Justice Samuel Alito, who gets the first look at all applications from Texas for Supreme Court action, has given the plaintiffs until this Thursday, October 29, to submit a brief in opposition to the government’s request that SCOTUS stay or overturn the preliminary injunction preventing any groundbreaking activity for border construction in the Big Bend Sector. This is an encouraging sign — Alito is not acting quickly or unilaterally, apparently wanting to thoroughly understand the arguments on all sides. The justices meet in conference next week to discuss cases, so it’s also possible that he will bump this to the entire court for consideration.
So the injunction holds at least until late Thursday, and possibly much longer. Or he could just be delaying until after the midterms — we simply don’t know.
Have you seen this frightening article in the NY Times this week, about AI surveillance towers? Here is a gift link: bit.ly/4z58jPl. (It may require registration, but there’s no actual paywall.) This is a stark reminder that when DHS or CBP say they are “considering” alternative plans for the Big Bend area that will have lesser impact, and when some well-meaning folks in our area say that technology is the answer rather than barriers, all technological solutions are not the same. We NEED to continue to DEMAND transparency from the government and see their entire plan, including all the towers, roads, power and communications cables, man camps, wells, staging areas, etc. Their arrogant responses to the court suggests that they continue, despite almost universal opposition, to assert that they alone can solve the problem, and they alone can define what that problem actually is.
This government overreach appalls people across the political spectrum, which is why Keep Big Bend Wild, a nonpartisan organization, strongly believes that a bipartisan legislative solution in the next Congress is the necessary resolution to the current situation for the entire Big Bend region.
So do the folks at LetTexansDoTexas.Org (LTDT), a new politically-savvy Texas-based organization that has emerged from within the midst of this fight. LTDT is advocating for a redirection of federal border infrastructure money to a trust fund that Texans control, as we know best what is really needed in the Big Bend to assure a secure border AND the protection of our environment, economy, livelihoods, and quality of life. Cordial discussions are ongoing between KBBW and LTDT, as we share a commitment to establishing wilderness at Big Bend National Park as part of the legislative strategy – see www.lettexansdotexas.org/the-solution.
We probably don’t need to remind folks that your vote really counts this time, more than ever.
Bob Krumenaker
Chair, Keep Big Bend Wild
I’m proud of the effect this event has had on the people of my community. I am so appreciative of all the kind words my neighbors and friends have shared with me over the last several weeks.
Pride Marfa could’ve never come to fruition if it weren’t for the many friends and neighbors that have helped me along the way. Here’s an inevitably incomplete list of thank yous:
To Abby Boyd: Your support over the past few years has shaped me and Pride Marfa tremendously. I’m so grateful to have learned from you.
To Christine Jackson: Your creativity is unmatched. Thank you for making Pride Marfa look so beautiful.
To Michael Carnes: You always know the right thing to say. Thank you for making Pride Marfa sound so eloquent.
To Haley Levin: Thank you for sticking with me these past few years. I appreciate your help and your friendship so much.
To Zade Williamson: You always who up with so much care and patience. Thank you sp much for taking care of the art.
To Carlos Morales: Thank you so much for being such an awesome friend, confidant, errand-runner and more. I owe you a mountain of gratitude.
To Justin Delgado: Thank you for your generosity, your kindness, and, of course, the shade. Pride Marfa wouldn’t have happened without you.
To Will G Floyd: Thank you so much for your unwavering support, patience, friendship — and, of course, making all the music sound so good.
To the Pride Marfa cast — Circe, HYPERFEMME, jewels, p1nkstar, XQZ ME, Amina Cruz, BabiDoll, Khloe Kaliente, Amarji King, Salem Doll, Diego Mireles Duran, and Louisianna Purchase: being in your company and witnessing your work was awe-inspiring. Thank you for trusting me to bring you and your talent to Marfa.
To all the artists who submitted to the open call: thank you so much for sharing your work. You make the American Southwest so vibrant.
Many thanks are also owed to Kathryn Davis, Laura Price, Colby Martin, Jam Martin, Rhonda Manley, Jeff Matheis, Sabrina L., Lisa Chesnut, Justin Almquist, Tim Johnson, Greg Butcher, Romi Gold, Trish, Angela and Mark Walley, Alberto DeLeon, Ray Smith, Augustine García, Des Espada, Veronica Gomez, Rowdy Dugan, Mateo Galindo, Abel Rodgers, Emily Kolb, Maud, Mark So, Laura Buckshaw, Maritza Bautista, Kirish Dirkson, Manny Ontiveros, Arlene Acosta, and Ian Rundell — and the staffs of Planet Marfa, the Capri, The Pool, Mutual Friends Coffee, the Chinati Foundation, Marfa Public Library, Rule Gallery, and BOXES
A special thanks to our sponsors for ensuring that Pride Marfa has been able to come to life every year: Jota Living, Pure for Men, Neil Subin, The City of Marfa, Clara Bensen, Planet Marfa, Marfa Vacation Rentals, Travis Cosban, Vance Knowles, Shane O’Neal, Ballroom Marfa, Art Blocks, the Chinati Foundation, Marfa Mood Mercantile, Angela DeLaRosa & Christina Hernandez, Travis Acreman, Thunderbird Marfa, First Presbyterian Church of Marfa, and Carter Dickson.
