McCulloch County residents have objected 450-acre cement plant and quarry proposed by US Cement in a meeting with officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
According to a report by GoSanAngelo: “If the permits are granted, the plant will be on 73.653 acres on the east side of U.S. Highway 377 and the associated quarry will be on 457.91 acres on the west side of the highway.”
George Matula, a retired environmental professional who manages Concerned Citizens of Brady & McCulloch County, says some homes will be within 200 feet from the property line.
“We have elderly people with health issues, we have young children, we people who raise expensive horses for competitions and we have people who raise expensive sheep. All of these people and animals would be affected”, Matula adds.
However, Bruce Broberg, TRC Solutions air quality markets director believes the project is safe.
Broberg says: “I’ve been doing air quality permitting for almost 40 years, I trust the tools we use. What these people hear is anecdotes about how bad it can be. What I’m here to tell you is this plant, from an engineering perspective, is really well controlled.”
Broberg estimates the original estimated cost to build the plant and quarry would be $170 million - which can fluctuate over time.
Kinnan Goleman, a McCulloch County rancher and president of KG Strategies, believes it is wrong to build a plant at the proposed location.
“I handled the last two plants like this in getting permits in Texas, one of them was on a land of 4,000 acres, the other was on 2,600 acres. This one will be on a little over 450 acres. It’s very undersized.”
Additionally, Coleman raised concerns for the safety of the community.
The report says comments will considered by the TCEQ as part of the permit review process.
