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Harris County sued the Texas Commission on Environment Quality on Wednesday for approving a permit for a concrete crushing plant located near Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston’s Kashmere Gardens.
The lawsuit – filed in behalf of Harris Health, Trinity Gardens and Kashmere Gardens Super Neighborhood councils – argues that the plant, which is operated by Texas Coastal Materials, will be less than 440 yards from a chapel within the hospital and that the facility doesn’t comply with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the harmful particulate matter that the facility emits into the air.
“What we’ve seen traditionally is an unwillingness from state officials to address the pressing needs of these communities,” said Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee. “If you look at the folks in Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens, there’s been substantial community pushback to this proposal to this concrete crushing site and you have yet to see anyone in the state taking this pushback seriously.”
In a statement, TCEQ said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Texas Coastal Materials applied for an air quality standard permit last summer, but residents did not discover the new application until September.
The company published a required notice about its plant in El Perico Spanish newspaper and in the Highlands Star/Crosby Courier – a non-Houston publication 30 miles from the proposed plant – in August. There was no notice in a Houston paper until October.
The proposed concrete crushing plant also comes just as Houston voters approved a $2.5 billion bond project to expand LBJ Hospital and Clinics last November.
After months of community opposition, public meetings and letters of complaint, the TCEQ approved the permit in January 2024.
‘All our other options are exhausted’
Concrete crushing plants break up large pieces of concrete, asphalt and rock into smaller pieces, producing dust that is small enough for people to breathe. This dust can cause lung damage, respiratory problems and cancer.
The Harris County Attorney’s office, along with Lone Star Legal Aid, filed a motion to overturn the permit, but received no reply. Community activists and leaders also called on Governor Greg Abbott to overturn the decision, with no response.
“We’re at this lawsuit stage because all our other options are exhausted,” Menefee said. “It’s all really accumulated to us going to the courts to get opposition, but the main point here is that every step of the way there has been substantial community and public official pushback.”
The county’s lawsuit alleges that the standard air quality permit that all concrete facilities need is deficient. The standard permit has not been updated by TCEQ since March 2008. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has updated its National Ambient Air Quality Standards four times since then.
Most recently, in February this year, the agency lowered the annual standards for PM 2.5 – the smallest level of particulate matter – from 12 to 9 µg/m3, meaning the facilities have to follow a more stringent environmental protocol.
In response to public comments, the TCEQ said it evaluated the permit before the new standards went into effect, but they would re-evaluate and take necessary steps to ensure compliance with them.
Concrete batch plants in Houston neighborhoods
In an analysis conducted by the nonprofit Air Alliance Houston, 2,000 homes, three schools, 15 places of worship and several parks would be within a mile of the concrete crushing plant.
“When we talk about environmental justice communities, this one is already overburdened and the fact that there’s already six concrete batch plants, we really need to consider the cumulative impact of all these spots,” said Crystal Ngo, the environmental justice outreach coordinator for Air Alliance Houston.
Additionally, schools, homes and places of worship must be at least 440 yards from a concrete crushing plant. Hospitals are not included in that regulation. The lawsuit argues that the LBJ Hospital is 366 yards from the proposed concrete crushing facility.
“There are two things that happen in that hospital besides people being cared for who have medical issues,” said Sister Maureen O’Connell, director of the secretariat for social concerns for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. “It’s also a place of worship where people can go and have some peace and quiet and pray for themselves or their family members. It’s also an educational facility.”
The lawsuit also highlights that Texas Coastal Materials’ permit application failed to note its proximity to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church – which is 402 yards from the facility.
In response to public comments, TCEQ said that in the application Texas Coastal Materials noted that it would meet the appropriate distance requirement listed in the standard permit.
“This is just more of the same,” O’Connell said. “If you look around the county and see where all the concrete plants exist, it’s all in vulnerable communities.”
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