Maxwell says no additional property to be annexed
Court
In their regular Monday court session, the Hopkins County Commissioners voted unanimously to release Luminant Mining Company, LLC from their obligations to rebuild two county roads in and around the Thermo mine location.
County Road 2307 begins at the south end of Bill Bradford Road and runs from Interstate 30 to the mine property. County Road 2309 is almost completely contained within the perimeter of the mine property.
“Since we’re going to annex [the property], as soon as it becomes ours, the roads will become our problem anyway,” said City Manager Marc Maxwell. “So we would ask you to pass the order letting [Luminant] out of that responsibility on the date we gain possession of the property.
“Precinct 2 has no problem relinquishing those roads to the city so they can proceed on with the coal mine project,” Commissioner Greg Anglin said during discussion.
Maxwell said he believes the annexation will be complete by the end of the year, provided the city fulfills the three commitments it made to Luminant – transferring water rights and releasing the company from obligations to rebuild the two county roads and remove an overpass. Transferring the property’s water rights should be concluded within three to four weeks. A verbal agreement to make TxDOT responsible for removing the overpass has been made, and a written agreement is pending.
“A lot of people are really worried about what all is going to be annexed,” Maxwell said. “If we own the coal mine and we annex it, we just pass it and it’s done. There’s no Department of Justice review. It’s just done immediately. If we annex so much as one other piece of property, it starts this whole long process and puts the whole thing in jeopardy. So we’re not going to consider annexing anything but the coal mine itself.”