Vulcan is certainly not going to be the last new quarry or concrete batch plant to try to set up in Comal County or elsewhere in the Texas Hill Country. While we are fighting this proposed quarry with everything we’ve got, the real, long-term, statewide solutions will need to come at the legislative level.

Our top quarry and aggregate production operations (APO) bill is stuck in the Environmental Regulation Committee. It’s time to flood Chairman Landgraf with phone calls, emails, and letters! Numbers matter, and we need your help! THIS IS THE BIG QUARRY BILL THIS SESSION.

The committee should schedule a hearing ASAP on HB 4341, which would transfer oversight of quarries and APOs from TCEQ to the Railroad Commission, and add additional protections, common-sense regulations, and inspections.

(UPDATE: HB 1912 and HB 291 now have a hearing date. Unfortunately, the committee substitute for HB 1912 is a very weak bill that adds only minimal protections from concrete batch plants—not quarries or portable rock crushers. HB 291 adds some reclamation requirements for certain quarries. While marginally helpful, neither of these bills brings the comprehensive APO legislation we are seeking. This is why we must continue to request a hearing for HB 4341.)

Across the state, it is clear that Texans have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect our health and our environment. In recognition of this problem, the House Interim Committee on Aggregate Production Operations was formed in 2020 and released a detailed report in January 2021. In many ways, this bill is a product of this report and its recommendations.

What to Do — ASAP!

Vulcan and their lobbyists are already hard at work convincing legislators to kill this good bill. It will take all hands on deck to get it passed into law. But don’t underestimate the power of phone calls and emails from individual citizens! First step: getting a committee hearing scheduled.

This week is easy! Right now we’re asking you to make 1 phone call 📱 and send 1 email. 📧

Email and call House Environmental Regulation Chair Brooks Landgraf and his chief of staff:
brooks.landgraf@house.texas.gov
CC: ben.lancaster@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0546

Use our sample email template (personalize if you can) or draft your own unique message. Keep it short, simple, and sweet!

What to Say

• Request that Representative Landgraf schedule a committee hearing on HB 4341
• Across Texas, it’s clear that citizens have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect us and our natural resources.
• TCEQ has a poor track record of monitoring and enforcing compliance. These failures require legislative solutions with common sense requirements to improve the public health and safety of Texas.
• The House Interim Committee on Aggregate Production Operations released a detailed report on many of these problems in January 2021. Dozens of citizens spoke to these problems at the virtual town hall hosted by Representative Wilson.
• Express your support for HB 4341 and request scheduling of a committee hearing as soon as possible.

If You Can…

• Also mail a letter 📮 to Mr. Landgraf (P. O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768).

Want to Do More?

Write a letter to the editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, the San Antonio Express-News, and/or your local newspaper outlining why you support HB 4341 (our top priority bill) and why it’s so important to the Comal County and the entire state of Texas.

Stay Up to Date!

Subscribe to our email updates and follow us on Facebook for updates on House Bill 4341 and other pending legislation that could affect your health and our state’s natural resources.

Published in October 2 New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung (subscription required)

This past weekend, my nine-year-old son and I enjoyed hiking Landa Park’s Panther Canyon Nature Trail, checking out Comal Springs, and floating the Comal River—being careful to keep our distance from others on the trail and river.

While pausing to reflect at the springs (the largest in Texas and the southwestern United States), my son asked where the water was coming from.

Area signs and diagrams illustrated how water generally flows underground from higher elevations in the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones. But where exactly does Comal Springs water originate?

The answer isn’t a simple one, but over the past few decades, hydrogeologists have learned that the water naturally surfacing at area springs (Comal, Hueco, San Marcos) largely starts as rainfall over the recharge zone west and southwest of New Braunfels, including the area that drains into Dry Comal Creek (between Interstate 35 and Highway 46).

The Edwards Aquifer consists of a network of subsurface cavities, streams, and channels. These underground rivers quickly transport large volumes of precipitation over the recharge zone through sinkholes, fractures, and caverns to features such as Comal Springs.

In Landa Park, we seemed to be a world away from the dusty and barren strip of quarries, concrete batch plants, and cement facilities just southwest of New Braunfels along Interstate 35.

