| Houston, Texas – Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee announced today that a state district court has ruled against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s attempt to give concrete batch plant operators up to 10 years to comply with new pollution standards. The court held that this pollution grace period was arbitrary and capricious and violated Texas law requiring the agency to protect human health. The Harris County Attorney’s Office sued TCEQ last year after the agency amended its statewide permit to limit dust and air pollution from concrete batch plants, but then allowed existing plants up to a decade before meeting the new standards. “This pollution grace period would have forced families to continue breathing harmful dust from older plants for another 10 years,” Menefee said. “The state has a responsibility to fully protect its residents, not give polluters a free pass to keep operating under dangerous, outdated standards. Harris County will not let the state greenlight more years of pollution in the very communities already overburdened by environmental harm. We cannot continue to act like the people who live near these facilities don't matter. The court has made it clear: the TCEQ must do its job and protect all Texans now, not a decade from now." Concrete batch plants are heavily concentrated in Harris County, particularly in Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods. Residents living near these plants face higher risks of respiratory issues because of dust, silica, and other emissions. The delayed compliance rule would have allowed many plants to continue operating under outdated and weaker protections. The court’s ruling requires TCEQ to go back and fix the delay in compliance. “This is a win for every family who has been fighting to breathe easier and asking for more regulations on these types of facilities, from the civic club members in Trinity Gardens and Fifth Ward that joined us on this lawsuit to the parents at Awty International School who have been speaking out,” Menefee said. “If the state continues to ignore the law and ignore our communities, we will continue to hold them accountable.” |