The Blanco City Council has passed a resolution opposing the route of the Permian Highway Pipeline through Blanco County and the Texas Hill country, and we are celebrating!
Until a couple of days ago, Blanco was the only municipality between Fredericksburg and San Marcos that hasn’t officially expressed any sort of resistance to this pipeline travesty.
Kudos to council members Matt Lewis and Martha Gosnell for bringing it before the Council. We are not lawyers, but it appears to be one of the better written resolutions we have seen.
This is a big win for the citizens and businesses of Blanco and Blanco County. And yet it’s important to remember that we are far from the finish line.
We at BlancoSTP want to thank you for your part in this victory. Whether it has been showing up at meetings, contacting officials and voicing your opinion, posting signs on your property, sharing our articles on social media, or donating your time and money…
We appreciate it ALL!
And we also want to remind you that we all need to keep up the pressure on our city and county officials and our state legislature.
Kinder Morgan is used to getting its way. And because the Texas Railroad Commission hasn’t been properly doing its job, pipeline companies basically have no oversight.
(That’s another thing that needs to be changed, and that we are pushing for. There are currently multiple bills before the Texas House and Senate concerning eminent domain and pipeline companies.)
It became apparent during the City Council meeting Tuesday evening that at least one council member is hesitant to stand up to the bullying techniques of Kinder Morgan.
KM wants a 110 acre tract that belongs to the city. 110 acres that is on the river next to the water treatment plant, inside city limits, and on the proposed pipeline route.
Whatever they want it for is being kept secret, at least as far as we can tell. At best, they want it for a pipe yard. At worst, and unfortunately more likely, they are planning on putting a compression station there.
Which would be disastrous for Blanco, on so many levels!
Council members are understandably concerned about losing this piece of land to eminent domain condemnation, because they are charged with responsibly stewarding assets of the city.
And yet, we believe it is crucial for them to hold fast and stand up to Kinder Morgan, or any other pipeline company who tries to bully their way through our Hill Country.
Yes, this fight is about avoiding the huge scar that pipeline construction would cause, marring the beauty we are accustomed to seeing every day. Obviously, this would threaten the tourism industry, and the dollars it brings into our community.
And property values already seem to be taking a hit, with the threat of a pipeline looming over us.
And yes, this fight is about keeping our families and property safe from gas explosions and the resulting fires. It seems like we hear about one of these explosions somewhere every couple of months or so.
Perhaps even more importantly, this fight is about protecting our water.
Any “incident” along this proposed pipeline endangers our aquifers, and we know that “incidents” occur on a regular basis.
When you’re dealing with karst geology, you can’t just mop up a spill. (Not that mopping up a spill is easy. It isn’t.)
Contamination is irreparable.
It is FOREVER.
So please, celebrate this WIN.
And then, let’s double down.
Do what you can. Volunteer. Donate. Put up a sign. Forward our emails. Follow us on social media and like, share, retweet, or whatever is appropriate to help spread the word. Stay involved!
We are the majority.
Stand strong.
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