Con amor,
Prepney
Dear Sheriff Dodson,
My name is Jamie Flack, and I am a local business owner, a community member, and an ally alongside my neighbors in defending the place we call home against the impacts of border infrastructure, both here in Brewster County and throughout the greater Big Bend region. I believe in working collaboratively with our elected officials and law enforcement to protect our community, preserve what makes this region special and ensure that the people who live, work, and visit here can do so safely.
I am also a woman, a wife and a mother. The safety concerns raised by this incident are not abstract or political to me. They are deeply personal. I have a responsibility to consider my own safety, the safety of my family and children, the safety of the guests who trust my businesses with their visits to our region and the safety of the broader community we all share. Like many residents, I want to have confidence that the law enforcement agency we elect, fund, and depend upon will protect us impartially, respect our rights, and take our concerns seriously. That confidence is essential to our families, our livelihoods, our tourism-based economy, and our ability to live peacefully in our own community.
It is from this position of personal responsibility, community commitment and a genuine desire for accountability and cooperation that I am writing to you.
I am writing to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding the conduct of deputies involved in the Agua Fria man camp trespassing incident, as documented in records obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request and in the associated body-camera footage. I am also writing to request a clear explanation of your department’s actions, the decisions made by its personnel and the steps you intend to take to restore public confidence.
I want to begin by emphasizing that I believe respectful communication and cooperation between our community and the Sheriff’s Office are essential. We live in a region facing significant challenges, and we need our elected officials and law enforcement officers to work with residents to protect public safety. That is precisely why the information that has come to light is so troubling. What the released records and recordings show is in stark contrast to the commitments you made directly to our community at the August meeting held in Study Butte at the Red Patillo Center.
You asked us to hold you accountable. We are doing exactly that.
At that meeting, you asked community members to do everything in our power to encourage tourism and assure visitors that they are safe in Brewster County. You also acknowledged that residents had legitimate concerns and emphasized that we should continue working together, even where we disagreed on controversial issues affecting our region. Members of the community specifically stated that, while we hoped to remain united in our concerns about border barrier construction, we would continue to hold you and your department accountable for your conduct and decisions. You said you were counting on us to do exactly that.
That is why I am speaking up now.
Respectfully,
Jamie Flack
Brewster County resident, business and property owner, and community member
In your October 20 story on a proposed data center in Brewster County, landowner James Ahern said the stretch from Fort Stockton toward Alpine is headed for massive power development anyway, and that his “tiny little project” would be the smallest and least intrusive part of it. As a neighboring landowner, I see it the other way around. His project is what would bring that development south.
The Howard–Solstice transmission line ends at the Solstice substation on I-10. It never enters Brewster County. At the September 15 Commissioners Court meeting, Pacifico Energy’s own representative said, “There’s no wires anywhere near” the site, which sits about 28 miles south of that substation at the far end of Hovey Road. Power projects go where the wires are, and today the wires stop at the interstate.
A multi-billion-dollar gas plant at the south end of Hovey Road would change that. It brings a new gas pipeline, heavy-haul roads and a permanent industrial anchor. Pacifico plans to start off the grid, which lets it skip the years-long wait to connect to the state grid. But its representative also told the court that supplying power to the grid later could be possible. Once a plant that size exists, connecting it is the obvious next step, and the land between it and I-10 becomes the natural route for new lines, solar, batteries and the next project. Nor would it have to stop at the ranch fence. Pacifico said it isn’t sure Mr. Ahern’s land is the only parcel it will use. Every step south brings it closer to Alpine, Marathon and the Big Bend. Continuing south with new data center and power plant developments along the Trans-Pecos Pipeline could be expected.
And “tiny” is not what Pacifico described. Asked about cost, it gave a range of $5 billion to $60 billion and pointed to its GW Ranch project in Pecos County as “kind of the scale.” GW Ranch holds what Pacifico called the largest air pollution permit ever issued in the U.S. Pacifico’s representative said GW Ranch came about when the company decided to build a large facility, that larger off-grid plants are more reliable, and that “we look for large developments.” A footprint like GW Ranch’s, 3,000 to 4,000 acres, would cover up to half of the roughly 7,800-acre Ahern Ranch.
Our family has stewarded our land next to this ranch for almost 100 years. The Ferguson and Mills families have worked hard to protect this country, its quiet, its dark skies, its water and its open range, this way of life. A massive gas plant and its stacks against the Glass Mountains would not be the end of that change. It would be the beginning.
I respect Mr. Ahern’s right to his land. But this decision belongs to all of us. I urge Judge Henington and the Commissioners Court to say no to industrial-scale data centers in Brewster County.
Druanne Mills
Mills 7V Ranch, Brewster County