But was there an underground connection linking these disparate locations?

Indeed, in 2000, an event occurred at the New Braunfels Cemex quarry that demonstrated just how interconnected Comal and Hueco Springs—and our drinking water supply—are to the many aggregate mining facilities in Comal County. During the weekend of January 16, an estimated 2,800 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from a Dyno Nobel storage tank at Cemex into the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Employees didn’t discover the leak until Monday morning and didn’t report it until Tuesday. Cleanup began on Wednesday, but the mitigation effort was evidently too little—and too late.

By then, measurable amounts of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) such as 2-methyl naphthalene, naphthalene, and xylenes had already started showing up in both Comal Springs and Hueco Springs. In a matter of days, the spilled diesel fuel apparently entered the karst aquifer and traveled underground, contaminating water several miles away.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident. Aquifer contamination from an 800-gallon gasoline spill in northern Bexar County precipitated the closure of several private wells. Tetrachloroethene (PCE) leaked into the aquifer near Uvalde in 1979—and that contamination plume is still being detected in groundwater samples four decades later.

In June of this year, a tailings pond dike at the Anderson Columbia quarry, located over the recharge zone between New Braunfels and Garden Ridge, collapsed, allowing polluted water from mining and quarrying operations to flood neighboring properties. TCEQ investigated and sent notices of violation. But the toxicity level of the escaped liquid is apparently still unknown—and the damage was already done.

If we follow Dry Comal Creek upstream to the West Fork, past FM 1863 and along FM 3009, we come to the proposed site of a new, 1500-acre quarry. Since 2017, Alabama-based Vulcan Materials has been trying to convert the former White Ranch into an open-pit limestone mine that would stretch nearly three miles across the recharge zone. So far, efforts of community volunteers opposing this quarry have prevented the start of mining operations.

Jack Olivier, a Comal County geologist, recently stated that “quarries here can act as manmade funnels into the underlying aquifers. The limestone sediment and explosives used for blasting, a combination of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, can be introduced inside the pits.”

As we continue to learn more about the Edwards Aquifer, one of the most environmentally sensitive features in Texas, it becomes increasingly clear that this area is the place for parks, hiking trails, and open space—not more quarries. High-risk industrial operations and hazardous chemicals jeopardize the primary water supply for over two million people and endanger unique and beautiful features such as Comal Springs.

Landfills are already prohibited over the recharge zone. The time has come to prohibit additional quarries and aggregate mines as well. Non-profit organizations such as Preserve Our Hill Country Environment, Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining, Hill Country Alliance, and Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance; and neighboring Hays County are at the vanguard of the effort to protect our water and preserve open spaces. It’s high time our county and state elected officials join in.

As my son and I tubed the Comal River later that day, we noticed something quite unpleasant: a dead turtle floating in the water. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a harbinger of things to come in Comal County.

David A. Drewa
Director of Communications
Stop 3009 Vulcan Quarry
Preserve Our Hill Country Environment

Related Video

Urgent Call to Action: Joint Committee Needed

Communities across our state are suffering the consequences of the out-of-control aggregate industry in Texas. Real protection for citizens and our natural resources must happen at the legislative level.

To that end, State Representative Terry Wilson (Marble Falls) has formally requested the creation of a joint committee to study the issues related to quarries and APOs in Texas and to develop policy approaches to minimize the negative impacts of the industry. House leadership supports such a committee, but pressure is now needed to bring the Senate aboard.

We need your help!

Contact Key Senators

As soon as possible, please write 📬 email 📧 and/or call 📱 the nine key senators below. Urge them to encourage Lieutenant Governor Patrick to support the creation of a Joint Committee on Issues Related to APOs. Handwritten letters have the greatest impact, but if you just have time to email or call, we understand. Ideally, do all three! (Also, if you have friends or relatives living in any districts below, reach out to them: their voices as constituents may be even more powerful.) Feel free to use our sample email template and forward this email to any other interested citizens.

