Coupland area to be site of largest solar farm in U.S.

When we envision hundreds of acres of solar panels, we may think of an unpopulated area that is not good farmland. We probably don’t envision hundreds of acres of solar panels covering up our valuable Blackland Prairie. However, the Blackland Prairie Concerned Citizens Association (BPCCA), at their June 14 meeting, heard from a group who plans to put a solar farm on 550-600 acres on the west side of Manda-Carlson Road at Felder Lane, about 3-1/2 miles west/southwest of Coupland.

Over 70 attendees filled the New Sweden Lutheran Parish Hall to hear the group describe what they called “the largest solar plant in this country . . . one of the largest in the world.”

Marilyn Samuelson, BPCCA Vice President, moderated the meeting about the “City of Pflugerville Solar Farm Energy Project,” a project of RRE Austin Solar. In attendance was Victor Gonzales, the mayor pro tem of Pflugerville--the site is in the Pflugerville ETJ. The site also is in the Elgin ISD (EISD), but an EISD representative did not come. A representative came from the office of Travis County Commissioner Ron Davis.

Angelou introduced the people from the companies that are behind RRE: NEPC India Ltd. (Chennai, India), and Power Tech Pvt. Ltd. (Jamnagar, India). Raj Kumar Khemka is Vice Chairman of NEPC India. He was accompanied by two directors, Mr. Mehta and one other.

Angelou explained that the $240 million project will be built over a period of 2-1/2 years. He said, “This is going to be the largest project in the state of Texas. At 60 megawatts, it will be the largest in the U.S. There will be four to five permanent employees, with three to four hundred during the construction phase.” Construction could begin in January, 2011. The solar farm will connect to the nearby LCRA electric transmission line.

Elgin ISD and the City of Pflugerville have approved the project and will give it tax benefits. RRE is expecting the support of Travis County in the near future. The project has a letter of support from the State of Texas and will receive federal incentives. Angelou said, “Governments have to incentivize or the project can’t happen.”

Mehta mentioned that the project also would benefit from the carbon tax credits that will go into effect if a cap-and-trade system passes the Congress.

The RRE presentation referred to approval from and benefits for Elgin schools and Pflugerville, although the project is several miles from Elgin schools and Pflugerville. The people who are actually next to the plant have no authority or recourse. However, some attendees, realizing that this large site is available for any type of project, think that a solar plant is not the worst project that could be placed here.

Coupland Civic Organization to hold Depot Dedication on June 19

The Coupland Civic Organization (CCO) will dedicate its newly restored historic Depot on Saturday, June 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Long-time Coupland residents will talk about the history of the Depot and its significance to the community.
Before being moved to the center of the community where it is today, the Depot had been moved from its original location next to the tracks and placed on a farm. Ruth Thiele will speak about the Depot being moved from her uncle’s farm and being restored for the first time in 1976, as Coupland’s project for the United States Bicentennial.
Irene Florida will discuss the beginning of the planning for the current restoration, which took place while she was CCO president. Loretta Patschke will talk about the experience of growing up in Coupland and what the Depot means to the community.
Beginning at 11 a.m., the CCO will host a picnic-style lunch, and the Dedication presentation will begin at noon. The Depot will be open so that residents and visitors can view the CCO’s restoration work and the historic pictures and artifacts that are on display. A horse-drawn wagon will provide rides through the community.
CCO board member Bradley Nelson will demonstrate authentic train-crossing lights and bell that he has installed at the Depot. The lights and bell are from his private railroad memorabilia collection.

BPCCA June 14 meeting on large solar farm for NE Travis County

The Blackland Prairie Concerned Citizens Association is the rural community group in NE Travis County. They cover the New Sweden/Lund/Manda/Carlson areas. A very large (500-1,000 acre) solar farm is being proposed for Manda-Carlson. The BPCCA has arranged a meeting about this project for June 14. The public is welcome. The BPCCA release:

"The Blackland Prairie Concerned Citizens Association (BPCCA) will meet Monday, June 14, 7:00 pm. at the New Sweden Lutheran Parish Hall, 12809 New Sweden Church Road. Guest speaker will be Angelos G. Angelou of Angelou Economics and will bring information to the group concerning the proposed solar farm in the Manda-Carlson area. The public is welcome to attend.
"BPCCA was organized in 2001 with the mission statement 'To ensure the beautiful, endangered, and historic Blackland Prairie of northeast Travis County is preserved. To ensure progressive economic growth meets the requirements of this rural environment and proud heritage. To ensure our elected and appointed officials understand the citizens of northeast Travis County will not allow the Blackland Prairie to become the dumping ground for Central Texas and other counties.' BPCCA’s boundaries in northeast Travis County are: Manor City Limits and/or FM 973 on the west, Travis County/Williamson Country Line on the north, Travis County/Bastrop County line or Elgin City Limits on the east and Highway 290 on the south between the city limits of Elgin and Manor."

