Fort Bend residents oppose TCEQ permit for concrete plant

LaRalle Walters says she cannot trust the air quality in Houston. When she and her family first moved to the area a little more than a year ago, a doctor told her to live outside Harris County, in the country, because her 4-year-old son has asthma. So, the family settled in Fort Bend County’s Caldwell neighborhood, just south of Arcola and west of Iowa Colony.

Then, in June, she learned a company named Julpit Inc. had applied for an air quality permit through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a new rock and concrete crushing plant, which breaks down hunks of concrete, rock and asphalt for construction and development.

Such facilities are known to emit tiny dust particles known as “particulate matter” that are linked to respiratory illness and heart disease.

The plant being planned by Julpit would be less than two miles from Walters’ house.

“We moved to the outskirts so my son could breathe,” Walters said. “Now these facilities are coming from the city and expanding outward. I’m highly concerned.”

There are more than 100 aggregate facilities, including rock crushing plants and concrete batch plants, in the Houston area.

For years, residents, environmental activists, state and local officials and public health experts have criticized what they consider the TCEQ’s lack of protective regulations and the industry’s disproportionate impact on Black and brown communities. The number of aggregate facilities in Harris County alone has led activists to call for the industry to stop building in the Houston area completely.

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The proposed Julpit crushing plant will be the second aggregate facility in the immediate area; a hot mix plant that creates asphalt is just north of the proposed site. With development in the area rapidly expanding, residents say they fear the construction of a second plant will create a precedent for more aggregate facilities to come their way.

Fort Bend County is one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, according to the most recent U.S. Census data, with the county expected to double in size by 2050. Housing developments, such as Caldwell and Sienna Point, have sprouted with more construction on the way, setting the rural landscape on a well-worn path to suburbia.

Increasing northbound traffic along the two-lane FM 521 already is beginning to slow in the evenings as it flows past fields, trees and a growing number of signs reading “Stop the rock crushing plant.”

POWER Engineering, the agency representing Julpit, did not respond to requests for comment, but staff at an air quality permit public meeting hosted by the TCEQ earlier this week said one reason the facility is being built nearby is to help supply material for the area’s rapid growth.

Walters isn’t buying it.

“I don’t think they need the facility,” she said. “There are so many already in Houston. They just see us as up-and-coming and are making a money grab.”

Tuesday night, a standing-room-only crowd packed into the auditorium of Restoration City Life Center to hear from and question TCEQ and staff representatives from POWER Engineering and Julpit.

What started as a calm question-and-answer session between residents and those on the stage quickly turned sour amid rising tensions over the proposed air quality permit.

By state law, every aggregate facility needs a TCEQ-approved air quality permit. State Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, requested the TCEQ meeting for residents to submit comments about the proposed crushing plant.

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Residents expressed concerns Tuesday about dust, health issues and water safety. Others asked more directly: how do we stop this plant from moving in?

There have been only four examples in which companies halted plans to build aggregate plants in the Houston area. In one high profile case, a concrete mixing company pulled out from Acres Homes in 2020, following two years of vocal community opposition. Last year, a concrete company withdrew its planned expansion in Aldine after the community pushed back.

The TCEQ, however, never has denied an air quality permit, said Anthony D’Souza, a researcher and policy coordinator for Air Alliance Houston, a Houston-based environmental nonprofit

“The TCEQ will always approve the permit,” D’Souza said. “After the public comment period, it will take the agency two to four months to respond, which will probably be an approval, and then we can appeal the decision and ask for a hearing. We just try to hold off the plant for as long as we can.”

The more community engagement, the better, D’Souza said, heartened by the big crowd at Tuesday’s meeting.

Rock and concrete crushing facilities generally are larger than the more typical concrete batch plants, D’Souza said. The plants hold stockpiles of aggregates – gravel, sand and stone – on their sites and the pollution can come from the aggregate itself and the heavy machinery used to crush the material.

“The closer you live to the plant, such as a quarter mile, the worse the pollution can be,” D’Souza said. “But depending on wind patterns and weather, the dust can blow further out and can be mixed with the dust from other plants.”

The TCEQ does not consider the cumulative risk of multiple aggregate plants in the same area when weighing whether to grant an air quality permit.

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Larry Deavers, an engineer representing Julpit at the meeting, said he had no concerns about the proximity of the plant to the nearby neighborhoods.

“I’ve been in Houston for 50 years. I’m a registered engineer, professional engineer of the state of Texas,” Deavers told the crowd. “I probably put up one of the first rock crushing plants in the Houston area. If this same plant was put 1,350 feet from my house, I’d be happy with it.”

The comment sent the crowd into an uproar, with some raising homemade signs with phrases etched on them like “Protect our families” and “air traffic pollution, no thank you.”

“I would,” Deavers yelled out. “I’m telling the truth!”

For many residents in this part of Fort Bend County, the concern is that the area is not developed enough for industry like the rock crushing plant. As many as 10 trucks could be coming and going from the facility every hour, according to Julpit representatives. Already, residents say, traffic has been building up in the community.

“We just don’t have the infrastructure to support something like this,” said Adriana Stallions, a resident who lives near the site of the proposed plant off FM 521 near the border of Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. “We don’t have the same kind of resources as the west side of the county. I mean, we just got a new high school and we don’t even have a public library.”

Fort Bend County is 60 percent undeveloped, but rapidly expanding. In a bid to stay ahead, voters passed a $865 million mobility and park bond last fall for roads and infrastructure, and the county is planning to expand the Fort Bend County Toll Road over the Brazos River in Sienna.

“Areas north and east like Sugar Land are fully developed or being redeveloped, but as you move south and west, there is room for more development,” said Carlos Guzman, Fort Bend’s economic development director. “Obviously, you can never really build roads fast enough, but that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Ultimately, Guzman said even with all the growth, he hopes the county will stay the same and “keep Fort Bend special.”

Residents fighting the plant have a similar feeling.

Stallions, 35, already had moved due to environmental concerns once before when she lived near the Blue Ridge Landfill near Shadow Creek Ranch. After five years there, she and her husband sold their house due to the smell, frequent headaches and other issues.

“We’d file complaint after complaint after complaint and TCEQ wouldn’t do anything,” she said. “We ended up giving up that fight, but now we’re afraid it’ll happen again. Are we going to be driven out of another house, another home? Are we going to have to uproot our kids again?”

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by Elena Bruess, Houston Landing August 22, 2024

Elena Bruess covers the environment for the Houston Landing. She comes to Houston after two years at the San Antonio Express-News, where she covered the environment, climate and water. Elena previously... More by Elena Bruess