June 5, 2024 – The Triple PG sand mine trial, originally scheduled for 2020, has been rescheduled yet again for March 2025 – a five year delay and counting.

A new schedule shows the Texas Attorney General lawsuit against the Triple PG sand mine in Porter may go to a jury on March 24, 2025. Originally, the case was set for trial on June 22, 2020.

But a corporate shell game by the defendant created a series of delays while the AG tried to figure out who was on first.

Then they took two years off for COVID. Finally the judge scheduled a conference call to jumpstart the case in 2022.

Original Complaint

The Texas Attorney General (AG) sued the Triple PG sand mine in Porter on behalf of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2019. Two breaches in the mine’s dikes were allowing industrial wastewater to flush into White Oak and Caney Creeks, then into the headwaters of Lake Houston. The lake supplies drinking water for two million people.

But not much has happened since then. And the Triple PG sand mine trial just got postponed. Again. Without explanation.

New Scheduling Order

See the second amended agreed scheduling order in the Triple PG sand mine trial. Five years of delays on a case originally scheduled to go to trial in one year!

The Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for explanation or comment.

Discovery is now supposed to end on December 20, 2024. And a jury trial will begin “on or after March 24, 2025.” Uh, oh! I don’t like that “or after” part.

While Everyone Delayed…

Along the way, those daredevils at the Triple PG have:

• Mined under and around natural gas and HVL pipelines
• Destroyed trees on neighbors’ property
• Discharged more process wastewater into your drinking water
• Had their wastewater turn a garish green/blue color on multiple occasions
• Contributed to the buildup of a 4,000 foot mouth bar on the San Jacinto East Fork
• Discharged wastewater with a level of contamination almost 676% higher than creek water.
• Begun selling off assets.

Those bullet points just scratch the surface. I’ve created more than 60 posts that feature the Triple PG mine.

All Charges Denied

Prabakar Guniganti, the cardiologist from Nacogdoches owns the mine through one of his shell companies. The Montgomery County Appraisal District shows that the Guniganti Children’s Trust Fund owns it now. Guniganti has denied all charges by the TCEQ and Attorney General.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/5/24

2472 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.