Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority v. National Wildlife Federation

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: December 13, 2024
• Docket: 15-24-00050-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-24-00050-cv FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 12/13/2024 10:48 AM No. 15-24-00050-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK IN THE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS FILED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS 15th COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM

TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk and GUADALUPE-BLANCO RIVER AUTHORITY, Appellants,

v.

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION, Appellee.

On Appeal from the 98th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Texas, Cause No. D-1-GN-20-007096

TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY’S FIRST UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE APPELLANTS’ REPLY BRIEFS

TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS:

Pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 10.5(b) and Tex. R. App. P. 38.6(d),

Appellant, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

(Commission), files this Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File

Appellants’ Reply Briefs, and in support thereof would respectfully show

as follows:

1. Appellants’ reply briefs are currently due on December 31, 2024.

1 2. The Commission requests a 28-day extension for Appellants, the

Commission and Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA), to file their

respective reply briefs on January 28, 2025.

3. This is the Commission’s first request for an extension to file its

reply brief.

4. This requested extension is needed in light of balancing counsel,

staff, and clients’ holiday vacation schedules, as well as counsel’s

workload in other pending matters. Additionally, lead counsel for the

Commission will be leaving employment with the Office of the Attorney

General at the end of this month. An extension is needed to effectively

transition the case to new lead counsel.

5. The extension will allow counsel to adequately prepare a brief that

would be helpful and informative to the Court.

6. Counsel for the Commission has conferred with counsel for

Appellant GBRA and counsel for Appellee National Wildlife Federation,

who do not oppose the requested extension of time.

7. This extension is not sought for purposes of delay, but so that justice

may be done.

2 PRAYER

For these reasons, Appellant the Commission respectfully requests

that the Court grant this motion to extend the time for filing Appellants

the Commission and GBRA’s reply briefs until January 28, 2025.

Respectfully submitted,

KEN PAXTON Attorney General of Texas

BRENT WEBSTER First Assistant Attorney General

RALPH MOLINA Deputy First Assistant Attorney General

JAMES LLOYD Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation

KELLIE E. BILLINGS-RAY Chief, Environmental Protection Division

/s/ Erin K. Snody ERIN K. SNODY Assistant Attorney General State Bar No. 24093056 Erin.Snody@oag.texas.gov

KATIE B. HOBSON Assistant Attorney General State Bar No. 24082680 Katie.Hobson@oag.texas.gov

3 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Environmental Protection Division P.O. Box 12548, MC-066 Austin, Texas 78711-2548 (512) 463-2012 | Fax: (512) 320-0911

ATTORNEYS FOR TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

Pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 10.1(a)(5), I certify that I have conferred with counsel for all parties to this case regarding this Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellants’ Reply Briefs, and they have apprised me that their clients do not oppose extending the deadlines for briefing as explained in the motion.

/s/ Erin K. Snody Erin K. Snody

4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

On December 13, 2024, a true and correct copy of the Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellants’ Reply Briefs was served upon the following counsel of record by email or the Court’s electronic filing manager:

Marisa Perales marisa@txenvirolaw.com PERALES, ALLMON & ICE, P.C. 1206 San Antonio Street Austin, Texas 78701

Counsel for Appellee National Wildlife Federation

Samia Broadaway Samia.Broadaway@bakerbotts.com Molly Cagle Molly.Cagle@bakerbotts.com John Ormiston John.Ormiston@bakerbotts.com BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 401 S. 1st Street, Suite 1300 Austin, Texas 78704

Macey Reasoner Stokes Macey.Stokes@bakerbotts.com BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 910 Louisiana Street Houston, Texas 77002

Counsel for Appellant Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

5 Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system. The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Laura Courtney on behalf of Erin Snody Bar No. 24093056 laura.courtney@oag.texas.gov Envelope ID: 95289146 Filing Code Description: Motion Filing Description: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's First Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellants Reply Briefs Status as of 12/13/2024 11:22 AM CST

Associated Case Party: Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Macey ReasonerStokes macey.stokes@bakerbotts.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Molly Cagle 3591800 molly.cagle@bakerbotts.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Samia Broadaway 24088322 samia.broadaway@bakerbotts.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

John Ormiston 24121040 john.ormiston@bakerbotts.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Associated Case Party: National Wildlife Federation

Marisa Perales 24002750 marisa@txenvirolaw.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Claire Hamerlinck claire@txenvirolaw.com 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Associated Case Party: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Erin Snody erin.snody@oag.texas.gov 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Katie B.Hobson katie.hobson@oag.texas.gov 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT

Case Contacts

Laura Courtney laura.courtney@oag.texas.gov 12/13/2024 10:48:32 AM SENT