ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2023-2024 Highlights

  • Requested a public meeting on a rock crushing air permit that provided first public input on sand and gravel mining moving into western Bastrop County

  • Requested TxDOT speed reduction study that resulted in a 5-mph reduction (from 65 to 60) on FM 969 in Bastrop County.

  • Filed complaint against Travis Materials for mining sand and gravel in the floodplain without a county permit. The county shut down the operation in May 2023.

  • Spoke out at Bastrop County Commissioner meetings of sand and gravel trucks stirring up dust on Wilbarger Bend Road. Rambo Materials agreed to pave the dirt road, which fronts a dozen homes and an ISD bus stop.

  • Requested a public hearing for a new wastewater permit in McKinney Roughs Park that will increase 10-fold the facility’s discharge capacity into the Colorado River. That hearing has led to a contested case hearing, which is awaiting for a date to be heard.

  • Alerted family descendants that graves in overgrown Barton Hill Cemetery were threatened by sand and gravel mining. Freedom Colony organizers are working with the landowners and mining operation to protect and preserve the cemetery, which includes the graves of two former slaves.

  • Filed complaints to TCEQ following more flooding events at a major residential development on Old Sayers Road. Additional state and county violations shut. down the project until major improvements were made.

  • Helped organize and publicize public hearing for The Boring Company’s wastewater permit application.

2022 Highlights

  • Stopped the clearcutting of 2,000 acres of Bastrop trees and unwarranted corporate tax break. Led a campaign to persuade Elgin County School Board to reject a 10-year tax abatement for Dogwood Creek Solar Factory. Partnering with Bastrop Interfaith, the campaign included stakeholder meetings, media coverage, presentations to the board, and a petition that received 1400 signatures. The board voted unanimously against subsidizing the proposed $640 million project — the largest in the country’s history — that would have clearcut nearly 2000 acres of trees.

  • Insisted that environmental regulations apply equally to everyone. Rallied residents in Wilbarger Bend to organize and push back against Elon Musk’s Boring Company after it began construction without securing state and county permits. This effort led to two TCEQ violations against The Boring Company and more oversight on Musk’s pop-up industrial park for SpaceX next door.

  • Joined and supported Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining in its statewide efforts to toughen environmental monitoring and regulation of the aggregate industry. Friends sounded the alarm over a massive sand and gravel operation coming to Wilbarger Bend. It has documented and reported several violations, including construction and mining operations before registering with the state.

  • Advocated for Pleasant Hill Baptist Church after environmental disaster caused by unsafe development. Documented and filed a complaint to state regulators after a massive erosion incident at a new mobile home development on Sayers Road spilled tons of topsoil, silt, and stormwater on neighboring Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. That complaint led TCEQ to cite the construction engineering firm for violations.

  • Participated in Bastrop Interfaith’s Candidate Forum in October 2022, meeting and posing questions to state and county candidates prior to the November election.