“Roads and bridges, and everything we do in our lives and what we experience is supported by a foundation of concrete,” he said. “You’re mixing water, cement, sand and some rock together, so it’s not that bad a thing,” Leftwich said.
But the Environmental Protection Agency says concrete manufacturing is the third-largest industrial source of pollution. Kathryn Bazan, the vice chair of the Dallas Sierra Club’s Eco Action and Conservation Committee, said the plants are also known sources of air pollutants like particulate matter and sulfur dioxide. Some plants in Dallas may also be too close to residential areas, schools, parks and other public places. That’s why the city is considering a few changes in how it deals with concrete batch plants.
In November, the Environment and Sustainability committee outlined a few ways the city could better protect public health while also supporting Dallas’ need for concrete and asphalt.
Paula Blackmon, City Council member and chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, said the process for dealing with these plants is “fragmented.”
“We can’t continue placing batch plants into communities with the least resistance and in the dead of the night without no one knowing,” Blackmon said.
Right now, temporary concrete or asphalt batch plants are allowed in most zoning districts in Dallas, according to city staff. This includes residential districts as long as the plant is approved by the building official and screening and buffering criteria are met.
Staff with the Planning and Urban Design Department are working on an amendment to the city’s zoning code for concrete batch plants. They want the code to be aligned with Dallas’ Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan by “ensuring new industries are an appropriate distance away from neighborhoods,” city staff said in a memo last week.
The city is trying to tackle this in two phases. First, they want to a specific use permit process for these industrial land uses. This public hearings before the City Plan Commission and the City Council would be required before any new plants are permitted.
The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee and City Plan Commission are considering these changes this week. If they’re approved, they could go to the City Council for consideration in April.“Most operators want to be good partners with their communities that they’re in and be good neighbors.” – Josh Leftwich, Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association
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Then, for four to six months, the city will review its regulations and collect public comment to develop new rules for concrete and asphalt batch plants.
The changes could include new definitions to land use categories and minimum distances between plants and from residential areas, schools, daycares, parks and other public spaces. The city could also change performance standards for the plants “based on best management practices for storm water run-off and noxious pollutants and emissions.”
But Leftwich said the idea that there’s a lack of oversight in their industry is a misconception. He said they have to go through rigorous permitting processes involving multiple federal, state and city departments. He said these processes also consider the environmental impact of the plants. Leftwich said if everything is done right, there shouldn’t be any particulate matter exposure to people outside the plant.
“Most operators want to be good partners with their communities that they’re in and be good neighbors,” Leftwich said.
Asked how bad actors could cut corners in ways that might put people at risk and how to police those bad actors, Leftwich said: “I try not to get into good actors and bad actors. I think the state has a regulatory agency in place to oversee. The state comes and does inspections of our facilities. They make sure that requirements are being met.
"It’s hard to operate a plant and not take into account, too, all the requirements. … If people are doing their jobs correctly under their operating requirements, they will be doing the right thing."
But when it comes to the locations of these plants, Leftwich said operators are limited on what they can do. If there’s an area of town that’s being developed, that concrete has to come from somewhere, Leftwich said, and it can’t be too far away from where it’s needed.
“Most operators decide on where they want to be because the market is in that area,” Leftwich said. “Concrete has a half-life. It can only last 30 minutes to an hour once it’s in the truck. It has a pretty quick expiration date, so to speak.”
He added: “Those industrial areas are slated to be industrial areas for a reason. If they’re abiding by all the permit requirements and rules of the cities and state, they can operate in harmony with other people in those areas.”
The problem is, though, that these plants don’t always operate in harmony with the people who live around them. One West Dallas plant in City Council member Omar Narvaez’s district was told to pack up and leave in 2019. It continued operating despite not having the proper permits. In November, the plant tried to get a specific use permit to continue operating, but it was denied unanimously by the City Council.
That month, Debbie Solis, a lifelong resident of West Dallas, said many people in her neighborhood don't want the plants. “We just want to have clean air. We want to be able to enjoy our homes," she said. "We want to be able to live here and not have cement plants at every corner.”
