Opinion ID: 72034
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Proposed Quarry and Rail

Text: In 1999, Vulcan Construction Materials, LP (Vulcan), not a party to this case, entered into long-term leases for three contiguous pieces of property in north central Medina County, north of the unincorporated settlement of Quihi, Texas. Vulcan intends to develop this combined 1,760-acre tract as a limestone quarry in a phased approach. In Phase One, Vulcan will develop the southernmost 640 acres of the site, approximately twenty percent of the total land area. The development will include a quarry pit, fuel storage area, plant maintenance facility, and production facility. Vulcan has indicated that it may quarry the rest of the site in up to four additional phases over the course of the next 50 years if there is market demand, but at present it has no specific plans for further development. SGR, which is owned by Vulcan's parent company, Vulcan Materials Co., seeks to build a seven-mile rail line and loading loop on the Phase One area and easements to the south that would connect the quarry with the Union Pacific Railway main line, along U.S. 90 at Dunlavy, Texas. [3] MCEAA, a Texas non-profit corporation, was formed in 2000 to oppose the construction and operation of the quarry. Its members consist primarily of individuals in Quihi, Texas, who live or own land adjacent to or near the site of the proposed quarry and rail. [4] Among the numerous challenges that MCEAA raised in opposition to the proposed quarry is that the quarry could threaten the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. In an effort to avoid this possibility, Vulcan began a voluntary consultation in 2000 with the FWS, seeking to structure the development of the quarry in compliance with § 9 of the ESA, which makes it unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to... take any [endangered] species within the United States. 16 U.S.C. § 1538(a)(1)(B). Take means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. Id. § 1532(19). Harm, in turn, includes significant habitat modification or degradation [that] actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering. 50 C.F.R. § 17.3. The ESA imposes strict penalties for § 9 violations, including criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and a $50,000 fine per violation and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation. 16 U.S.C. § 1540(a), (b). Citizens may also bring civil suits to enjoin violators or to compel the FWS to enforce the statute against violators. Id. § 1540(g). If a proposed project is likely to result in take of a species or habitat, an applicant may petition the FWS under § 10 of the ESA for a permit, under such terms and conditions as [the FWS] deems necessary or appropriate, that allows the project to proceed with some degree of take. Id. § 1539(a)(2)(B). On April 16, 2001, at Vulcan's request, officials from FWS's Austin field office accompanied a geologist for Vulcan to the proposed quarry site to study the potential for the project to harm the golden-cheeked warbler. Vulcan proceeded, with the FWS's advice and guidance, to conduct intensive surveys of the Phase One area but found no warblers and little or no habitat that would support warblers. Vulcan also conducted preliminary screening surveys on the rest of the 1,760-acre tract and again found no warblers, although the northern portion of the tract did contain some suitable habitat. Vulcan submitted the results of these surveys in a report to the FWS in October 2001. The report also described four additional phases for potential development to occur over the next twenty to fifty years, but indicated that there were not yet any specific development plans for those phases. Vulcan stated that it would begin conducting intensive surveys of future phases a minimum of three years before commencing development. The FWS responded to the report by letter on March 20, 2002, expressing approval of the survey work and the phased approach. [5] Vulcan published another report in August 2003 that described the results of intensive surveys of the Phase One area conducted in 2002 and 2003. As in the prior report, Vulcan reported that no golden-cheeked warblers were found and that the potential warbler habitat within the Phase One area was poor to marginal. The report did disclose, however, that one warbler had been heard calling on one occasion from the northeast of the Phase One site in 2003. On October 17, 2003, the FWS provided feedback on the report by letter, noting that the report's conclusions as to the absence of warblers on the property were consistent with the observations of its own field agents, who had toured portions of the property just two days earlier.