Senator Donna Campbell (New Braunfels)
donna.campbell@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0125

Senator Judith Zaffirini (Laredo)
judith.zaffirini@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0121

Senator Brian Birdwell (Granbury)
brian.birdwell@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0122

Senator Dawn Buckingham (Lakeway)
dawn.buckingham@senate.texas.gov
(254) 939-3854

Senator Eddie Lucio (Brownsville)
eddie.lucio@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0127

Senator Kirk Watson (Austin)
kirk.watson@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0114

Senator Borris Miles (Houston)
borris.miles@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0113

Senator Paul Bettencourt (Houston)
paul.bettencourt@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0107

Senator Lois Kolkhorst (Brenham)
lois.kolkhorst@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0118

Stay Up to Date!

Subscribe to our email updates and follow us on Facebook for updates on creation of this joint committee in the Texas legislature and other pending legislation that could affect your health and our state’s natural resources.

In August 2017, the residents of Comal County were hit with a bombshell – three bombshells, actually. One, the beautiful, pristine 1500-acre White Ranch at the corner of SH 46 and FM 3009 had been sold to Blue Pine Holdings. Two, at closing, Blue Pine Holdings made it known that they represented Vulcan Construction Materials, LLC out of Alabama as owners of the site. Three, Vulcan subsequently submitted an air permit application to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a portable rock crushing plant, aka – a quarry. Alarm signals sounded and from the dust arose a grassroots effort to stop, hinder, set-back or restrict Vulcan from operating at the expense of the more than 12,000 residents encircling the site.

Science and Tech Group

A group of concerned citizens with experience in metal and non-metal mining, not only in the United States but also worldwide, became concerned because they had a clear understanding of the inherent dangers and impact open-pit surface mining would have on humans, wildlife, natural resources and the environment. This tech team of twelve engineers, geologists, hydrologists, pathologists, and university professionals who hold master’s degrees and Ph.D.’s in numerous disciplines, as well as a lifetime of experience, came together to bring light to this problem. With their vast knowledge of the industry, they knew that not only air, but water and several other areas of mining would need to be considered. Each discipline would need the appropriate studies and standards researched in order to predict and present facts that would impact area residents.

Don Everingham stated, “What we knew and clearly understood was the industrial nature of mining and the associated impact on humans – particularly health issues, water – mining utilizes and requires huge amounts of water for processing materials and controlling fugitive dust, land (often taken for granted) – is in fact the reason life is present on this planet, soil is a key factor and most often over looked, reclamation – soils require reclamation that carefully includes many environmental concerns and multiple sciences to assure all interests are preserved, i.e., endangered species, special habitats requirements, slopes, infiltration rates, etc., traffic – a tremendous amount of equipment is used to load and haul material as well as the heavy Class 8 trucks that are used to transport product over public roads, and lastly, noise and light pollution.”

Along the Balcones Escarpment of Texas, caves create additional concerns – they are part of the “plumbing” of the Edwards aquifer. A quarry can be likened to a man-made “funnel” into the aquifer that will allow pollutants present during flood events (aka “gully washers”) to enter the water system with no benefit of natural filtration. TCEQ doesn’t have to consider all these other areas of concern in the overall impact of mining to grant a permit. In Texas, the only consideration for issuing the air permit is the rock crusher itself, none of the other point sources (haul roads, mining, blasting, truck diesel emissions, product transfer, etc.) come into play.

Since TCEQ only requires an air permit for Vulcan to set up shop, the group had no choice but to tackle this issue first. They soon found out, after much investigation, that there is zero science, no research or collection of valid data to confirm questionable elements found in our air. This is particularly true in the Hill Country Region of central Texas. Most data used by TCEQ is old data from as far back as the 1940s – long before most people were concerned with dust or what was contained in the dust. Air quality was born from research that proved and confirmed that many chemicals and elements reduced to microscopic size, too small to be visible to the human eye or even under the standard microscopes used in many laboratories at that time, are inherently dangerous to human health and the environment.

Research today by specialty laboratories, universities, and private industry have found these extremely small particles, (PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and smaller), in almost all environmental areas of our lives. This said, it is up to all responsible science, industry, and knowledgeable individuals to take every opportunity to not only understand the nature of environmental safety and health, but to accept the responsibility to prevent problems from developing into an uncontrolled problem at any level. Several members of the tech group have experienced environmental problems in their careers and know firsthand what the issues are and how to control these problems. Several individuals have been on the ground floor of developing standards, tests, mitigation, and monitoring requirements to solve and control the mining problem.

