Last year, the city discovered that the plant, at 4500 Great Trinity Forest Way, was operating without the needed permit, prompting the operator to apply for the permit with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The meeting on Thursday was to help determine whether to grant the permit to Texas Star Ready Mix. One of the major questions at the meeting was: If the plant didn’t have the proper permit to operate, why was it still operating just outside of the Dallas freedman's town? No one seemed to have a good answer.
The company did not respond to the Observer’s requests for comment, but a company representative said at the Thursday meeting that Texas Star Ready Mix was working to get in compliance.
During the meeting, the company representative explained that the plant has been used to develop materials for foundations and sidewalks in the area. “Texas Star Ready Mix is proud to be a part of the Joppa community,” the rep said. “We’re honored to be a part of the Joppa community.”
A representative with the TCEQ said at the meeting that a review of the permit application has been completed, and it appears to meet all the technical requirements for the permit. Texas Star Ready Mix submitted the application on January 30.
Several people turned out to the meeting and sent in comments in advance opposing the permit.
Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents the district where Joppa sits, put out a statement ahead of the meeting saying the permit should be denied. “The approval of this permit would be detrimental to the health of Joppa residents who live adjacent to the batch plant,” he wrote. “The amount of air pollution and particulate matter that the Joppa community has endured is greater than any other parts of our city.”
Bazaldua said the city learned the plant was operating without the proper permit in September 2022. A follow-up visit to the plant on Aug. 9 found the it was still operating without the permit.“The approval of this permit would be detrimental to the health of Joppa residents who live adjacent to the batch plant." – Adam Bazaldua, Dallas City Council
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Texas State Rep. Venton Jones, a Democrat from Dallas, also released a statement about the proposed permit and sent a representative to the Crowne Plaza meeting to speak on his behalf.
“When considering such permits for concrete batch plant operations, it is imperative that we consider the environmental and health risks associated with running such a facility near residential homesteads around the proposed location of 4500 Great Trinity Forest Way,” Jones wrote in his statement.
The existing sources of pollution in the area include emissions from Austin Industries, TAMKO (a maker of roofing shingles), a nearby railroad, a landfill and other nearby heavy industries, the state representative noted.
“The combination of these industries around this community has exacerbated existing health conditions impacting the residents including asthma, heart and respiratory diseases, and cancer,” Jones's statement read. “Allowing this concrete batch plant to operate would continue to exacerbate existing problems community members, government officials and our health department are already working hard to improve.”
A representative with the TCEQ explained that the plant uses a dust collector and other measures to clean up the particulate matter that it creates. And there's a reason why some plants are where they are. Concrete batch plants often have to be close to the areas where building is occurring because of how quickly concrete materials harden, according to the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association.
Kathryn Bazan, chair of Dallas’ Environmental Commission, told the Observer the Joppa Freedman’s Town Association has hired Legal Aid of Northwest Texas to help appeal the permitting decision if the permit is approved.
For now, the TCEQ will review all the permit-related comments submitted prior to and at the meeting and respond to all of them. After that, the agency will make its decision on the permit.
Bazan didn’t sound too confident, saying she’s never seen a permit denied based on public comments. She explained that the plant is already under enforcement with the TCEQ for failure to keep buffer distances for its materials and having an open conveyor system.
“So, they’ve already demonstrated that they are not capable or willing to operate that facility in a compliant way and in a way that’s considerate of the health and wellbeing of neighbors in Joppa,” she said.
