Environment
BY ERIC WEILBACHER
One more piece of a permitting puzzle was approved by the Texas Commission on Envi- ronmental Quality, moving forward plans for the Vulcan Materials Company-Comal Quarry to begin operations. A Water Pollution Abatement Plan was submit- ted for the quarry on March 7 and posted on the TCEQ’s website March 22. It was approved July 8 after review of comments from a 30-day public comment period that ended April 22, said TCEQ Media Relations Specialist Victoria Cann. The backstory The legal battle over whether a rock quarry can move forward excavating materials near the Meyer TCEQ greenlights water permit for rock quarry
that the proposed plant’s crystalline silica emis- sions will not negatively a ect human health or welfare,” according to the legal opinion. The speci cs According to Cann, the company proposes the construction of a quarry with associated plant areas, buildings, stockpiles, and access roads on approximately 1,515.16 acres. That area would include: • Quarry pit areas of approximately 956 acres • 25-foot vegetative areas adjoining the 100-year oodplain • A 100-foot bu er adjacent to all neighboring properties • A minimum 25-foot vertical separation from the aquifer Next steps Milann Guckian, president of PHCE, said the organization will be meeting with attorneys to le a motion to overturn. “That’ll be the last thing we could do in the TCEQ process, which is what we did to the air
Ranch and Vintage Oaks subdivisions in New Braunfels has continued for several years leading up to this latest permit approval. In October, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request by the Preserve Our Hill Country Environ- ment Foundation and a liated organizations of Comal County residents to rehear their case against the Vulcan Materials Company-Comal Quarry’s aggregate materials air permit, located in what was formerly known as the 1,500-acre White Ranch. Those groups brought a legal case against the establishment of rock crushing at the site, located near the intersection of Hwy. 46 and FM 3009 just west of New Braunfels. In November 2019 the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, granted Vulcan Materials an air permit. State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble vacated the permit in March 2021, as previously reported by Community Impact . In September 2022, a retired judge sitting “by assignment” on behalf of the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals—Judge J. Wood n Jones—reversed the March 2021 ruling, writing that “substantial evi- dence supports the commissioners’ determination
S. CRANES MILL RD.
INCROCIATO
Vintage Oaks
46
Meyer Ranch
46
Vulcan Comal Quarry
3009
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quality permit,” Guckian said. According to Cann, the all of the quarry’s envi- ronmental permits will be “regularly investigated as part of TCEQ’s legislative requirement to inspect aggregate production operations every 2-3 years.”
A residence facing the proposed quarry site displays a sign siding against its development.
ERIC WEILBACHER COMMUNITY IMPACT
CREEKSIDE TOWN CENTER 263 Creekside Crossing (830) 608-1969
NEW BRAUNFELS 1671 IH-35 S (830) 629-0434
LIVE OAK 14623 IH-35 N (210) 651-1911
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