FORT WORTH, Texas — Dozens of people who live in northern Fort Worth told a state panel Monday they do not want a concrete batch plant constructed near their homes.
The Organic Recycler, a landscaping materials company, has asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for an air quality permit to build a concrete batch plant at 13001 Old Denton Road, along the Highway 170 frontage road.
The site is near six Northwest ISD schools and across the highway from a plot of land where the district intends to build a fourth high school. There are also several new housing developments and an apartment complex within a mile of the proposed site.
“There is no acceptable reason that justifies it being located so close to so many homes and schools,” Ted Bergeron, who lives nearby, told a TCEQ panel during a formal public comment meeting Monday at Timber Creek High School.
Parents expressed concerns about a kind of dust emitted from batch plants, where sand, cement and aggregate are combined to make ready mix concrete. The EPA found exposure to too much of this particulate matter can cause lung and heart problems, particularly in children.
Northwest ISD’s school board voted unanimously to oppose the project. The city of Fort Worth, Mayor Mattie Parker, City Councilman Alan Blaylock, and State Rep. Nate Schatzline also lobbied against the plant’s construction.
But the plant would meet or go beyond recently-tightened state requirements for batch plant emissions. A different concrete batch plant operated on the same site in the early 2000s, meaning infrastructure for dust containment is already on site.
“I want you to know, too, that I have people next to these machines all the time and I don’t want them getting sick,” The Organic Recycler partner Tim Sansone told the crowd of about 100.
Sansone said the facility would produce concrete for “low volume” projects like driveways and potholes. He expects the site will produce two or three truckloads of concrete per hour, below the maximum amount allowed by TCEQ.
The plant would be permitted to run 24 hours each day, all year long, but Sansone said he does not expect or want to run the plant constantly. That agreement gives his company the flexibility to mix concrete at any time for “unique” customers, he said.
The TCEQ requires concrete batch plants to capture and contain 99.5% of particulate emissions, a threshold The Organic Recycler says it will meet.
Still, residents worry about the 0.5% that may escape and blow toward their homes. The proposed facility is inside a wind tunnel, they said.
“The governmental regulations in place are not enough to protect his community,” Bergeron said.
“Please don’t make more struggle to breathe,” pharmacist Wendy Scaggs said.
About 30 people voiced opposition to the plan Monday. Many asked The Organic Recycler to find a different location, further away from schools, homes and major shopping centers.
The TCEQ will close Its formal public comment window on Wednesday. A state panel aims to decide whether to permit the facility in 60 days.