Last month, Judge Pat Mc-Guire ordered that his Feb. 7 temporary injunction preventing construction on the Rio Lago solar farm until a list of conditions are met must be followed.
“The parties have conferred since the entry of the judge’s order and are working collaboratively to fashion a mutually agreeable approach to future development activities at the site,” Kristen McKenzie, Senior Director of Government & External Affairs at Pine Gate Renewables, told the Bulletin.
That temporary injunction required Rio Lago and its parent company, Pine Gate Renewables, to cease construction of the solar farm in Bandera County until the following parameters were met:
• Defendants shall obtain a TCEQ-approved Construction General Permit.
• Defendants shall prepare and implement a TCEQ-approved Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plant (SWPPP).
• Defendants shall prepare and implement further TCEQ-approved SWPPPs prior to any soil-disturbing activities, including grubbing the soil, stump removal, removal of rootballs, stripping the soil and grading the soil.
• Defendants shall prepare and implement further- TCEQ-approved SWPPPs prior to commencing each successive phase of solar farm construction.
• Defendants are prohibited from timbering or felling trees in any flood plain or flood hazard area.
• Defendants shall comply with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations in the construction of the solar farm.
When evidence was presented to the court that these parameters were not being followed, Judge Pat McGuire on March 27 that the order must be followed, adding the following new conditions.
• Alan Stanton, PE, CFM, shall be allowed access to the leased solar farm properties at all reasonable times to inspect the implementation of any and all SWPPPs;
• There shall be no further violations of any existing or subsequent SWPPPs by Defendants; and
• There shall be no further violations of the Temporary Injunction Order by Defendants.
If the sanctions aren’t followed, Pine Gate Renewables would be subject to a $10,000 sanction.
