On Wednesday, dozens of parents protested outside the concrete batch plant that sits next door to their children’s schools in west Houston.
HOUSTON — Parents rallied outside a west Houston concrete batch plant this Wednesday, demanding it be shut down over health concerns for children attending nearby schools.
The plant, located off the West Loop near Interstate 10, sits within clear view of the AWTY Early Learning Campus and the LIPP Schools Babble Campus. It’s operating under a temporary permit granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to supply concrete for an I-10 expansion project.
State law requires long-term concrete plants to be at least a quarter-mile from schools, but temporary plants can operate closer. Parents said that the exemption puts students at risk.
“It shouldn’t be that we are paying for I-10 expansion projects at the expense of the health of 3, 4, 5-year-olds — even babies as young as 4 months old,” said AWTY parent Hayley Riccio during the protest. “Do you want your kid next door to this thing going to school every day?”
The protest comes after parents from AWTY and LIPP voiced their concerns Tuesday during a Houston city council meeting.
Speaking to KHOU 11 News, Mayor John Whitmire said he was already working with the city’s legal and governmental affairs departments to try and stop the plant’s operations, but stressed that the permit ultimately lies with state regulators.
“We oppose it, we’ve contacted the state,” he said. “We may have to say to TxDOT ‘use your influence as a highway department who is paying these folks for their concrete, tell them they got to relocate.’”
Pct. 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones also voiced support for the parents’ concerns.
“We’re working to push TCEQ to revoke this permit because we know the particulate matter from these batch plants can cause various health conditions. We need our kids to feel safe,” she said.
In a statement Tuesday, AWTY school officials said air sampling found that silica dust and other contaminants were “nearly non-detectable” near the campus. Nevertheless, parents are calling for more independent testing.
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