Fort Worth leaders approved a zoning change Tuesday allowing power distributor Oncor to expand a substation in the Echo Heights neighborhood amid backlash from residents.
City Council members voted 7-3 in favor of Oncor’s request to rezone 5 acres of residential land to industrial use and its conditional use permit. The company plans on adding two transformers to the electrical substation at the intersection of Parker Henderson and Maxey roads.
The new equipment would add to the two transformers currently operating at the site. Power substations make up the electrical grid and transmit electricity to nearby properties, including homes and businesses.
Council member Jeanette Martinez, whose district covers the predominantly Black and Hispanic Echo Heights neighborhood, voted in favor of the zoning change on the condition that there is no further industrial use on the site.
The expansion comes out of a need to meet increased power demands in the area, Oncor project manager Ashton Miller told council members. The electric provider has owned and operated the substation since the 60s.
Echo Heights residents and environmental advocates asked council members to deny the change, citing concerns about health issues.
How does electric delivery impact the environment?
The most significant environmental impacts of electricity delivery relate to how the power is generated, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, the transmission of electricity can affect the environment in other ways:
Nearby trees and plants must be maintained to keep them from contacting wires. On some lines, herbicides may be used to control vegetation.
Power lines and their access roads in undeveloped areas can disturb natural areas, such as forests or wetlands.
Caleb Roberts, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Downwinders at Risk, questioned the need for expanded power operations.
“We have increased energy demands. I wonder if that’s because of all the industry in Echo Heights. It builds on itself,” Roberts said.
Letitia Wilbourn, a leader of the Echo Heights Stop Six Environmental Coalition, said residents, including children, are suffering from chronic illness caused by air pollution emitted from industrial facilities in the area.
Over 100 parcels of land in Echo Heights have undergone zoning changes from residential to industrial, Wilbourn said.
Also situated in the southeast neighborhood is a FedEx truck and storage site. In June, residents called on Fort Worth officials to deny the delivery company from extending a permit to operate in the area. Community members urged city officials to consider the storage site’s impact on the neighborhood’s health and safety.
“At some point, you all are going to have to put your foot down and say no,” Wilbourn told the council Tuesday.
Miller said the old equipment at the site will be replaced with modern transformers that produce less noise. No environmental concerns or risks were identified in a study conducted by Oncor, Miller added.
Oncor operates an electrical substation, pictured March 11, in Echo Heights in southeast Fort Worth. (Nicole Lopez | Fort Worth Report)
Opponents cited a lack of regulation from the city on the fast-growing industrial presence in the neighborhood.
Echo Heights Neighborhood Association vice president Chris Jones said members of the group wanted residents to meet with Oncor representatives so they could learn more about the expansion.
Although recommended by Martinez, that meeting never happened, Jones said.
“Echo Heights is not opposed to reliable infrastructure,” Jones said. “Our concern is ensuring that projects affecting our neighborhood are following a process that allows residents to be informed, ask questions and participate meaningfully before a final decision is made.”
Jaime Perkins, an environmental advocate and organizer in North Texas, scrutinized council members about a lack of planning and care for the Echo Heights community. He said city leaders failed to consider the magnitude of industrial expansion allowed in neighborhoods and to hold business officials accountable.
“No one is denying that energy is necessary. But it is not necessary that companies get a free pass to site projects in the same communities,” Perkins said. “This meeting should not be the end of this conversation. It should be the beginning of deeper scrutiny.”
Miller, however, told Martinez at the meeting it is not uncommon for substations to be located in neighborhoods.
Speakers also pointed to other issues, questioning how Echo Heights fits into the city’s planning and business regulation.
For example, Echo Heights residents previously asked to meet with city officials to discuss how environmental justice would be incorporated into Fort Worth’s long-term planning approach, the 2050 comprehensive plan. The several-hundred page document acts as the city’s guide for reviewing zoning cases, identifying budget priorities and establishing development standards, among other responsibilities.
Residents met with Fort Worth planners last year, but officials created a committee that did not include members of the Echo Heights community, Wilbourn told the Fort Worth Report.
Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
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