Culberson County officials heard new details on Monday about a potential 500 person “man camp” housing facility for border wall workers south of Van Horn.
A representative from Cushing Terrell Engineering, Luke LaLiberty, briefed commissioners on the development of a “workforce housing camp,” but did not say who his firm is working for. County Judge Carlos Urias told Marfa Public Radio on Tuesday it is his understanding that the man camp is related to the Trump administration’s plan for a border wall through Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties.
Commissioners took no action on the discussion-only agenda item Monday.
The man camp was first discussed in a Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District meeting last month. The CEO of Pecan Grove Farms, Pepe Guevara, is seeking the district’s permission to provide water to the camp. The facility would be on land owned by Pecan Grove Farms along US 90 and FM 1523 in the Lobo Valley.
LaLiberty told commissioners that the man camp would consist of 500 pads for mobile housing units on 120 acres of leased property. He said workers will remain in the area for 24 months for “regional labor needs.”
LaLiberty said the water supply for the facility would come from an existing well on the land. The groundwater district is currently considering whether to enter into a settlement agreement with Guevara that would allow him to use the remainder of his permitted annual water allotment — roughly 1,000 acre-feet — for commercial uses for the facility.
Guevara has previously said the man camp would consume about 25,000 gallons of water per day. LaLiberty said a preliminary test showed the well can “sustain at the pumping rate” required.
For wastewater, the man camp would use a “centralized water treatment facility” or wastewater pond, LaLiberty told commissioners. The owner of the land may elect to keep the wastewater system or retire it after the 24 month period, he said.
Because the development would have more than 25 water taps, it would be deemed a “public water supply” subject to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regulations.
LaLiberty said the company building the facility plans to have “minimal impact” on the property and would ensure water, wastewater and stormwater systems are in compliance with state regulations.
“ We're still in the early stages of the actual layout and development, design, engineering of this, but we are working on the water system, wastewater system,” he said.
LaLiberty said his firm is also in talks with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to get approval to use two access points from a state road bordering the man camp.
When asked by county officials where crews would be traveling and if this would be the main man camp for the entirety of the Big Bend border wall project — which spans approximately 175 miles across several counties — LaLibery said he didn’t know where workers would be going.
“ We do have some initial traffic impacts that we've talked with the client about and I know that not all of them will be traveling the same direction coming out of the camp,” he said.
While the county does not have any development permits in place that the facility’s owners would need to apply for, LaLiberty is set to collaborate with local officials on floodplain analysis and 911 addressing for the man camp. Judge Urias told LaLiberty in the meeting that, as of Monday, his emergency management coordinator had not received an application for 911 addressing of the man camp.
LaLiberty said construction of the man camp is estimated to take around three to four weeks once plans are finalized.
Commissioner Gilda Morales peppered LaLiberty with several tough questions after his presentation — about whether the man camp would have security, whether the workers would have health insurance and where exactly they would be coming from — the answers to which he said were “not in the scope” of his contract.
She pressed LaLiberty, who said he lives in Helena, Montana, to take a personal position on the border wall project, noting that, according to his Facebook profile, he enjoys outdoor activities like “hunting, hiking and fishing.”
“ Would you like a 500-man camp in your backyard?” she asked.
Several Big Bend area locals who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting expressed concern that an influx of 500 workers would put a strain on the rural area’s already limited resources — from ambulances to law enforcement to the local aquifer.
Terlingua resident and business owner Jessica Barthko urged commissioners to understand the long term implications of the man camp being built.
“ This is not temporary progress, it is permanent destruction,” Barthko said. “You are talking about placing an industrial workforce camp in a remote resource-strained and environmentally fragile region in America, and all to support a border wall project that all local communities have repeatedly opposed.”
The Lobo Valley consists of both large and small land holdings, meaning the man camp would have several neighbors, some of whom complained to county officials about excessive dust in the air from the grading of the site.
Nearby resident Michelle Lamond told commissioners on Monday she isn’t “100% for” the border wall project, but she had personally spoken to contractors involved who assured her the man camp would be stringently monitored and managed.
“ They're not gonna play,” Lamond said. “This is a government contract. You mess with it, you're in trouble, from what I've been told.”
In an interview, County Judge Carlos Urias said the town of Van Horn has dealt with influxes of temporary workers for pipeline projects in the past. He said there is currently a man camp north of the town for crews working on road improvements to FM 2185, and the border wall housing facility would only add to the town’s inundation.
“ That man camp is bringing in about a third of the people that are here in Van Horn,” Urias said. “That's adding pressure to our infrastructure. It sure is. They don't see it. They don't care.”
Urias said Culberson County continues to face rising infrastructure pressures, with previous data center proposals and now the border wall man camp, leading him to explore the possibility of creating some kind of development permit. But, for now, the local groundwater district is the only thing standing in the way of the man camp being built. The district is set to discuss the matter again this Thursday.
“ We have to protect our water. We really do. Water's just like oil - it's just as precious,” Urias said. “That aquifer over there in Lobo is dwindling. It is consistently - year in and year out - going down.”
This reporting was made possible by generous donations from supporters like you. Please consider making a donation to Marfa Public Radio to fund the journalism you rely on.
