They messed with the aquifer and our drinking water.
In 2017, when Kinder Morgan announced its Permian Highway Pipeline would be routed through the Texas Hill Country, citizens rose up in protest. Lawsuits were filed to protect property rights, habitat and endangered species.
That did not stop the big trucks, the stringing of pipe, nor clear cutting a half-mile wide swath to make room for hydrocarbons and money to flow from west to east. In every ruling and decision, state agencies and district courts sided with the oil and gas industry. Would nothing stop the pipeline?
Then, one day in late March 2020, Kinder Morgan and its PHP constructors attempted to bore beneath the Blanco River. Their drill bit hit a large void below the surface — a common feature in the karst subterranean landscape of the Hill Country — and more than 36 thousand gallons of drilling fluid was discharged into the Trinity Aquifer and into drinking water.
The PHP route passes through the Edwards and Trinity Aquifer recharge zones. Both are karst aquifers with rapid groundwater movement and direct connections with surface waters. To safeguard water resources in these karst systems, construction activity requires careful research, coordination, planning, and oversight — all lacking from the current Kinder Morgan project.
In less than 24 hours after the initial fluid discharge, two separate homeowners, a mile from the bore site, ended up with drinking water that looked like muddy milk pouring from the kitchen faucet. Three days later Kinder Morgan finally halted construction activities and reported the incident to the Texas Railroad Commission.
This pipeline construction fiasco was a horrific catalyst that brought by TESPA and Wimberly Valley Watershed Association together for the ultimate legal battle. This is exactly why we are both here – to respond to such affronts to our groundwater and drinking water – and to guard the health and beauty of an iconic watershed.
Stop the work. Fix the problem. Pay for the damages. Move it!
On June 22, 2020, TESPA attorneys filed suit in federal court against the Permian Highway Pipeline LLC (PHP) and its managing partner, Kinder Morgan for violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act which protects “underground sources of drinking water” by prohibiting the injection of “contaminants” into underground drinking water.
This legal action was taken on behalf of the affected homeowners whose sole source of drinking water was contaminated – and on behalf of every citizen member of TESPA and WVWA.
Your support is essential to fund critical legal actions undertaken by some of the best environmental and trial attorneys in Texas who are working hard to protect our aquifers, springs, creeks, rivers – and the sole source of drinking water for thousands of people.
Thanks to a match from a generous donor who believes Kinder Morgan and its Permian Highway Pipeline do not belong in the sensitive karst landscape of the Texas Hill Country, your donation to the Texas Hill Country Legal Defense Fund will be matched dollar for dollar!
Please donate to the legal fund set up specifically to support TESPA legal team’s fight against Kinder Morgan related to the discharge of drilling fluid during construction of the Permian Highway Pipeline at the Blanco River Crossing in Blanco County. Save the Hill Country!
News & Key Documents
HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA (7/8/20)
‘Wrong Pipeline In The Wrong Place’ — Nationwide Litigation Could Affect Permian Highway Pipeline
OPINION EDITORIAL (7/2/20)
Permian Highway Pipeline – Stop Work, Move It, and Respect the Texas Hill Country by Patrick Cox, Ph.D.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE (6/27/20)
A pipeline poisons the wells in Hill Country
PRESS PACKET (6/22/20)
Kinder Morgan Sued for Violations of Federal Safe Drinking Water Act
LISTEN (5/26/2020; 6 minutes)
Patrick Cox for TESPA and David Baker for WVWA on KOOP 91.7FM