Calls from citizens spurs Uvalde County government officials to investigate the site. Burning scheduled to conclude this Saturday
by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Top Picture by Robinson
10-01-25
If you have been smelling an abnormally high presence of smoke in the air for the past few days, you are not alone.
That acrid smell of smoke particularly noticeable in the morning is likely coming from land clearing happening just east of the Uvalde City Limits near the Hacienda Road and U.S. Highway 90 Intersection at the Nightfall Solar construction site.
Uvalde County resident Rene Nolasco who lives near the Nightfall Solar Project construction site told the Uvalde Hesperian that smoke coming from that location is bad and making it hard for him to breathe. The Uvalde Hesperian received this comment from a Uvalde resident on Saturday, September 27: “It was bad today at Walmart. I had to cover my nose and mouth with my shirt to put gas in the car.”
Another citizen who wanted his/her name to be withheld told the Hesperian: “Smoke is awful. How is it not a health concern? Air Quality who have lung issues already, I feel for them.”
The Hesperian spoke with another local resident who claimed to have been on the site and saw the large burn piles of brush
The Uvalde Hesperian reached out to Nightfall Solar on Monday, September 29th and Tuesday, September 30th through the company’s website asking about the brush burning allegedly coming from their site near Uvalde and have not yet received a response. On Tuesday, September 30th, the Hesperian drove to the entrance of the site and spoke to a company representative named Jesus. He did not provide any information about what was going on there or comment on any burning. The Hesperian provided a business card to him and asked a company representative to make contact.
A local resident who worked for 28 years as a federal and state burn RXB2 Burn Boss spoke with the Hesperian raising his concerns about the burning and the smoke. The person, who is employed locally, asked not to be named due to his current employment with a large organization in Uvalde.
There is no legal burning at night, unless the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) gives you a waiver. You cannot burn under 6 miles per hour (winds) if forecast or over 23 miles per hour. No inversion or near an impact service receptor,” the boss said.
The owner of the Uvalde Hesperian, Michael Robinson spoke at Monday’s September 22nd Commissioners Court Meeting with complaints about the smoke in air. Robinson said, “I’m tired of breathing the smoke.” However, at the time, Robinson mistakenly attributed the smoke to area agricultural burns but later learned that those burns had already happened.
Uvalde County Judge William “Bill” Mitchell called the Uvalde Hesperian today and said, “We did send officers out there from three different agencies, Lieutenant Fred Ratliff with the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Management Coordinator Forest Anderson, and Uvalde County Health Inspector Rick Coggins visited Nightfall Solar site today on separate occasions, Their finding were that the burning appeared to be legal with the possible exception of nighttime burning.
Mitchell went on to say the burning is scheduled to be complete by Saturday, October 4th, 2025
