TCEQ to Decide Fate of Vulcan Quarry

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has placed the controversial Vulcan Quarry on its Wednesday meeting agenda.

TCEQ commissioners will consider a Sept. 3 decision by the State Office of Administrative Hearing (SOAH) administrative law judges that Vulcan Materials has met its burden of proof and should be awarded the draft air-quality permit it needs to proceed with its project in Comal County.

If judges decide to issue the permit, opposing parties have 55 days to file a motion for reconsideration.

However, judges also may delay making a decision until a future date.

To view the agenda item, click here.

Stop 3009 Vulcan Quarry, a community activist group that has fought the development of the old Eric White Ranch at FM 3009 and State Highway 46 into a 1,500-acre limestone rock quarry and crushing plant, said on its website it will pursue all legal options to block the facility.

An estimated 12,000 people live in the immediate vicinity of the property, located in a residential area of central Comal County between Bulverde and New Braunfels.

The proposed quarry would sit over the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer Zone, the source of drinking water for two million people and primary water supply for agriculture and industry in the aquifer’s region.

In a blast email on Friday morning, Stop 3009 urged residents to make a “big show of force” to three TCEQ commissioners so they “know not to mess with Comal County.”

Their attorney will speak at Wednesday’s meeting, which is not open to public comment.

TCEQ’s meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at 12100 Park 35 Circle, Room 201S, Building E, Austin.

Vulcan Materials is the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates — primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel — and also is a major producer of aggregates-based construction materials, including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete.