About Us
< This is Sandy Creek
A major tributary to the Llano River and Lake LBJ, Sandy Creek is unmistakable if you drive Highway 71 to Sunrise Beach, Llano, or Enchanted Rock from the East, or Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, and beyond from the West. A very wide, pristine sandy creek, often dotted with cattle or wildlife, it's crossed by a long stretch of two-lane bridge with a highway sign bearing its name. Its waters are among the purest in the Hill Country, and it bears some of the oldest exposed stone in North America. Sandy Creek meant everything to the Native Americans, to the early settlers, and now to the folks who live along it today.
Do we really want THIS? >
Generations of ranchers have relied upon Sandy Creek for water to maintain cattle and homesteads. Homeowners throughout the area--seasonal, weekend and full-time--know this will destroy property values and impact their quality of life. Hunters and bird-watchers will see declining populations as the water disappears. The tourism industry will suffer. Finally, the potential for serious accidents will rise dramatically due to the projected 40-plus fully-loaded (and 40-plus empty) tractor-trailer trips per day on Highway 71. (Note that the application as presented to the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality allows for many more truck trips than current projections.)
Who are we?
We are an organization of ranchers, neighbors, hunters, friends, and fans of Sandy Creek--and users of Highway 71--who are deeply concerned about the damage that our water reserves, highways, tourism industry, businesses, ecosystem and lifestyle will suffer if the proposed Collier Materials sand and rock crushing plant is put into operation in Sandy Creek. We pledge to do everything we can legally and ethically to stop this project before it starts.
HEALTHY CREEKS WORKSHOP SATURDAY NOVEMBER 3
HILL COUNTRY ALLIANCE HOSTS EDUCATIONAL EVENT IN SUNRISE BEACH
In an effort to educate the public and inform discussion on the impact of the proposed Sandy Creek Sand Crushing Plant off Highway 71 near the City of Sunrise Beach, the Hill County Alliance is holding a Healthy Creeks and Riparian Areas Workshop. "Riparian areas" are the edges of a river or stream.
Saturday, Nov. 3
8:30 am to 2 pm
Sunrise Beach Civic Center
124 Sunrise Drive, Sunrise Beach Village, in Llano County
Speakers are Steve Nelle, a retired engineer who is recognized as a state expert on Riparian Areas; Kenneth Mayben, a hydrologist engineer who retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and David Riley, a biologist with Plateau Land & Wildlife Management.
If you live along a creek, river, or lake, this workshop is for you!
Participants will learn the basic interaction of Hydrology – Erosion/Deposition and Vegetation for Central Texas creeks and rivers. Among topics to be covered are channels, floodplains, water table, vegetation, base flow, flood flow, sediment and how these things in combination are what make up the riparian area. Local examples from Sandy Creek and elsewhere will be used to promote understanding of the health of creeks and rivers.
The workshop will begin promptly at 8:30 am, so plan to arrive in plenty of time to find the building, park and be ready to start on time.
Space is limited. Registration is $10 and includes lunch. To register, please go to the Hill Country Alliance website
This workshop is provided by the Hill Country Alliance, Plateau Land and Wildlife Management, and the Llano River Watershed Alliance.
WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO STOP
The photograph to the left is a combination of two photographs from Google Earth Pro. The two photos are of the exact same scale. The photo of the FM 1980 Collier Sand Works shows what is believed to be a similar operation as to what is proposed in Sandy Creek, although the applications submitted for the work to date do not give precise information as to size of the operation. Later applications may specify with more accuracy but for now this is the best information available. IF later applications are filed with more equipment this composite will be changed to reflect that.
The photograph above does not show the size of the sand mining that will occur in the creek itself or the large mining or truck equipment needed to remove the sand. Steve Nash does not have a lease with any of the land owners adjacent to the location of the mine. Trucks will have to traverse the length of the creek shown here to get to Mr. Nash’s land near the Hwy 71 bridge where it can move from the creek to the sand processing equipment.
Additional photographs here show (above) the sand handling equipment that Collier first said would be moved here in the Spring, and (left) the two waste water pits on the Collier site currently along the Llano river.
These photographs were prepared by Larry Black, a lawyer for many of the landowners most affected by the proposed industrialization of Sandy Creek.
TRAFFIC IMPACT
Gravel truck crash in Spicewood reinforces concern about Texas 71 travel danger
The accident described in the article linked here occurred on a portion of Highway 71 that has four lanes and has high visibility. If Collier Materials is allowed to place a plant on the Nash property right before the Sandy Creek bridge, their trucks would be entering a two-lane portion of the highway. They will be coming out of the Nash property by a bridge that allows no ability to safely evade the increased heavy commercial traffic.
We are not talking about a few trucks. Based on Collier Materials' actual quotes of how much sand they want to remove (between 1000 - 1700 tons per day) that would require from 40 and 68 fully loaded 25-ton capacity trucks a day trying to exit the property and then have to go up a sharp hill on a two-lane portion of 71. Another 40 to 68 empty trucks would need to enter the Nash property every day -- thereby doubling the potential for a tragic accident.
Collier Materials proposes an 8-hour day. Eight hours x 60 minutes = 480 minutes. At 40 trucks per day every 6 minutes a truck will be trying to either enter or leave the property. At 68 trucks per day it's every 3.5 minutes per day. The only way to keep this area safe is to defeat the attempt to industrialize Sandy Creek.
Collier Materials is on record as wanting to extract between 1000 and 1700 tons of sand per day, not for just one year or just two years. They have explicitly stated that they want to do it forever, or until they can't make money on it.
