The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed in a statement to The Daily Wire that it is actively investigating Colony Ridge, the massive housing development northeast of Houston that’s become a magnet for illegal immigrants.
The exact nature of the investigation and the potential violations that the federal agency is looking into remain unclear, with the EPA only confirming that it is actively investigating the sprawling land development.
“Due to the active nature of this investigation, the EPA would be unable to provide a comment,” Joe Robledo, an EPA Press Officer for Region 6, which includes Texas and other neighboring states, told The Daily Wire.
The EPA investigation comes on the heels of a lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) alleging that Colony Ridge engaged in predatory financing practices and bait-and-switch sales.
In addition to the investigation from the EPA and the lawsuit from the DOJ and the CFPB, the New York Post reported that the embattled development is also under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The flurry of investigations comes in the wake of two special legislative session calls from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who called on lawmakers to introduce legislation concerning the development after an investigative report from The Daily Wire.
While it is unclear what exactly the EPA investigation pertains to, Colony Ridge, which is estimated to be home to anywhere from 40,000 to 75,000 people, has come under criticism for its water management practices, with one local researcher alleging that the embattled development flouted a wide range of regulations.
Bob Rehak, who writes at Reduce Flooding, alleged that the development flouted drainage regulations and did not have nearly enough fire hydrants, with several blocks of the neighborhood having none at all.
Rehak, who has extensively documented environmental concerns at the development, also asserted that the water and sewage manager for Colony Ridge dumped 48,000 gallons of fecal-contaminated water into streams that have the potential to flow into Lake Houston, the primary source of drinking water for Houston, America’s fourth most populous city.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality later fined Quadvest, the company serving Colony Ridge, over the dumping of contaminated water.
Meanwhile, the DOJ and CFPB lawsuit also alleges that Colony Ridge took advantage of language barriers to sell unsuspecting customers property that lacked proper electrical and water infrastructure, and that was even located on flood-prone land.
Portions of Colony Ridge even experienced flooding as developer William “Trey” Harris hosted lawmakers in an attempt to rehabilitate the company’s image as it faced severe criticism from lawmakers.
Abbott, who received a combined $1.5 million from Colony Ridge developer William “Trey” Harris and his wife, recently signed legislation allocating $40 million to the Department of Public Safety to patrol the development.
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