After three years of hearings and pushback from residents, state officials voted down an air quality permit that would have allowed a company to operate a concrete batch plant in south Tarrant County.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to dismiss with prejudice an air quality permit sought by J7 Ready Mix LLC.
A dismissal with prejudice prevents the company from attempting an environmental permit at the same site. J7 was looking to operate a concrete mixer near homes at 5428 Farm to Market 1187 in Burleson near Rendon.
Commission chair Brooke T. Paup cited the company’s failure to formally rescind its application and participate in the contested case process requested by residents as part of the decision to dismiss the case.
A representative with J7 did not respond to the Fort Worth Report’s request for comment.
J7 filed its application for an air quality permit in May 2023. Months later, over 200 residents, including those living within hundreds of feet of the proposed site, attended a meeting hosted by the state environmental commission to make their concerns and opposition to the concrete mixer known.
The state environmental commission also received comments from just over 570 people, the agency’s database shows.
Sean Ashman and his family live about 20 yards from the original planned site of the batch plant. He does not oppose concrete mixers entirely, but doesn’t find a neighborhood fitting for industrial operations.
State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, addresses Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff during a Dec. 11, 2023, public meeting at Mansfield’s Anchora Event Center. Cook opposed a concrete batch plant permit, citing its negative impact on health and quality of life for Rendon residents. (Emily Wolf | Fort Worth Report)
“They just need to find a way to keep them away from communities,” Ashman told the Report earlier this month.
Since 2023, residents voiced worries about how J7 was complying with environmental permitting laws. State Rep. David Cook told the Report in 2023 that J7 initially acted in bad faith by not meeting public notice requirements for its application.
While a permit notice was later published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, J7 also failed to publish a notice on the preliminary hearing held last year, Paup said.
Rendon resident Brandon McElroy, Ashman and hundreds of residents have been vocal about how the plant could have had harmful impacts on air quality and public health.
“It’s long term. It’s not just, even if they say, eight hours a day, five days a week,” Ashman said. “That’s eight hours a day, five days a week of the pollution, the dust, the noise.”
The permit authorizes operations emitting or producing particulate matter with diameters between 2.5 to 10 microns. If inhaled, exposure to particulate matter or debris this size can cause several health issues, such as aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and increased respiratory symptoms, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Residents were getting ready to attend a preliminary hearing scheduled for May when a representative of J7 informed state environmental officials via email in April that the company was no longer seeking the permit, according to official documents.
In June, McElroy was joined by 15 others in a motion to vote down the case, requesting state environmental regulators prevent the company from seeking a permit at the same location.
The case put residents through “a stressful and costly” process, the motion reads.
“J7’s careless actions and failure to pursue its application provide compelling grounds for dismissal with prejudice to bring final resolution for Mr. McElroy and the other protestants,” the document states.
Days after that motion was filed, an administrative law judge issued a recommendation to state environmental commissioners to deny J7 the permit, adding the condition that the company cannot reseek operations at the Burleson site.
Similar to civil court, an administrative law judge from the State Office of Administrative Hearings issues rulings on contested case hearings granted by the environmental commission.
Rulings are issued for commissioners’ recommendation when cases go up for a vote.
The fight doesn’t stop there for McElroy.
Although J7 will not be able to pursue an environmental permit for the Burleson site, the ruling does not stop other developers, McElroy said.
With help from his nonprofit, Green Air Solutions, McElroy and other group members plan to meet with local legislators to prevent developers from walking away from permits free of repercussions. McElroy established the organization in 2023 to raise money for legal fees as residents fought the case.
“TCEQ allows these applicants to go about their day. … There’s no penalty to them,” McElroy said. “And here we are on the hook, having to spend our hard-earned money.”
The group also plans on calling on legislators to implement more restrictions on sites where industrial developers can operate.
“Something still needs to be changed,” McElroy said.
Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
The Report’s environment coverage is supported by the Marilyn Brachman Hoffman Foundation.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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