By Carolyn Stone
Monday Feb. 06, 2023 @ 7:00 PM the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) held a public hearing to receive comments from community members regarding Houston Crushed Concrete’s (HCC) application for TCEQ Air Permit #170524 at the Holiday Inn Houston East, 16311 East Freeway, Channelview, TX 77530. The hearing was conducted by TCEQ Carol Warren and other representatives of TCEQ, and Houston Crushed Concrete Director Tyler Williams, HCC Engineer Ventaka Godasi, and an attorney for HCC.
Houston Crushed Concrete is a Concrete and Soil Stabilization facility located at 2715 Appelt Dr., Houston, TX 77015 and has applied for an air permit to operate their pugmill. According to Thompson Rock, a manufacturer of pugmills, pugmills are mixers that mix multiple materials into a homogeneous mixture very rapidly. Industrial pugmills are powerful, reliable solutions for continuous mixing process, particularly those with abrasive aggregates (crushed rock and cement). Pugmills are suitable for producing mineral mixtures for road base, Roller Compacted Concrete, landfill bentonite liners and for drying sludges with reagents. Thompson Rock’s pugmill offered production rates of 50 to 1000 tons per hour; it is unknown what the HCC production rate will be. How does a continuous pugmill differ from a (cement) batch mixer? In a batch mixer, all ingredients are charged into the mixer in a predefined sequence, and then mixed, discharged and the charging process begins again. In a continuous mixer or pugmill, the material is constantly entering and exiting the mixer.
According to the public notice of the application for the HCC permit #170524, the facility when operating will emit particulate matter (dust) with diameters of 10 microns (PM10) or less and 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5). Approximately five PM10 particles could sit on the width of a strand of hair and strand of hair is thirty times larger than a PM2.5 particle. The size of the particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Particles less than 10 microns in diameter pose the greatest problems because they can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to a variety of problems, including premature death in people with heart or lung disease, nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and lung cancer, increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing, and premature delivery, low birth weight and birth defects. People with heart or lung diseases, children, and older adults are the most likely to be affected by particle pollution exposure.
Although air is not stationary and air pollutants can travel great distances, the neighborhoods of Marwood, Channelview, and Cloverleaf lie within a one mile radius of the HCC facility. These neighborhoods are already impacted by several rock crushing, cement, construction and industrial facilities already producing heavy particulate matter. HCC Director Williams provided that the closest resident is mile from the facility. Several of the attendees from these neighborhoods and other Cloverleaf and Channelview neighborhoods were completely unaware of the facility, the air permit, and the public hearing until shortly before the hearing started, hearing about it on the evening news and rushing to make it to the hearing. These community members were upset that they had not received notification sooner and felt the non-notice had denied many of their family, neighbors, and other community members the opportunity to attend the hearing and to offer their comments. Those community members who had received notice, received their notice either via a mailer which was sent out by Air Alliance Houston, or by attending the Channelview Health & Improvement Coalition (C.H.I.C.) January meeting, or by emails sent out by C.H.I.C. and HC Precinct 2 Community Liaison Cindy Miller. TCEQ nor Houston Concrete had directly notified community members. TCEQ had posted the public notice to their website, which few are aware of, and the TCEQ website is very difficult to navigate.
The public hearing was held in two sessions. The first was an informal discussion period where attendees could ask questions of Houston Crushed Concrete and TCEQ. During the second session, community members were allowed to make any comments they wanted to be part of the official records. Also, during the second session TCEQ and HCC only listened to the comments and were not allowed to make any responses. A translator was provided for those who needed one during both sessions. Questions and responses during the informal discussion did not become part of the official record for the HCC permit.
Through questions from the attendees during this period it was disclosed that 1) the Appelt location was chosen because HCC felt it would be the most profitable location for them, 2) there would be no daily air monitoring to determine if HCC was exceeding the permit limits; air monitoring would only be conducted once a quarter, 3) dust control measures HCC planned to utilize was the construction of asphalt paved roadways and the use of road sweepers, 4) there will be no testing of the materials being crushed for asbestos or anything else for contamination, HCC will only test their employees, 5) HCC’s provided description of a pugmill was a pugmill is a silo, this simple description did not align with community members understanding and Thompson Rock’s description of a pugmill, and 6) the facility would not be operated at night due to the associated dangers.
During the second session official record period, attendees chastised the TCEQ for not, in their opinion, performing their duty of protecting the community members health and environment, and for disregarding the accumulative effects of permitting multiple polluting facilities in the area, describing the multiple health issues they, their children, family members, and friends were already experiencing, and directed comments to HCC regarding their lack of concern for the impacts they would be burdening the communities of Marwood, Channelview, and Cloverleaf with in the name of company profits. Not one community member offered comments in support of the HCC facility and the granting of the air permit; all were adamantly opposed.
Excerpts from both sessions of the hearing can be view on Air Alliance Houston’s FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/AirAlliance-HOU/ or on their Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/airalliancehou.
During the Official comment period resident and C.H.I.C.’s Carolyn Stone and HC Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s Environmental Director Kristen Lee requested TCEQ extend the time for the submitting of comments due to the many statements by attendees of being unaware of the facility, permit, and TCEQ public hearing until just a few minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start. Both requested the support of Rep. Ana Hernandez and Senator Carol Alvarado in the request for extension of the comment period, which was provided. Also, following the hearing Carolyn Stone spoke with Rep. Hernandez requesting a second public hearing should the extension of the comment period be granted, since Rep. Hernandez’s office was instrumental in arranging the Feb. 6th public hearing. Rep. Hernandez felt a second hearing would be a possibility if the extension was granted.
If a comment extension period is granted, TCEQ will issue a letter providing the extension period. So far, the TCEQ has not granted the extension. If you are interested in being notified of the extension you can either contact Rep. Hernandez’s Galena Park office at 713-675- 8596, or her Austin office at 512 463-0614, or by emailing C.H.I.C. at C.H.I.C.77530@gmail.com to be put on C.H.I.C.’s email list, which will share the comment extension and a second public hearing information should it be granted. In alternative, you can submit your comments to TCEQ in hopes TCEQ will consider your comments and add them to the official record. You may submit public comments either in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC- 105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, or electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/. Make sure you reference Houston Crushed Concrete and permit #170524. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address, will become part of the agency’s public record.
In attendance at the public hearing to hear the community comments were Rep. Ana Hernandez and Adrianna Hernandez from Rep. Hernandez’s office, a representative from Sen. Carol Alvarado’s office, several representatives from HC Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s office, Jose Medrano Dir. External Affairs, Kristen Lee Dir. Environmental, Cindy Miller North Channel Liaison, TCEQ representatives Carol Warren and others, HCC representatives Tyler Williams Director, Ventaka Godasi Engineer and an attorney for HCC, and Air Alliance representatives Jose Flores Air Monitoring Program Manager, Genesis Granados Environmental Justice Outreach Coordinator, Alonda Torres Climate Justice Coordinator. Rep. Hernandez, Adrianna Hernandez, and the representative from Senator Alvarado’s office returned to our area from their duties in Austin so that they could hear the community member’s comments.