Air Monitoring Program 2018

Using this knowledge and a sense of a moral obligation, the group set out an Air Monitoring Program in January 2018. Several short-term air samples were taken and tested for ten elements to see what was actually in the local air or atmosphere. The ten elements were oxygen (O), fluorine (F), sodium (Na), aluminum (Al), silica (Si), sulfur (S), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and calcium (Ca). They also checked for ozone elements and weren’t surprised that the ozone material consisted of carbon (C), nitrates (NO3), and sulphur (S).

Air sample filter data results provided by Galbraith Laboratories, Inc. for the listed elements determined need for further investigation. Silica (Si) material indicated far higher levels than reported by the mining operations or the TCEQ.

As a result, they developed and implemented a field air monitoring trial using 24-hour periods to collect samples from five sites in the quarry row area (the immediate area of active mining in Comal and Bexar counties) and thirty samples (presently being tested) as background samples to check the atmospheric conditions out of reach of monitors located in Bexar county. There are no monitors located in Comal County to detect or collect PM₁₀ or PM_2.5 particulate material.

The results (Table 1) of the first five samples taken in the area around quarry row showed higher levels of particulate matter than the EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 35 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³) for a 24-hour test (Table 2).

While the air program for 2018 is limited in scope and depth, it is one data point of information that clearly shows the need for additional air monitoring. This monitoring should actually be done by a third-party entity as the agencies in Texas have shown complete disregard for the citizens right to know and understand what is suspended in the air we breathe.

The 2018 research also found a high percentage of silica material in the various formations. In fact, the percentages in the manufactured material sold by area mines (documented on scale tickets at the various mines along Quarry Row) are much higher than those stated by TCEQ officials in the February 2018 public meeting. When high concentrations of a known carcinogenic material are found in the parent material it will be present in the atmosphere at great distances from the mine by the nature of crushing and processing the materials.

Health Effects of Quarry Dust

Fugitive dust is an inevitable problem for almost all forms of mining. It is one of the most visible, invasive, and potentially irritating impact factors in open pit mining. It is a source of particulate matter (PM). PM is classified into size ranges. The PM of interest in terms of health risks are those that are very small, invisible to the naked eye, and are referred to as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀. Generally, PM comprises two kinds of microscopic particles, mineral (silica and other minerals from rock processing), and hydrocarbon and soot from diesel exhaust of industrial equipment and trucks that are heavily utilized in the quarrying industry. PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ are invisible to the naked eye, and are easily carried in wind currents, can remain airborne for long periods of time, and can be carried up to 30 miles (PM₁₀) or hundreds of miles (PM_2.5) from the source.

Clearly dust requires special attention. Dust generation resulting from blasting, handling, processing or transporting mined materials is not the only area of concern. Dust can also be sourced from bare or poorly maintained areas within the mine, such as poor reclamation procedures and practices, lack of stockpile management, air movement, topography, humidity, and other weather factors that impact dust movement. Haul roads and poorly maintained dust control systems throughout the mine can lead to accumulative dust material that can also be reactivated. All these are unregulated source points by TCEQ rules.

Wind Rose data from several area sources, along with other weather data, were carefully studied and discussed with professional air monitoring companies and professionals. None of the work was considered out of line or abnormal considering all source data and known standards. The downside is that work and research along the Balcones Escarpment is not current or complete since little has been done in the past 50-70 years. During this time period, the escarpment has seen extremely rapid growth and development. Comal County is the second fastest growing county in the nation.

Since the EPA standard for both PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ is based on three years of data averaged (Table 2 – 98^th and 99^th percentiles), and there is no shortage of available rock to be mined, it would make sense to implement a three-year moratorium on aggregate mining air permits while an independent third party entity does a complete research project on the Balcones Escarpment. It should also include a study on water.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) and the National Air and Space Administrations (NASA) research and development of the optic density technology used by satellites were also referenced and discussed. Their findings indicate a correlation to the 2018 air data. This was compared by professionals and all agree that more work and research is needed. The fact is, this data pushes this requirement forward.

