This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Amy Dinn, with Lone Star Legal Aid, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Huey German-Wilson, president of Super Neighborhood 48 Trinity and Houston Gardens, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Texas State Senator John Whitmire speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Adrian Garcia, Harris County Commissioner, speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Texas State Rep. Senfronia Thompson speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Texas State Rep. Jarvis Johnson speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
Texas State Senator Borris Miles speaks during a press conference about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will investigate the Texas Commission on Environment Quality’s concrete batch permitting criteria and processes under federal civil rights laws shown Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Houston.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating state environmental regulators accused of civil rights violations that happened when Texas recently updated its standard permit for concrete batch plants — facilities that have plagued communities of color in Houston.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston’s dangerous concrete plants are mostly in communities of color.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials in 2021 amended the basic permit for batch plants, where materials to make concrete are stored and funneled when needed into concrete truck drums. The Harris County Attorney and nonprofit law firm Lone Star Legal Aid challenged the change.
County Attorney Christian Menefee and Lone Star lawyers alleged in separate complaints to the EPA earlier this year that the state agency discriminated against Black and Latino residents when they didn’t adequately ensure communities would be protected and didn’t appropriately seek input from people who aren’t fluent in English.
Local, state and federal leaders celebrated the EPA’s decision to look at the discrimination claims Tuesday. They saw it as a chance to win long-sought relief for people who have suffered from batch plants. Facility operators say the plants are safe and need to be close to construction sites. People near them, concerned for their health, plead for them to go far away.
“Time and again, the TCEQ has approved permits for additional plants in these very same neighborhoods, and failed to ensure that the pollution that comes out of these plants does not harm human health and the environment,” Menefee said. “We’re here today because the TCEQ failed to address these issues when it had the chance.”
TCEQ declined to comment on the investigation.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Aldine residents begged for a chance to stop a concrete plant. They didn't know it was too late.
The state agency changed the general permit for these sites after an attorney pointed out in a contested case for a proposed plant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that companies had to show that their emissions of materials such as quartz dust, known as crystalline silica, complied with state law. TCEQ changed permit requirements so the issue wouldn’t come up again, according to the complaints.
- Despite July lull, experts warn hurricane season will still be plenty busy
- Galveston could flood 210 days of the year by 2050, a new NOAA prediction shows
- Will August heat in Texas beat 2011 records? Here are the numbers to watch.
- Senate approves Ike Dike plan, making full Congressional approval within reach
- Houston, Harris County threaten to sue Union Pacific over Fifth Ward rail yard contamination
In doing so, state environmental regulators failed to give proper notice for those who speak limited English, the complaints said. They also did not do the needed air emissions modeling to be sure the new rules are safe. Menefee’s office argues that pollution from tiny particles, known as particulate matter, doesn’t meet state standards under the permit either.
Both crystalline silica and particulate matter are harmful to humans.
“If you’re going to say this is safe, show us,” said Amy Dinn, managing attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid. “Where’s your modeling?”
Applications are frequently submitted to start up concrete batch plants in the Houston area. They elicit strong backlash from residents who often already know what it’s like to live by one. Residents in Aldine recently packed a room to tell TCEQ not to approve another new plant — only to find out that the deadline had already passed to ask the state agency to escalate the dispute to the next level.
EPA stepping in signaled a shift in that fight for residents who have little more than emotional appeals on their side, and what help they can get from frustrated government representatives.
“This is important to us,” said Huey German-Wilson, president of the Trinity and Houston Gardens Super Neighborhood, “and now we have someone to hear us loud and clear, for the small Black and brown voices in communities that have not been heard.”
Politicians at the news conference slammed the state environmental agency for valuing the needs of industry over the health of people. They said that it took President Joe Biden — a fellow Democrat — winning the White House for federal regulators to put pressure on this issue in the conservative Lone Star State. Recent bills proposed in the state legislature largely floundered.
Neighborhoods with batch plants lack deed restrictions and zoning to protect them, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said. And facilities are often in communities of color — not wealthy, white River Oaks — making what has been happening clear environmental racism, state Sen. Borris Miles said.
Menefee’s office asked the EPA to stop any new standard concrete batch plant permits from being issued until the investigation is finished, he said. A public meeting has been scheduled later this month for residents to weigh in on a plant that’s been proposed in Simonton, a small city west of Houston in rural Fort Bend County.
The politicians gathered were meanwhile clear that they would keep trying to protect residents however they could. County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said they were there “to raise hell.” State Rep. Senfronia Thompson said they would “fight like hell until hell freezes over.”
State Rep. Armando Walle said, “It’s time for TCEQ to do its damn job.”
Emily Foxhall covers the environment for the Houston Chronicle. She joined the paper in 2015 as a suburban reporter. She has documented the city's sprawl while playing a key role in the paper's breaking news and enterprise coverage. Her reconstruction of the Santa Fe High School shooting, along with two other colleagues, won first place for feature writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. She was part of the Chronicle team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2017 for coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Soon after, she began roaming the state as the Texas Storyteller.
A look at the notable events during Deshaun Watson's time in the NFL from when the Texans drafted him to his suspension for violating the league's player conduct policy.