SH 130 in the red--taxpayers making up the difference

The Statesman’s Ben Wear reports that the Texas Transportation Commission may be considering lowering tolls for trucks on SH 130 in order to lure more trucks from I-35. The article has an interesting discussion on what level of tolling would result in more trucks taking 130 at what result to overall toll revenues.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/truck-relief-on-i-35-maybe-a-little-718333.html

Wear notes that financially 130 is in the red. He reports, “The 2002 financial prospectus for investors who put $2.2 billion into Texas 130, Loop 1 and Texas 45 North showed initial toll rates unchanged until 2015, when a 50 percent increase was scheduled. Transportation commissioners have the power to raise rates before then, but they aren't talking publicly about doing so. But they might be considering it privately. According to figures from TxDOT Chief Financial Officer James Bass, the three-road system has required $68 million in tax money to balance the books over the first three years.”

So why is it a good idea to continue to build toll roads where taxpayers will be paying the investors? By the way, ground has been broken on the tolled interchange at 290 East and 183—a tolled interchange being paid for by taxpayer stimulus money.

Coupland Civic Organization discusses pros and cons of incorporation

The Coupland Civic Organization (CCO) will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of St. Peter’s Church of Coupland. Come at 6:30 p.m. for refreshments and visiting. The program will be the third in a series of community discussions about the expansion of surrounding cities toward Coupland. There will be a panel discussion on the pros and cons of “Incorporation—Is it right for Coupland?”

The CCO thanks Pflugerville Planning Director Autumn Speer, who spoke at our April meeting about Pflugerville’s growth. Attendees also enjoyed hearing from Loretta Patschke, of Patschke & Patschke Real Estate and a Coupland resident, who discussed new projects and events in Taylor.

Also thanks to Taylor Mayor Pro Tem Ella Jez and Taylor City Manager Jim Dunaway for speaking at the CCO's March meeting.

TTC-35 FEIS--Is 'No Action' good enough? Should it be totally withdrawn?

Happy Mother’s Day!

TxDOT has released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the Trans-Texas Corridor that was proposed to parallel IH-35 (TTC-35). Those who commented during this environmental process have received a card from TxDOT announcing that they can view the FEIS at www.keeptexasmoving.com. The FEIS also is in public libraries in the Corridor area and TxDOT district and area offices. TxDOT will provide CD and paper copies of the FEIS to the public for the cost of reproduction and shipping. The deadline for commenting on the FEIS is May 26.

In addition to viewing the text of the FEIS, you also can see previous comments from the public, organizations, and officials in the appendices.

This FEIS has recommended the “No Action Alternative,” which means, according to TxDOT, “the TTC-35 project would end.” The Eastern Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission is concerned that this situation would result in this FEIS being left on the table, where it could possibly be resurrected in the future. The Commission has petitioned the Federal Highway Administration to completely withdraw and discard the FEIS.

Water pipeline lawsuit dismissed--problem of eminent domain by non-profits fronting for profiteering remains

In November, 2009, we covered the new water pipeline of Cross County Water Supply Corp., which will bring water from Burleson County to the Manor area. The 52-mile pipeline was the subject of an American-Statesman article:
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/11/10/1110travispipe.html

As we previously reported, Cross County is set up as a non-profit. However, behind Cross County are for-profit entities who hope to profit handsomely from selling water for development in the SH 130 area. Quoting the Statesman, “Cross County counts as its customer Blue Water Systems, run by Austin real estate investor Ross Cummings, which has developed wells in Burleson County, said Pat Reilly, a director of Cross County. Blue Water, in turn, has a deal to sell water to publicly traded Southwest Water Co., Reilly said.”

Burleson County landowners Terry and Linda Ausley would not give permission for Cross County to survey their land, Cross County sued them, and they counter-sued, saying that Cross County “was formed . . . as a Texas nonprofit corporation for the sole purpose of fraudulently providing a mechanism for obtaining easements below market rate via threat of condemnation for purposes of securing a pipeline location . . .”

Since the suits were filed, Cross County did not cross the Ausleys’ land, but went around it.

Ausleys’ lawsuit dismissed

Thanks to Madeleine Hensley for letting us know that the Ausleys’ case was dismissed and getting a copy of the opinion.

On April 16, Federal Judge Sam Sparks dismissed the Ausleys’ lawsuit. The case had been transferred to Federal Court because the Ausleys had alleged a violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Because Sparks found no RICO violation, he dismissed the case. Further, while not actually ruling on the matter, Sparks’ opinion recognized that Cross County DID have condemnation authority.

This brings us to the underlying problem in this situation: a for-profit water corporation can set up a non-profit corporation to condemn land and sell bonds for a water pipeline from which the principals will profit greatly.

This is a state law problem. The Legislature needs to change state law so that for-profit corporations cannot set up non-profit corporations as fronts to profit off of the water resources of the state. Water supplies, or lack thereof, are becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Some officials and legislators are already saying that the state needs to revamp its water policy, given the finite supply of groundwater and the increasing demands on it.

One of the major reforms that is needed is some way to keep rapacious water profiteers from stripping a region’s water resources and using eminent domain against property owners. This is an eminent domain abuse that the Legislature needs to put a stop to.