Air Monitoring Program 2019

The tech and science group are still hard at work. The Air Monitoring Program for 2019 will commence on July 20, 2019.  One of the university tech team members, with the help of graduate students and area residents will be collecting air samples from fifteen different sites in and around Comal County. Each site will collect data for an average of ten days. TSI has built a custom PM Collection Monitor with weather station. This is a world class unit that will collect very accurate samples of airborne PM material for ground concentration and background.

The Air Program results will be correlated with geological data collected along the Balcones Escarpment by member geologists. They will collect ten to twelve parent material samples from the escarpment stretching from Medina County to Hays County. The samples will be tested for several elements including crystalline silica (silicon dioxide – SiO₂), based on the various geology and faults that may be encountered. In addition, purchased material from several area mines will be tested for crystalline silica.

Texas Government and Agency Response

In our opinion, TCEQ has not given all these factors enough consideration in granting Vulcan’s draft permit. The commissioners and the Executive Director should take a drive along Old Nacogdoches Road, FM 482 and Krueger Canyon Roads in Comal County. They need to experience what residents see, hear, feel and breathe every day. From the Cemex plant/quarry in New Braunfels all the way around to the Hansen Aggregates plant/quarry in Garden Ridge. The trees, indeed, everything is covered with limestone dust. The dust (particulate matter) does not magically drop from the air at the fence lines, it affects all life beyond. The permits TCEQ issues with the promise and the obligation that says they will “strive to protect our state’s public health and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development” is not being met. And, little if any enforcement is being done.

Air Quality Emissions is a statewide problem and our elected officials are not in step with constituents. In 2015 the EPA signed a directive ordering Texas and 35 other states to mandate penalties on any industrial facilities that illegally spew dangerous pollutants into the air, but Texas never did. Industries deployment of an “affirmative defense” after illegally emitting dangerous chemicals: claiming that the emissions were a result of a “start-up, shutdown or malfunction at a facility — basically, an unforeseen, unavoidable situation” was the basis for the directive, a way to hold industry accountable. According to the TCEQ, in fiscal year 2017, polluters in Texas invoked the loophole in 97 percent of emissions events. Unfortunately, in 2015, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against Obama’s EPA, claiming the order “make[s] it impossible for even the most carefully-regulated facilities to avoid costly penalties due to unplanned events out of their control.” The Attorney General, along with Governor Abbott kept this in the courts until President Trump was elected. Now Texas doesn’t have to worry about the order because on April 29, 2019, Andrew Wheeler, the president’s current EPA chief and a former coal industry lobbyist, filed an order to rescind the directive.

Several letters to the governor’s office, TCEQ and EPA remain unanswered. More than 50 bills were presented this year that addressed the aggregate industry, however only one made it to the governor’s desk and it was weak. The aggregate industry is one of the largest financial contributors to statewide elected offices in Texas. State officials may be sympathetic to a certain degree, but money still talks in Austin. Normal citizens cannot equal the monies behind the highway lobby, the aggregate and concrete lobby or the real-estate lobby, to name a few. We have eighteen months before the next legislative session kicks off. There is a lot to do.

Stop 3009 Vulcan Quarry is an all-volunteer grassroots organization opposing plans by Vulcan Construction Materials to set up a 1500-acre open-pit limestone quarry in a residential area between Bulverde and New Braunfels, Texas.

The other important bill authored by Representative Kyle Biedermann is scheduled for a committee hearing on Wednesday, April 17. We strongly support HB 3798 for the following reasons:

• Gives Railroad Commission authority to require mining permits, perform unannounced inspections, monitor and report on quarry mining activities
• Gives Railroad Commission authority to require a reclamation permit: the quarry company must restore land to its natural state after they mine the limestone or other aggregate
• Required groundwater and quarry mining permits must be obtained before TCEQ can issue air quality permit for rock crusher
• Increases notification requirements for new proposed quarries and rock crushers
• Establishes setback of one mile for rock crushers
• Requires TCEQ to conduct a statewide air quality assessment and take specific actions based on the results

In the News

Biedermann Introduces Two Quarry Bills (myCanyonLake.com, March 19)
Biedermann’s Quarry Bill Undergoes Hearings (Herald-Zeitung, April 14, paywall)
Biedermann Quarry Bill Heads to Committee (myCanyonLake.com, April 16)

Hearing at the Capitol

On Wednesday, Representative Biedermann will lay out HB 3798 before the House Environmental Regulation Committee. We need to help get this legislation passed into law!

