Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Michael Wyke Photo: Michael Wyke Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

When a small group of neighbors in Acres Homes found out a company planned to build a concrete-mixing plant next door, they launched into action: They held meetings to raise awareness. They voiced concerns to the state’s environmental agency. They called every public official they could think of, from their City Council member to their U.S. representative.

Yet after nearly two years of presenting petitions, pressuring politicians and arguing with regulators, residents in the northwest Houston community are facing the likely prospect that Soto Ready Mix, a small Houston company, will get to build its concrete batch plant just across the street from a park where children play. Making concrete is a notoriously dusty process that spews small particles into the air that can cause asthma attacks, cardiac arrest and premature death, depending on how much is inhaled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“You’re putting it right in the heart of Acres Homes,” said Charles Ingram, a resident of Acres Homes for 40 years, to regulators at a July meeting. “You have no regard for the people. And you’re telling me this is business as usual?”

The fierce opposition to the concrete plant is a textbook example of community organizing, activism and participation in public policy, but after watching the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality steadily advance Soto Ready Mix’s air permit request, Acres Homes residents are wondering if any of it really matters. Environmental advocates fear what’s playing out here on De Soto Street is proof of what they’ve long feared: The state’s public participation process is just for show.

“It kind of feels like theater,” said Corey Williams, who has been working on the case for Air Alliance Houston, an environmental nonprofit organization. “You could have the entire community against something, and that may have absolutely no influence.”

The TCEQ said its authority is limited in such cases. It has no say over where plants are sited, which in Houston can be almost anywhere because the city has no zoning laws. All it can do, the environmental agency said, is review air quality data submitted by companies on a case-by-case basis and determine whether to issue a permit.

Of the 7,664 air permit applications the agency said it received in Houston last year, just 21 were denied and 173 were voided — a success rate of 97 percent for businesses.

Health concerns

Armando Soto, the owner of Soto Ready Mix, has owned the property at 3411 De Soto St. since 2015, according to county records. The first air emissions permit the company applied for in December 2017 was denied because the plant wasn’t far enough away from the property line, but when property records were updated, the plant was found to meet the state’s technical requirements.

Soto said in a statement that the batch plant meets all requirements by TCEQ, and he does not believe the emissions will pose a risk to neighbors. He chose the site because it was near his home, on the other side of U.S. 290.

“The only risk associated with a concrete batch plant is mostly dust, but there will be an irrigation system installed in order to prevent dust from forming,” Soto wrote. “The property is big enough for the batch plant, also there are no deed restrictions.”

Acres Homes residents say they’ll keep fighting. The historically black community was formed in the 1910s when properties were sold by the acre and has maintained a distinct culture that makes it feel like a small town, residents said. Everyone knows everyone, making it easy to bring people together for a cause. Hundreds of Acres Homes residents organized in force to oppose the concrete plant and its permit application.

The primary concern for residents is their health. The city district in which the company wants to build includes Acres Homes and Fifth Ward, which already has 12 concrete batch plants, according to the city. That’s a primary reason not to locate the plant here, said Loren Raun, the chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department. While a single batch plant’s emissions may not be that great, the health risk increases as more are added, she said.

“Adding an extra pollution source is not the correct direction to go for this community,” Raun said during a panel discussion in Acres Homes. “The choice of putting it near a city park is really a serious problem. This is probably something the permit system couldn’t foresee.”

A Houston Chronicle analysis in 2017 showed that Harris County has at least 188 concrete batch plants, more than any county in Texas. Many of those are new — the TCEQ received more than 100 requests for concrete batch plant air emissions permits in Houston over the last five years, according to the agency. Only two were denied.

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The TCEQ’s permitting process does not consider cumulative effects from building more plants. But evidence suggests that the concentration of concrete plants in the Acres Homes/Fifth Ward area is already affecting the health of residents.

The area has double the rate of cardiac arrest and six times the rate of ambulance-treated asthma attacks than the rest of Houston, according to a study of 911 call data by Raun. The neighborhood also has a high risk of cancer, according to Environmental Protection Agency data analyzed by the city.

TCEQ spokesperson Brian McGovern said in a statement that the agency operates an “extensive” network of air quality monitoring that measures total emissions in the Houston area, and that permits already contain requirements necessary to protect human health. The permit, if issued, requires dust controls such as using water sprays on stockpiles and limits particulate matter emissions.

Toby Baker, the executive director of the TCEQ, wrote in a formal response to the public that if a company operates in compliance with the permit, “there should be no deterioration of air quality” and “adverse health effects are not expected.”

The permitting process

When a company requests an air emissions permit, the TCEQ first ensures the permit application is complete. Then, the company is required to place a notice in a local newspaper and post a sign announcing the permit request at the site. After the notice is posted, residents have 30 days to submit comments. But that can be a daunting task, environmental advocates say, because the language in the permit applications is technical, and the government website through which comments are submitted is difficult to navigate.

“I do this for a living, and it took me a long time to figure it out,” said Colin Cox, an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, a free legal aid provider working on behalf of one of the residents. “It’s not feasible for normal people.”

Throughout the permitting process, the TCEQ conducts a site investigation and reviews the application to ensure the company’s plan meets state requirements, such as locating the source of emissions at least 100 feet from the property line. If the TCEQ’s review finds the application does not violate any state laws, people who live near the plant can dispute that finding in court by requesting a contested case hearing.

Before state law changed in 2015, it was the company’s responsibility to defend its application at the hearing before a State Office of Administrative Hearings judge. Now, the burden is on the opposition to find errors in the application.

Since residents bear the burden of proof, they have to fight the application with their own resources. Cox, the attorney, estimates it costs between $50,000 and $75,000 in legal fees and expert witnesses to challenge an application. Even if the administrative judge rules in favor of opponents and recommends that TCEQ revoke the application, the three commissioners, who are appointed by the governor, are under no obligation to heed the judge’s advice.

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No pity for the city without zoning

The city of Houston has opposed the plant, arguing it would increase the community’s risk of adverse health effects. But without zoning, the city claims it can’t do much about it. State law prevents individual cities from writing ordinances that outlaw the plants or are stricter than the state’s environmental standards.

“Mayor (Sylvester) Turner and staff are concerned about the health and safety issues posed by the concrete batch plants, and are examining potential ways for the city to establish regulations over the plants,” said Alan Bernstein, a spokesman for the mayor. “Houston cannot independently prevent the permitting of such plants.”

Texas House Rep. Jarvis Johnson, a Democrat who represents much of northern Houston, and others proposed legislation in March that would have created stricter permitting requirements for concrete batch plants, including a quarter-mile buffer between the plant’s emissions point and any home, school or church. The bill failed to get out of committee.

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Since other cities can use zoning to prevent concrete plants from locating near residential areas, it is difficult to pass legislation that would toughen regulations across the state, Johnson said.

“Oftentimes these bills don’t make it to hearing,” Johnson said. “They say that’s a Houston problem, not a state problem.”

Whether it’s the city or the state, someone needs to rewrite the rules, said Donna Williams, who lives next door to the proposed plant. For years, she and her husband, David, didn’t think too much about the vacant lot next door. Now, they worry that the backyard where their family hosts summer barbecues will become unsafe. The situation may force the Williams to sell, she said, but who would buy?

“Even with all of our efforts, it sounds to us like the city is blaming the state and the state is blaming the city,” Williams said. “We have no problem with them running their business. They just need to be in an area where it’s not causing any kind of threat.”

erin.douglas@chron.com