Vulcan is certainly not going to be the last new quarry or concrete batch plant to try to set up in Comal County or elsewhere in the Texas Hill Country. While we are fighting this proposed quarry with everything we’ve got, the real, long-term, statewide solutions will need to come at the legislative level.
Our top quarry and aggregate production operations (APO) bill is stuck in the Environmental Regulation Committee. It’s time to flood Chairman Landgraf with phone calls, emails, and letters! Numbers matter, and we need your help! THIS IS THE BIG QUARRY BILL THIS SESSION.
The committee should schedule a hearing ASAP on HB 4341, which would transfer oversight of quarries and APOs from TCEQ to the Railroad Commission, and add additional protections, common-sense regulations, and inspections.
(UPDATE: HB 1912 and HB 291 now have a hearing date. Unfortunately, the committee substitute for HB 1912 is a very weak bill that adds only minimal protections from concrete batch plants—not quarries or portable rock crushers. HB 291 adds some reclamation requirements for certain quarries. While marginally helpful, neither of these bills brings the comprehensive APO legislation we are seeking. This is why we must continue to request a hearing for HB 4341.)
Across the state, it is clear that Texans have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect our health and our environment. In recognition of this problem, the House Interim Committee on Aggregate Production Operations was formed in 2020 and released a detailed report in January 2021. In many ways, this bill is a product of this report and its recommendations.
What to Do — ASAP!
Vulcan and their lobbyists are already hard at work convincing legislators to kill this good bill. It will take all hands on deck to get it passed into law. But don’t underestimate the power of phone calls and emails from individual citizens! First step: getting a committee hearing scheduled.
This week is easy! Right now we’re asking you to make 1 phone call 📱 and send 1 email. 📧
Email and call House Environmental Regulation Chair Brooks Landgraf and his chief of staff:
brooks.landgraf@house.texas.gov
CC: ben.lancaster@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0546
Use our sample email template (personalize if you can) or draft your own unique message. Keep it short, simple, and sweet!
What to Say
- Request that Representative Landgraf schedule a committee hearing on HB 4341
- Across Texas, it’s clear that citizens have lost confidence in TCEQ’s ability to protect us and our natural resources.
- TCEQ has a poor track record of monitoring and enforcing compliance. These failures require legislative solutions with common sense requirements to improve the public health and safety of Texas.
- The House Interim Committee on Aggregate Production Operations released a detailed report on many of these problems in in January 2021. Dozens of citizens spoke to these problems at the virtual town hall hosted by Representative Wilson.
- Express your support for HB 4341 and request scheduling of a committee hearing as soon as possible.
If You Can…
- Also mail a letter 📮 to Mr. Landgraf (P. O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768).
Want to Do More?
Write a letter to the editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, the San Antonio Express-News, and/or your local newspaper outlining why you support HB 4341 (our top priority bill) and why it’s so important to the Comal County and the entire state of Texas.
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