After months of opposition from residents and Tarrant County officials, the company seeking to build a new landfill near Lake Worth rescinded its application for an environmental permit on May 1, according to a state database.
Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez celebrated the move Thursday, calling BAP Kennor LLC’s decision a “tremendous victory” for his constituents living along Silver Creek Road, where the facility was planned.
“For the past six months, we have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to continue the fight to protect our Silver Creek community,” Ramirez said in a statement. “There is still much work ahead, but today’s announcement is a promising step in the right direction.”
Hundreds of residents turned out for a December public meeting hosted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the agency responsible for permitting and regulating landfills in the state.
State Rep. Charlie Geren, who requested the meeting and met with residents to hear their concerns, joined Ramirez, Fort Worth City Council member Macy Hill and Mayor Mattie Parker in opposing the permit application. They cited concerns about the possibility of landfill waste contaminating nearby water sources and an increased amount of traffic congestion and street repairs on a two-lane road already taxed by rapid population growth.
Frank Pugsley, who represented BAP Kennor at the public meeting, told residents that the facility would be engineered to protect human health and the environment. He argued that the project would reduce the amount of material headed to landfills and decrease illegal dumping by giving companies another location to bring waste.
Representatives for BAP Kennor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If the application had been approved by state officials, BAP Kennor would have built a recycling center to accept up to 450 tons of construction and demolition waste per day, including metals, woods, lumber, green waste, plastics and concrete.
Don Brewer was among the 50-plus residents who spoke out against the permit last December as a prominent advocate of the “Save Silver Creek” campaign. While he’s excited to see the company pull its application, Brewer is worried that BAP Kennor may pursue other options to build a landfill facility.
“I’m real happy and real cautiously optimistic,” Brewer said.
The site at 3411 Silver Creek Road previously operated as a gravel quarry and landfill, though the landfill permit became inactive in 1985. Last summer, company officials successfully transferred an existing municipal solid waste disposal permit from the land’s previous owners to BAP Kennor.
That landfill permit is now active, as are stormwater and aggregate production permits, according to a state environmental commission database. BAP Kennor’s rescinded application would have allowed the facility to process — separate, sort, shred, grind and bale — waste at the site.
“TCEQ did not remove the Type IV permit that says technically, right now, they can start hauling trash in there,” Brewer said.
The only way to guarantee that BAP Kennor doesn’t try to use its active permits or re-apply for a processing permit is to purchase the land, Brewer said. He and other residents have formed a new group, the Lake Worth Conservancy, to rally neighbors around the cause of preserving open space in the lake’s watershed, including BAP Kennor’s property.
Preserving the property for parkland would take substantial federal, state or local dollars, Brewer said. He asks: If Congress could give $1 million in federal funds to Harold Simmons Park in Dallas, why not for Lake Worth?
“We’re curious to see if we can find a way to get access to some more funds to help sweeten up the pot, to get them to walk away,” Brewer said. “To me, that’s what’s going to be the final deal, when that property leaves their possession and becomes a county property. Because at that point in time, then it’s a done deal. There’s no way that (the permit) could ever be activated.”
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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