Miller Grove oil spill inspires court to seek federal funding

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  • Station 20 Chief Andy Endsley addresses the commissioners regarding the poor condition of flood control dams in Hopkins County/ Staff photo by Taylor Nye
    Station 20 Chief Andy Endsley addresses the commissioners regarding the poor condition of flood control dams in Hopkins County/ Staff photo by Taylor Nye
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County looks to protect dams with local homeland security branch

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Hopkins County will now host its own branch of the Department of Homeland Security, among other decisions made this morning by the Hopkins County Commissioner’s Court.

The purpose of the establishment of a local DHS branch, according to emergency management coordinator and Station 20 fire chief Andy Endsley, is to better monitor the county’s waterways for possible ecological threats, he told the court. 

According to Endsley, flood control dams and lakes in the southern part of the county have fallen into disrepair over the last 50 years. 

“They [the federal government] will not give us any kind of information for those dams and the condition they’re in unless we have Homeland Security,” Endsley told the court. “This will help environmental enforcement.” 

Endsley also told the court the creation of the local DHS office “opens us up for grants we’re not eligible at this time.” 

“We’re not entitled to know the information unless we’re homeland security, because they put us under the same umbrella,” Endsley told the News-Telegram. “Through COVID and the massive oil spill [at Turkey Creek] we learned the need to progress, and we needed to move forward.” 

Pct. I Commissioner Mickey Barker said he believed the creation of a local DHS office to address minor waterways was a good idea, specifically given the Oct. 4, 2019 oil spill at Turkey Creek in Miller Grove. 

The pipeline rupture by independent company Delek US dumped over 8,000 gallons of diesel into the creek bed, and brought multiple agencies from as far away as neighboring states to help in cleanup. 

“We still have not received any funds from Delek for the damage done to our roads from the fuel spill at Turkey Creek,” Barker noted. 

Endsley said some county citizens may be familiar with dams needing improvement, as the July 2019 election cycle saw the re-creation of the Lake Fork Creek Water Control Improvement District #1, which lapsed in 2006. 

Other dams throughout the county that need improvement are less visible to citizens as they sit on private land, Endsley said, and do not have colloquial names, only numbers. 

However, said Endsley, all of Hopkins County’s flood control dams and lakes are of vital ecological importance. 

“Fences have been taken down, people have been grazing cattle… people are shredding on the dams, we’ve got erosion, trees grow on it. We need to get committees together to handle that, we need to get education out to the people, and we need to get federal dollars,” Endsley said. 

Endsley said he has liaised with Hunt County, who has an existing local DHS office, on how to set up Hopkins County’s branch. Local DHS will also pursue grant opportunities through the Ark-Tex Council of Governments (ATCOG), Endsley said. 

The department will begin its operations Oct. 1 with the start of the 2021 budget cycle. 

“This is a big step for us,” county judge Robert Newsom stated.