State regulators reject air permit for Burleson concrete batch plant after three-year fight

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted unanimously to dismiss, with prejudice, an air quality permit application from J7 Ready Mix LLC for a concrete batch plant at 5428 Farm to Market 1187 in Burleson, near the Rendon area. The dismissal prevents the company from seeking an environmental permit for the same site.

Commission chair Brooke T. Paup cited J7's failure to formally rescind its application and its non-participation in the contested case process that residents requested. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The application, filed in May 2023, drew more than 200 residents to a state meeting and about 570 public comments. Nearby homeowners raised concerns about dust, noise and fine particulate matter, and a state representative said the company had not met public notice requirements. J7 told regulators in April it no longer sought the permit, ahead of a scheduled hearing. An administrative law judge then recommended denial with a bar on reapplying at the site.

Residents now plan to ask local legislators for penalties when developers abandon permit applications, arguing that withdrawals currently carry no consequences.

Practical implication: developers facing contested TCEQ air permits should expect that withdrawing an application may not avoid a lasting bar on the site.