This project affects everyone who travels east from Llano, Kingsland or Sunrise Beach to Horseshoe
Bay or Austin. It affects everyone who travels west from Horseshoe Bay, Blue Lake, Deer Haven, The Trails or Sandy Harbor to Llano or Sunrise Beach.
The supporters of the industrialization of Sandy Creek want us to believe that there will be no increase in risk to the public. The truth is in the math.
HIGHLAND LAKES INFLOWS 12.5% OF HISTORIC AVERAGE LEVELS
MARBLE FALLS — Water inflows so far this year from the Highland Lakes watershed into lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, Travis, and Austin have been just 12.3 percent of historic averages.
July’s inflows, only 1,726 acre-feet of water, were 2 percent of historic July averages. One acre-foot of water is equal to the amount of water in one acre of water at a depth of one foot, or 325,851 gallons.
The Lower Colorado River Authority has published a page on its website, lcra.org/riverforourregion, to highlight water issues in the Highland Lakes.
The area has gone through a dry period from 2008 to 2015 that recorded just 42.6 percent of average yearly inflows from historic averages since 1942. Since 2006, eight of the 12 lowest annual inflow years have occurred. The lowest year for inflows was 2011 with just 127,802 acre-feet recorded.
Excerpts from the Marble Falls Daily Tribune, August 29, 2018
RECENT EVENTS
On Thursday August 16, a presentation by Save Sandy Creek was held at the Sunrise Beach Community Center. The focus of the presentation was to explain how we can work together to assist our neighbors at the mouth of Sandy Creek that need to have sand removed from their waterfront, without the industrialization of Sandy Creek. It was a full house and the audience was engaged. We had numerous elected officials and their representatives in attendance. Several stated that they had gained new information that they were unaware of.
Another image of the August 16 meeting. >
If your organization would like to have representatives from Save Sandy Creek make a presentation at your next meeting, please email us at savesandycreek@outlook.com.
On July 30 2018, members of Save Sandy Creek meet with Congressman Mike Conaway at the Congressman's Town Hall meeting at the Llano Library. L-R: Fermin Ortiz, Congressman Mike Conaway, Jennifer Ortiz, Binky Morgan, Patsy Wiley, Henry Tate, Dave Oswald, John Wiley, Winnie Tate-Morgan
On July 31 2018, Fermin Ortiz, representing Save Sandy Creek, met with our State Representative Andrew Murr in the family ranch house. Fermin was pointing out the area that state agencies have a vested interest and responsibility in protecting from flooding. Fermin was explaining that the residents at the mouth of Sandy Creek can be protected without the industrialization of Sandy Creek. Representative Murr was very interested in pursuing a long term solution.
COMMUNICATION UPDATES
READ THIS LETTER FROM TCEQ TO DISTRICT 53 STATE REPRESENTATIVE ANDY MURR, DATED JULY 24, 2018
READ THIS LETTER FROM A PROFESSIONAL ROAD ENGINEER REGARDING IMPACT ON TRAFFIC
Please take a moment to read this. It is an evaluation by a State Certified Professional Road Engineer regarding the traffic implications and solutions resulting from the proposed industrialization of Sandy Creek.
READ THIS LETTER SUBMITTED TO TCEQ BY THE ATTORNEY REPRESENTING SEVERAL NEIGHBORS OPPOSING THE PLANT
This letter was submitted to TCEQ by Kingsland attorney Larry Black, who represents several families with properties adjacent to the proposed sand mine.
LLANO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OPPOSE THE PLANT
In a vote held Monday July 9, the Llano County Commissioners Court voted to OFFICIALLY OPPOSE the Collier Materials Plant Proposal.
CITY OF SUNRISE BEACH VILLAGE CITY COUNCIL OPPOSES THE PLANT
The City Council of the City of Sunrise Beach Village voted unanimously to OPPOSE the Rock Crusher and Sand & Gravel Plant proposed by Collier Materials Inc. at Sandy Creek in Llano County.
MEDIA UPDATES
The Austin Chronicle
The July 13 edition of the Austin Chronicle features a piece on Save Sandy Creek!
The Texas Observer
The Texas Observer posted this story on July 18!
WHAT CAN I DO?
THE TCEQ COMMENT PERIOD HAS BEEN REOPENED! REGISTER YOUR OPPOSITION WITH THE TCEQ!
Even if you have previously submitted a comment in opposition or have signed a petition, treat this like a RESTART BUTTON. We do not want the TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY to think opposition has gone away. Please get back on the TCEQ website, enter PERMIT NUMBER 152092L001, and state that you are "OPPOSED TO THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF SANDY CREEK." It does not have to be a long or eloquent statement; we just need more numbers to keep fighting for Sandy Creek. Please do it NOW while you are thinking of it! Thank you!!
Here's how:
- Click below to get directly to the TCEQ Comment form
- Then respond to PERMIT NUMBER 152092L001
- On the form, be sure to click "I accept the privacy policy (required to continue) " or your comment won't be recorded. This is critical.
- Suggested text is available at the Save Sandy Creek Facebook page but feel free to use your own words.
SEE THE ACTUAL TCEQ APPLICATION
SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION
TELL YOUR FRIENDS
- WE are a NON-PARTISAN group whose only goal is to stop the Collier Materials Crusher and Sand & Gravel Plant proposed for Sandy Creek.
- WE are ranchers, retirees, families, users of Highway 71, hunters, and other folks whose lives or businesses will be gravely impacted by this project.
Donate Now
Please help us SAVE SANDY CREEK! T-Shirts, bumper stickers, and signs will be available soon. We also accept donations. Please click on the Donate Button below to help us with our mission. All donations will go towards reaching our critical goal of SAVING SANDY CREEK!
