Subscribe |  Donate  |  Shop  |  Endowment  |  Careers  |  Contact

Landowner Alliances

“One Thing After Another”: Rural Texans Faced The Same Storm — With Unique Hardships

“One thing after another”: Rural Texans faced the same storm — with unique hardships

As humanitarian aid workers in Armenia and South Sudan, Jerry and Meaghan Kenney have huddled around wood stoves to keep warm and bathed with buckets for lack of water. But the couple didn’t expect they’d need such survival skills to get through the winter storm at their home outside Hudson, in deep East Texas. The Kenneys, who have a 1-year-old and 3-year-old, had only intermittent power and water last week, and remain under a boil water notice. Read more from…

Read More
AACOG-led Consortium Seeks Sentinel Landscape Status For JBSA-Camp Bullis

AACOG-led consortium seeks Sentinel Landscape status for JBSA-Camp Bullis

Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis sits astride the Southern Edwards Plateau on the Northwest edge of San Antonio. This gem of JBSA is vital to military training and readiness as it provides a rugged tactical training area in this Texas Hill Country landscape essential to the training of all military services’ combat medics and Air Force security forces. In an effort to protect and sustain JBSA-Camp Bullis’ mission, the Alamo Area Council of Governments, or AACOG, is leading a consortium of 16…

Read More
Electo Purification Ends Contested Case Hearing In Hays County

Electo Purification ends contested case hearing in Hays County

On February 4, 2021, the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) approved Electro Purification’s (EP) request to cancel the trial-like hearing where Hays County, the Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA), and 13 local landowners were set to challenge EP’s application to produce a substantial amount of groundwater from the Trinity Aquifer. EP’s application will now be sent back to the Barton Springs Groundwater Conservation District (BSEACD) while EP considers whether to continue pursuit of a groundwater permit, signaling the possible end to the long…

Read More
Texans For Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) Invited To Contribute To House Interim Committee’s Study On Aggregate Production Operations

Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) invited to contribute to House Interim Committee’s Study on Aggregate Production Operations

Hill Country Alliance - Community Program Note: The Hill Country Alliance is an active member of the Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) coalition. Quarries, gravel mines, sand mines, and concrete batch plants are increasingly posing significant challenges to Hill Country communities. HCA is dedicated to helping address these issues by working with residents, legislators, state agencies, local governments, and industry through participation in TRAM. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 27, 2021 CONTACT: Fermín Ortiz, (512) 755-9393, info@tramtexas.org  As aggregate production operations…

Read More
Editorial: Rivers Are Lifeblood Of Region

Editorial: Rivers are lifeblood of region

The owners of a youth camp near Vanderpool have filed a request for a permit to discharge 60,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day into a tributary of the Sabinal River. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which has jurisdiction in the matter, should deny the requested permit out of hand. Young Life purchased the former Camp Lonehollow on Ranch to Market Road 187, just south of Vanderpool, in 2019. The new owners want to build a wastewater treatment facility…

Read More
Cedar Park To Continue Looking At Lime Creek Quarry Redevelopment With End Of Mining Plan

Cedar Park to continue looking at Lime Creek Quarry redevelopment with end of mining plan

In the next step of the redevelopment of Lime Creek Quarry, Cedar Park has authorized a resolution for an end of mining plan. The quarry is operated by Ranger Excavating, whose operation lease ends June 30, 2023. Blasting at the site will end in 2021, Assistant City Manager Chris Copple said, but extraction will continue through 2022. Read more from Taylor Girtman with Community Impact News here. 

Read More
Midlothian Cement Pollution Plan Is Moving Forward, But Residents Are Not Stepping Back

Midlothian cement pollution plan is moving forward, but residents are not stepping back

Midlothian cement pollution plan is moving forward, but residents are not stepping back As letters from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality arrived at Midlothian homes in early November, Laura Hunt’s emotions ranged from anger and disappointment to denial and, finally, relief. Hunt has spent more than a year fighting a permit request filed by cement manufacturer Holcim US Inc. as co-founder of Midlothian Breathe, a group of residents concerned about the impact of cement plant emissions on public health.…

Read More
Concrete And Aggregate Producers See Regulatory Bills Filed For 2021

Concrete and aggregate producers see regulatory bills filed for 2021

Concrete and aggregate producers see regulatory bills filed for 2021 The production and transportation of sand, cement, and concrete is a dusty business that has faced increased scrutiny from the state and advocacy groups in recent years. Some state lawmakers have even seen the need to introduce bills for the upcoming legislative session that would regulate the industry. So far, six bills have been filed for the 2021 legislative session, which convenes Jan. 12, that directly target concrete plants or…

Read More
Case Addressing Open Space Valuation Of Property With Cattle Grazing & Quarry Activity

Case addressing open space valuation of property with cattle grazing & quarry activity

Case addressing open space valuation of property with cattle grazing & quarry activity A recent case from the Ft. Worth Court of Appeals, Hood County Appraisal District v. Mandy Ann Management Ltd., discusses whether property used for grazing cattle on which a quarry is present qualifies for open space tax valuation. Mandy Ann Management Ltd. (“Mandy”) owns 679 acres in Hood County. The property was purchased by Mandy’s owner, Michael Arnold, in 2006 and he transferred the ownership to Mandy in…

Read More
Process Begins To Form Best Practices For Sand Mining Companies In San Jacinto River Basin

Process begins to form best practices for sand mining companies in San Jacinto River Basin

Process begins to form best practices for sand mining companies in San Jacinto River Basin The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality began a yearlong process in mid-November to form more rules for sand mining in the San Jacinto River Basin. Environmental advocates hope this process will reduce downstream flooding, limit sediment runoff and minimize pollutants discharged from the mines into waterways. During the TCEQ’s virtual stakeholder meeting Nov. 10, Jill Boullion, executive director of the Bayou Land Conservancy, said the…

Read More