Please make plans to attend, register your support, and speak in favor of HB 3798 at the committee hearing on Wednesday.

Wednesday, April 17 at 10:30 a.m. (unlikely to start on time)
Texas Capitol
Room E1.026
1100 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
Map & Directions to Visitor’s Parking Garage
Capitol Map
Agenda
How to Register to Speak

So grab a couple of neighbors and friends. Car pool if you can! Allow time for traffic and parking. Sometimes these hearings can last a few hours, so be prepared (snacks, water, book, etc.). If you have any questions about the process—or anything else—simply reply to this email.

Don’t worry if you haven’t memorized every detail of this bill. That’s fine! Tell your personal story, focus on the fact that TCEQ is broken, and how unbridled aggregate mining is hurting Texas, our health, and our environment.

Want to support these bills, but don’t feel comfortable speaking? No problem! Registering in favor of this legislation at the Capitol (using one of the witness kiosks) will be very effective too. So make the relatively quick drive to Austin and register your support for HB 3798. (You don’t even have to stick around for the hearing if you don’t want to.)

A few other related bills will also be heard on Wednesday. We support HB 798, HB 907, HB 999, HB 1310, and HB 4600. We oppose HB 3816.

Contact Committee Members

This week, email and call all 9 members of the committee. Urge them to vote YES on HB 3798. Explain your reasoning from the section above, mention TCEQ’s ineptitude (below), or use our sample email template.

J. M. Lozano, Chairman (Bee, Jim Wells, Kleberg, San Patricio counties)
jm.lozano@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0463

Ed Thompson, Vice Chairman (Brazoria County)
ed.thompson@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0707

César Blanco (El Paso County)
cesar.blanco@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0622

Kyle Kacal (Brazos, Falls, Limestone, McLennan, Robertson counties; bill author)
kyle.kacal@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0412

John Kuempel (Guadalupe, Wilson counties)
john.kuempel@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0602

Geanie Morrison (Aransas, Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Refugio, Victoria counties)
geanie.morrison@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0456

Ron Reynolds (Fort Bend County)
ron.reynolds@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0494

John Turner (Dallas County)
john.turner@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0576

Erin Zwiener (Blanco, Hays counties)
erin.zwiener@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0647

Problems with TCEQ

• Across Texas, it’s clear that citizens have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect us and our natural resources.
• TCEQ’s permitting process relies on bad data, poor models, and is plagued by conflict of interest.
• TCEQ has a poor track record of monitoring and enforcing compliance.
• These failures require legislative solutions with common sense requirements to improve the public health and safety of Texas.

Contact Your Legislators

It is also important to contact your own state representative and state senator and ask them to personally communicate your support for HB 3798 to all members of the Environmental Regulation Committee.

If you live in Comal, Kendall, or Gillespie counties, Kyle Biedermann is your representative (thank him for authoring HB 3798!):

Kyle Biedermann
kyle.biedermann@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0325

If you live in Comal, Kendall, northern Bexar, or parts of Hays, Guadalupe, or Travis counties, Donna Campbell is your senator:

Dr. Donna Campbell
donna.campbell@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0125

Stay Up to Date!

Subscribe to our email updates and follow us on Facebook for updates on House Bill 3798 and other pending legislation that could affect your health and our state’s natural resources.

Good news! Two of the most important bills for us this session have a committee hearing scheduled on Monday, April 8! We strongly support HB 2871 (authored by Representative Kyle Biedermann) and HB 509 (by Representative Terry Wilson).

While not perfect, these similar bills include requirements that will make it more difficult for quarry operators to obtain a permit (instead of the current rubber-stamping process). This legislation would also increase protection for Texas citizens and our natural resources from the negative effects of rock quarries. We need to make our voices heard as soon as possible.

What’s to Like?

