Asphalt Inc.

As a service to our readers, we have loaded the TCEQ Response to Comments regarding Asphalt Inc.'s air quality permit 148112 on our website in its entirety. This is available for free as an e-edition to our readers. This is the official 58-page TCEQ response to public comments made about the air quality permit for the proposed rock crushing plant to be located south of Marble Falls off US 281.

To read the document, go to http://bit.ly/2Aeg8cm and click on "TCEQ Response to Comments Asphalt Inc 148112"

Note: Read all the responses, "TCEQ Response to Comments Asphalt Inc 148112," here, at HighlanderNews.com: http://bit.ly/2Aeg8cm

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has granted an air quality standard permit for a permanent rock and concrete crusher to Asphalt Inc. for a new plant to be built south of Marble Falls near US 281.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

As Marble Falls moves along a path to annex new property south of current city limits, it may have to negotiate extraterritorial jurisdiction territory with Round Mountain.

The Marble Falls City Council held public hearings on the annexation of 1,290 acres of land on Oct. 24 and Oct. 30 and it was at that second meeting that considerations about Round Mountain came to the agenda. This Tuesday night, Nov. 7, a second executive session will look at the boundaries of their most southerly neighbor.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials told Marble Falls Mayor John Packer Thursday they did not know of proposed housing developments planned for south of Marble Falls when they reviewed an air quality permit application by Asphalt Inc. for a rock crushing plant, but added they would have made no difference.

“I didn't know about the new (Gregg Ranch) housing development or the (Baylor Scott & White) hospital or any of the infrastructure that was there,” said Don Nelon of the TCEQ Air Permits Division. “However, if there would have been a map which identified every existing house, every future house and all new businesses it wouldn't have mattered. If they are outside 440 yards of the rock crusher, there will not be an impact from this plant.”

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials do not believe a rock-crushing plant south of Marble Falls would have an impact on air quality at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, according to a letter sent to state Sen. Dawn Buckingham Thursday.

However, the letter also states the TCEQ “does not operate an air quality monitor in the immediate area of the proposed facility” with the closest particulate monitoring station some 25 miles east of the proposed plant site.

Earlier this month, Buckingham, R-Austin, had sent a list of questions to TCEQ executive director Richard A. Hyde PE about the impact the proposed Asphalt Inc. facility would have on air and water quality and how its permit would be enforced prior to a scheduled 7 p.m. Oct. 26 informational meeting about the permit at Lakeside Pavilion in Marble Falls.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Public comment deadline for a proposed Air Quality Standard permit for a proposed rock crushing plant south of Marble Falls has been extended by three weeks until Oct. 31, state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, said Friday.

Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will hold a 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, informational meeting about the Asphalt Inc. permit application at Lakeside Pavilion, 307 Buena Vista, Marble Falls, Buckingham said.

“To my constituents in Senate District 24 I hear you,” Buckingham said. “Many of you in the Marble Falls and surrounding areas have voiced your concerns and frustrations about a proposed rock crushing permit request and an inability, in some cases, to get your questions answered. That's why I reached out to the regulatory agency involved on your behalf demanding more transparency.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Chanting slogans and waiving signs, more than 100 people picketed on Saturday and Sunday across the highway from the site of a proposed rock crushing plant south of Marble Falls off US 281 at County Road 403.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The possibility of a new Asphalt, Inc. rock crushing plant on the far southern outskirts of the city brought the largest contingent of visitors to the Marble Falls City Council on Tuesday night, Sept. 19.

In a meeting that opened with proclamations recognizing the 20th Anniversary of the Marble Falls Library's Main Street location and hunger awareness, the agenda included a proposed ordinance establishing the intent of the City of Marble Falls to annex into the city limits 1,242 acres of land that would place the proposed plant in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of the city.

“Annexation is not a silver bullet,” said Mayor John Packer. “But it could give us some standing.”

The plant opponents seemed gratified, nonetheless, to witness a unanimous council vote in support of the ordinance.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Homeowners, ranchers, government officials, hospital leaders and concerned citizens met together Friday at Baylor Scott & White Speciality Clinic with one common goal in mind — opposing the construction of a new rock crushing plant south of Marble Falls.

Asphalt Inc. applied for an air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to operate a new rock and concrete crushing plant with an entrance 90 feet west of US 281 and approximately 2.6 miles south of the intersection of Texas 71 near Flat Rock Road, which is Burnet County Road 403.

Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

According to a notice published in The Highlander Friday, Sept. 1, the southernmost edge of the City of Marble Falls is to be the site of a new rock and concrete crushing plant.

Asphalt, Inc., the company against which the Spicewood Community was unsuccessful in its attempts to block a hot mix plant, has applied for an air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Citizens have just 30 days to submit comments in the process.

The notice comes just as Central Texas-Gateway to the Hill Country Beautification Project has set Saturday, Sept. 9 as the seeding of the intersection of US 281 and Texas 71. Members of that non-profit organization have been working closely with the new Gregg Ranch development.

Both of them are expressing concern already.