Welcome to June 2025!

There’s a lot going on! Perhaps the busiest social calendar of the year in Lamar county outside of the Christmas holidays.
While we enjoy concerts, foreign corporations are working hard to gain access to our land for their own profiteering.

This is a common legal phrase that indicates that delays could result in significant harm or consequences.

We need to pressure our commissioner’s court NOW to put measures in place that “sour the milk” for developers of “green energy” projects.

Van Zandt County has a Temporary Restraining Order in place to ensure fire safety standards are met before B.E.S.S. systems can be moved into the county.

Savoy and Fannin County are forming a 391 Regional Planning Commission to ensure the health and wellbeing of their residents.

Our commissioners are not yet working for us because we’ve not given them the tools. They’ve been swayed by outsiders that there’s nothing they can do to prevent these projects from going forward. We need to provide them with documentation and tools they can use to work on our behalf.

Nuisance laws are an option our commissioners haven’t been willing to use because they believe we don’t want them. Call your commissioner and let them know we can and should carefully implement them. See our post on the subject

1. Texas Transportation Code 251.003, 251.016, 251.017 –
   a. The county can enter into a Road Use Agreement with the company outside
   of any tax abatement for them to have access to and fix the roads if they
   intend to heavily use them.
   b. Road use restrictions – The commissioners court can put restrictions on
   county roads. Weight limit, vehicle size, etc.
2. Fire Safety – Local Government Code – County Fire Marshal – 352.016, 352.019
   a. The county fire marshal can inspect BESS facilities for fire/electrical code
   compliance, even without existing county fire codes
   b. The county fire marshal can enforce (with legal action) national safety
   standards:
   i. NFPA 70 – National Electrical Code
   ii. NFPA 855 – Energy Storage Systems standard

County Judge Bell has argued that Lamar County must offer additional tax abatements to Mockingbird Solar for its proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility in order to retain any control over road maintenance or fire safety oversight.

However, this claim is inaccurate. Under Texas Transportation Code Sections 251.003, 251.016, and 251.017, the county already has the authority to require Road Use Agreements, restrict road access, and mandate road repairs for any private entity using county infrastructure—regardless of tax abatements.

Likewise, under Local Government Code Sections 352.016 and 352.019, the county fire marshal is empowered to inspect BESS facilities for fire and electrical safety hazards and to enforce compliance with national standards, including NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code) and NFPA 855 (Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems), even if no county fire code has been adopted.

Therefore, tax abatements are not legally or practically necessary for the county to regulate roads or ensure fire safety at the proposed BESS site.

Several members of our team are willing to go to your event and present what we know about these “green energy” projects and what we can do to help our commissioners protect us.

Thanks to Robert for his contribution to this post.