Sick and tired of hearing TCEQ claim that they can only consider matters of air quality—and only pollution coming from the crusher? With these bills, in addition to the TCEQ air quality permit, other factors would now be considered: blasting impacts, water supply, water quality and runoff effects.

Unlike many other states, Texas doesn’t currently require a mining permit or regulate mining activities of rock quarries (aggregate production operations). Polluters shouldn’t get a free pass when it comes to mining rock and limestone in Texas. With this legislation, that would change! The Railroad Commission would supervise aggregate mining activities and require water impact studies to be performed.

• Unlike TCEQ, the Railroad Commission would be able to perform unannounced inspections.
• HB 2871 (Biedermann) requires a reclamation permit: the quarry company must restore land to its natural state after they mine the limestone or other aggregate.
• These bills include fines and criminal penalties for willful violations.

On Monday, the House Energy Resources Committee will consider HB 509 and HB 2871. Representatives Biedermann, Wilson, and their staff have worked hard to draft these bills. Now we need to back these bills and help get them passed into law!

What to Do—NOW!

Email 📧 and call 📱 all 11 members of the committee. Urge them to vote YES on HB 509 and HB 2871. Explain your reasoning from the section above, mention TCEQ’s ineptitude (below), or use our sample email template.

Your input will be especially meaningful if you mention how you have seen first-hand how broken the TCEQ permitting and enforcement process is. (Also, if you have friends or relatives living in any districts below, reach out to them: their voices as constituents may be even more powerful.)

Chris Paddie, Chairman (Marshall/Northeast Texas)
chris.paddie@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0556

Abel Herrero, Vice Chairman (Corpus Christi area)
abel.herrero@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0462

Rafael Anchia (NW Dallas)
rafael.anchia@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0746

Ernest Bailes (Huntsville, Liberty)
ernest.bailes@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0570

Tom Craddick (Midland area)
tom.craddick@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0500

Drew Darby (San Angelo area)
drew.darby@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0331

Charlie Geren (NW Fort Worth)
charlie.geren@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0610

Roland Gutierrez (SE San Antonio, Live Oak, Universal City, Converse)
roland.gutierrez@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0452

Cody Harris (Hillsboro, Corsicana, Palestine)
cody.harris@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0730

Mary Ann Perez (Pasadena, Baytown)
maryann.perez@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0460

Jon Rosenthal (Far NW Houston)
jon.rosenthal@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0722

Additionally…

We know you are busy. But this is some of the most important legislation under consideration. If at all possible, please make plans to attend and speak at the committee hearing on Monday afternoon (many of your neighbors will be driving to Austin to speak at this hearing).

Monday, April 8 at 2:00 p.m.
Texas Capitol
Room E2.010
1100 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
Map & Directions
Capitol Map
Agenda
How to Register to Speak

So grab a couple of neighbors and friends. Car pool if you can! Allow plenty of time for Austin traffic and parking. Sometimes these hearings can last two or three hours, so be prepared (snacks, water, book, etc.). If you have any printed documents or graphics, bring 12 copies. If you have any questions about the process—or anything else—simply email us at stop3009vulcanquarry@gmail.com.

Don’t worry if you haven’t memorized every detail of these bills. That’s fine! Tell your personal story, focus on the fact that TCEQ is broken, and how unbridled aggregate mining is hurting Texas, our health, and our environment.

Problems with TCEQ

• Across Texas, it’s clear that citizens have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect us and our natural resources.
• TCEQ’s permitting process relies on bad data, poor models, and is plagued by conflict of interest.
• TCEQ has a poor track record of monitoring and enforcing compliance.
• These failures require legislative solutions with common sense requirements to improve the public health and safety of Texas.

It is also important to contact your own state representative and state senator and ask them to personally communicate your support for HB 2871 and HB 509 to all members of the Energy Resources Committee.

If you live in Comal, Kendall, or Gillespie counties, Kyle Biedermann is your representative (thank him for authoring HB 2871!):

Kyle Biedermann
kyle.biedermann@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0325

If you live in Comal, Kendall, northern Bexar, or parts of Hays, Guadalupe, or Travis counties, Donna Campbell is your senator:

Dr. Donna Campbell
donna.campbell@senate.texas.gov
(512) 463-0125

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