting a speeding ticket – inconsequential. It’s only about $500 per dump truck. At this point there’s no way to prove how much sand they removed. A better solution would be to have TCEQ pull their permit. We see these kinds of things right before a mine goes out of business. They just go out there and get the last sand they can get before they leave.”
Spring Wet Sand and Gravel may not have reached the end of operations yet, but pickings are getting slimmer as some of the photos below will show.
Scope of Mining More Apparent in May Photos
Compared to April 21 (when the SJRA was still releasing water from Lake Conroe), a recent flyover on May 11th revealed the full scope of the river mining.
Measurements in Google Earth show the point bar occupied about 7.5 acres. Assuming an average height of three feet, that area held more than 36,000 cubic yards of sand. That would equate to about 3,600 regular dump trucks (10 yards per average load).
You have to catch a lot of hunters and fishermen without licenses to make up that kind of money. You would think it might be worthwhile for TPWD to investigate … even if it’s just half that much. That could probably pay the salaries of at least a dozen full-time employees.
The presence of the orange pile in the right foreground may provide a clue as to why the miners did not excavate lower in this location. Sometimes color continuity of sand from batch to batch is important. For instance, when making concrete blocks for a building, owners usually want the color of all the blocks to be uniform.
State Representative Huberty’s Response
Upon learning that TPWD chose not to investigate the river mining, State Representative Dan Huberty immediately contacted the directors of TPWD and the TCEQ to request explanations. Huberty has fought for a decade to regulate the industry in a way that protects both the public and law-abiding miners.
Dangers of River Mining
The type of river mining shown here is called “bar scalping” by scientists who study the impact of river mining. Some see bar scalping as the least destructive form of river mining. In general, though, most scientists still warn about dangers of river mining.
Immediate and long-term risks include:
For those reasons and more, river mining is prohibited in most countries of Europe. According to the World Wildlife Fund, “Europe has shown that developed economies can continue to prosper without resorting to river sand. Its supplies now come from crushed quarry rocks, recycled concrete and marine sand.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2020
987 Days after 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.
Special Steps to Take for Hurricane Preparation During COVID Pandemic
On top of normal disaster preparation advice, FEMA and the CDC have released special instructions this year for hurricane preparation during the COVID pandemic.
First, Cover All the Basics
Most of the basic advice remains the same. For instance:
See more CDC advice at this link.
Second, Protect Your Family from COVID During an Evacuation
This year, there are also some new twists because of COVID.
Special Advice for Children
To help your children stay healthy in a shelter:
Improve Your Situational Awareness
For monitoring upstream flooding levels, I find these two sites extremely helpful.
USGS Water on the Go – Includes information from almost every gage in the country. Especially useful if traveling. The app finds your location and automatically links to the gages nearest you.
Harris County Flood Warning System – Includes gages from Harris and surrounding counties, inundation mapping, customized alerts, historical flood levels, and more. Very powerful.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2020 with photo by Julie Yandell of her Harvey evacuations
988 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Woodridge Village Turns Into Beehive of Construction Activity
Last year, overland sheet flow from Perry Homes’ Woodridge Village contributed to flooding hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest twice. Construction slowed last fall, but has now turned into a beehive of activity. Just days before a deadline for a deal with the Harris County and the City of Houston to buy the property. Yesterday, dozens of pieces of heavy equipment swarmed over the northern section.
Visible Changes Since April 21st Flyover
Since my April 21st flyover:
Purchase Deal Faces May 15 Deadline
Perry originally set a May 15 deadline for a City/County commitment to purchase the property. Perry said that if they didn’t receive a commitment by then, they would continue to develop the Woodridge Village property and to try to sell it on the private market.
When Harris County commissioners last met, they put two conditions on a purchase:
Sources close to the deal believe that if Perry Homes gets a firm commitment by the 15th, that will keep negotiations open.
However, the last City Council meeting before the deadline starts this afternoon (May 12). Donation of land to Harris County Flood Control is not on the agenda. Neither is an Atlas-14 resolution.
Harris County Commissioners Court publishes the agenda this Friday for their Tuesday, May 19th meeting.
Pictures of Work in Progress as of 5/11/2020
Below are pictures of the Woodridge Village work in progress. All were taken on 5/11/2020. It certainly appears as though Perry Homes is hedging its bets in case the City and County don’t come through with an offer. For orientation purposes, the first image shows where detention ponds go.
After months of foot dragging, construction activity at Woodridge is now in high gear. Perry Homes says it expects to finish work on the detention ponds sometime this summer.
Sale or no sale, that’s good. Hurricane season is just a little more than two weeks away. These ponds won’t be fully functional by then, but every little bit helps.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/12/2020
987 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 236 since Imelda
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.