About 100 people lobbied a state environmental agency Monday to destroy a planned concrete plant in far north Fort Worth.
They spoke at a meeting organized by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality to get public feedback on an air quality permit application by compost and mulch company The Organic Recycler. The company needs a permit to operate the plant at 13001 Old Denton Road.
Residents who spoke Monday expressed concerns about health impacts, the proposed plant’s proximity to schools and the relative lack of oversight from TCEQ once the plant is operational. Seven schools are within four miles of the site and a high school is planned a mile south.
State agency representatives warned residents not to confuse the proposed concrete plant with a cement kiln.
Cement is made by grinding materials such as limestone and clay into a fine powder before heating it to about 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Concrete is made by mixing cement with sand and gravel.
It’s like making a pie, says Josh Leftwich, president of the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association, an industry trade group.
“You take flour, sugar and water to make something, and concrete is basically the same thing,” he said.
The problem lies with cement, which can break down into small particles that can cause damage to people’s health.
That’s why companies like The Organic Recycler must obtain air quality permits to ensure they have the proper controls in place to keep cement from blowing around, Leftwich said.
TCEQ considers concrete batch plants to be low risk when it comes to impact on environmental quality, so it does not proactively monitor these plants, said Kimberli Fowler, an official in the TCEQ office responsible for Metroplex.
Chris Hall, who lives just south of the proposed factory, wondered how residents should tell the difference between pollen and pollution coming from the factory.
“It’s not our job to look at this. That’s your job to protect us,” Hall told the panel.
The plant will focus on making small batches of concrete for individual home and landscaping projects, said Timothy Sansone, managing partner at The Organic Recycler.
While the permit will allow it to make enough concrete to fill 20 trucks per hour, the plant’s capacity will only allow for half of the production, he said.
The company will also load its trucks approximately 50 meters from the property line and use a filtration system to capture 99.5% of all dust particles released during the loading process.
That translates to about a tenth of a pound per operating hour or a quarter of a ton per year, says Melissa Fitts, an environmental consultant hired by The Organic Recyler to manage the air quality permitting process.
Still, residents wondered why the factory couldn’t be located elsewhere.
Sansone noted that Fort Worth City Councilman Alan Blaylock had yet to offer an alternative location. Blaylock responded during the comment period that Sansone had canceled a meeting to discuss the matter without rescheduling.
State Rep. Nate Schatzline, whose district includes the proposed plant, joined Blaylock and residents in attendance in opposing the plant.
He said the plant poses a direct threat to the health of children, citing Environmental Protection Agency literature on the health effects of cement production.
“This is a bipartisan issue where we can all agree that the next generation deserves a healthy environment to play sports and go to school,” he said.
Blaylock also raised concerns about impacts to traffic and roads not built to handle the repeated stress of heavy concrete mixers.
He announced that he plans to introduce new regulations that will force future concrete plants to obtain a special land use permit to operate in the city of Fort Worth.
The comment period for the plant runs until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 17. TCEQ will then consider the public’s comments, along with the technical aspects of the application, before deciding whether to approve the permit.
