Water Supply – Stewards of Texas

The Threat to Texans’ Water Supply

Dike, Texas, an unincorporated community in Hopkins County, has been struggling to hold the Hopkins Solar Project accountable to promises made. The project is owned by Engie SA, a French multinational utility company with headquarters in La Défense, France.

According to Engie, this 250 Megawatt project consumes an area of approximately 1,850 acres of what was previously ranching land.

When the company held a town hall meeting on March 22, 2021 they used the following photograph of the land to be transformed, with computer generated solar panels in the distance. They claimed that changes made to the land would be reversible at the end of the project’s term.

As you can see from this evidentiary photograph, the grading of the land in development damaged the topsoil for generations even before the developer’s failure to mitigate erosion washed that topsoil away.

TCEQ found during an investigation between February 22, 2023 and March 6, 2023 that the construction of the solar plant by Blattner Energy, LLC was in violation of the provisions laid out in TPDES General Permit No. TXR150000.

The investigation determined that due to insufficient stormwater management, the site was discharging sediment offsite. One specific violation (TCEQ Track #839615) states that Blattner Energy LLC had failed to install and maintain effective erosion controls and sediment controls on the east side of the construction project.

Blattner Energy LLC was charged with a second violation (TCEQ Track #839617) regarding “failure to utilize outlet structures that withdraw water from the surface when discharging from basins”. Due to Blattner’s failure to properly construct these basins, sediment was allowed to erode and wash into the nearby tributaries and onto neighboring properties.

Blattner Energy LLC was charged and resolved a third violation (TCEQ Track #839616) regarding “failure to prevent the unauthorized discharge of sediment into or adjacent to the Waters in the State of Texas per Texas Water Code, Chapter 26.121.

There are no state or federal requirements for these projects to be developed. Without state or local governments in Texas having any input into these developments, Texas residents can only hold their breath and hope for the best.