Mansfield concrete plant plans were shot down. Is battle back on after Texas ruling?
Anyone unfamiliar with the heated debates over the impact of concrete batch plants on Texas’ environment could be forgiven for glancing over Item No. 38 on the Sept. 22 meeting agenda. The proposal to amend a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality air pollution rule didn’t stick out among the jargon frequently used by the agency.
But, for a group of Tarrant County homeowners living just outside of Mansfield, the rule change represents an unwelcome new chapter in their three-year battle to block Bosque Solutions from opening a concrete plant in their neighborhood. Many residents worry that the dust and pollution from the plant could cause and exacerbate health issues.
Their unlikely legal victory last November — the first of its kind — and the TCEQ’s decision to reject an air quality permit in June were based on the argument that Bosque Solutions failed to prove its plant would comply with emissions limits set by the TCEQ, particularly when it came to crystalline silica.
Silica is found in sand, which is used at all concrete batch plants, and can lead to increased risk of lung diseases and other ailments if people inhale very small particles, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Before 2012, concrete batch plant applicants were exempt from meeting emissions and distance limits if their permit met all other requirements. Thanks to what TCEQ leaders call a “clerical error,” that exemption was accidentally removed in 2012.
Last week, over the objections of hundreds of Texans and dozens of elected officials who commented on the policy, commissioners Jon Niermann and Bobby Janecka voted unanimously to put the exemption back in Texas environmental code.
More than 800 permits were issued between 2012 and 2021 with the assumption that the exemption was still in place, proving that it was an “inadvertent omission,” Janecka said.
“Our agency processes didn’t materially change in response to the removal in 2012, and it’s all a very strong basis and argument in my mind that it’s a process problem, not a substance problem,” he said. “But I appreciate the opportunity this has given … the concerned public to come forward and to raise flags on the issues where they have growing concerns.”
Roger Hurlbut, who has helped organize the “No Neighborhood Concrete Plant” group in Tarrant County for more than three years, said it’s too early to determine the consequences of the rule change for Mansfield homeowners or other Texans challenging concrete plant permits.
“We do know that by excluding the silica limitations that were in the current rule before the hearing, that’s going to allow more concrete batch plants to be put in and likely exclude people from challenging them successfully,” Hurlbut said. “We’ve seen that with the over 800 of these standard permits that have been approved, and only one was successfully challenged.”
Concerns about TCEQ go statewide
Residents have spent more than $160,000 on legal fees to fight the permit, and there’s still the possibility that Bosque Solutions files another permit application to build at the proposed site at 7327 Gibson Cemetery Road. John Sheffield, the Arlington businessman seeking to construct the plant, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Chuck Crook, an engineer who lives a half mile from the proposed Bosque Solutions site, told commissioners that approving the exemption leaves the door open to individuals who would be “heartless enough” to build a plant near residential neighborhoods or childcare centers.
“If Item 38 is passed as written, it’s morally incorrect,” Crook said. “Under the proposed amendment, there is virtually no protection regarding distance setbacks or protection from silica sand and particulate matter … We applaud the commission for denying Bosque Solutions a permit and ask that the same wisdom be extended to the entire state of Texas.”
Concerns about the exemption weren’t limited to the specifics of the Bosque Solutions case. More than 1,400 Texans and 24 legislators from both sides of the aisle submitted comments asking the TCEQ to slow down the amendment process and allow more time for people to weigh in on the emissions requirements, according to the environmental coalition Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM).
Cliff Kaplan, TRAM’s secretary and a program director for Hill Country Alliance, said the TCEQ rushed through the process as “quickly as legally possible.” The agency announced the amendment on May 28 and accepted public comments until June 29, along with a public meeting on June 28.
“They had the option of making it a slower, more deliberate process and allowing the agency to actually study the implications of this change, and letting advocacy groups know that the changes were taking place,” Kaplan said. “They decided not to allow significant time for that, or any more than they were required to by law.”
Activists from Houston, Austin and other parts of the state demanded a more thorough review of the concrete batch permit’s effectiveness in protecting public health. The agency’s own Office of Public Interest Counsel, which operates independently, recommended not moving forward with the item until more public comments could be collected and questions about crystalline silica emissions at plants could be answered.
Residents opposed to the rule change were also upset that communications about the amendment process were only issued in English, even though many people impacted by pollution from concrete plants live in Spanish-speaking communities, Kaplan said.
‘Not the end of the story’
Niermann, the commission’s chairman, said the TCEQ had to take quick action on the exemption or else face a moratorium, or pause, on issuing permits to concrete batch plants.
The industry’s growth has caused more public concern about pollution issues, and the agency should find a way to engage with Texans to “come to a common understanding of what the science means,” Niermann said.
“I don’t feel like we have the luxury of pausing right now to have that conversation,” Niermann said. “I think it’s going to be a long one, it’s going to require a lot of work, and I think it could perpetuate a moratorium on the operation of these plants. If I believed that there was a risk to public health, I would do this differently.”
Hurlbut was encouraged by the commissioners’ desire to engage with people affected by the more than 1,300 concrete plants permitted to operate in Texas. While he’s not sure about the future of the Mansfield concrete plant, he suspects conversations about how to change policies at the legislative and agency level will continue.
“This is not the end of the story,” Hurlbut said. “This is the beginning. I think there’s been a big awakening the TCEQ was hoping wasn’t going to happen.”
