Some West Dallas residents say a decades-old shingle plant near their homes is polluting the air. Now, that facility’s state air permit is up for renewal and residents made their opposition known at a public hearing held on Thursday evening.
For years, some residents living near the GAF shingle plant on Singleton Boulevard have been sounding the alarm over what they believe is a major source of pollution in their community.
While residents, community leaders and environmental activists have tried several methods to see the plant closed — ranging from City Hall processes to civil disobedience — it remains in operation.
“We need this community to be 100% safe for our children and our pregnant moms that step foot outdoors,” Singleton United/Unidos leader Janie Cisneros said during Thursday’s hearing. “I get that it may not mean much to a company that's headquartered in New Jersey, but I hope TCEQ knows the meaning of 'don't mess with Texas.'”
Along with residents and activists, many GAF employees showed up to the hearing too. When approached for comment, one person in a GAF shirt referred KERA to the company's press email.
The hearing was requested by State Rep. Venton Jones, who voiced concerns over the plant’s emissions and urged the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) — the state agency that oversees industrial permitting — to hear West Dallas residents out.
“As you may know, based on a 2020 Emission Inventories Report, GAF is West Dallas’ most prominent source of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter pollution,” Jones said in a letter requesting the hearing. “Such contaminants lead to higher health issues like asthma and lung disease and have been known to cause other lung-related diseases.”
More than 50 comments were submitted to the TCEQ about the GAF permit renewal as of Thursday morning. Most of the comments are vehemently opposing the permit.
Residents and environmental activists voiced concerns about the plant's emissions — and what health effects it could be having on their families.
District 6 Council Member Omar Narvaez, who represents West Dallas, was not at Thursday’s hearing but submitted comments to the commission online.
“I support the public's ability to submit comments regarding the impact on the surrounding community of the [permit] renewal,” Narvaez’s comment said. “I look forward to TCEQ's robust consideration of all formal public comments before making its renewal decision.”
Jones, who was in attendance at the hearing, read additional comment from Narvaez that said due to pending litigation and a potential code amendment related to GAF, he could not "an active participant in the TCEQ review process."
United Steelworker officials, the union that oversees GAF's employees, spoke during the hearing in favor of the permit renewal.
"I stand united with this company," Lawrence Castillo, a United Steelworker union staff representative, said at the hearing. “If this group would have come to me with some concern with their working conditions...I'd be the first to know about it and I'd be the first to stand against the company."
Thomas Richardson, a GAF vice president of operations, said in a statement sent after the hearing, the company appreciated the public's input — and the plant complies with it's air permit.
"We were glad to have the opportunity to share our emissions data and correct the false claims made regarding our operations," Richardson said in the statement. "We will continue to work cooperatively with elected officials and community leaders to thoughtfully balance the concerns of the community, GAF’s employees, and the regional demand for the essential products the plant manufactures."
Ultimately, the permit renewal is basically complete — and the TCEQ can issue it without further community input, according to the hearing notice. Residents told TCEQ staff they hoping their testimony would be enough to deny the permit renewal.
‘It's textbook’
The hearing was split into three parts: an opening presentation by TCEQ staff and GAF's executives, a question and answer portion — and the official public comments.
One speaker asked about the zoning around the GAF facility — which is not determined by TCEQ or the company — and what had been there before the plant was opened in 1945.
"There was a vacant field around the plant, said Tommy Richardson, GAF's vice president. "There were no residential homes of any sort."
Richardson was cut off by residents and activists calling him a liar. Later during the comment section, one West Dallas resident weighed in on the claim.
"My family has been here since 1945 and there's pictures [of] the homes out here," Debbie Solis, a third-generation West Dallas resident said. "If I had known that, I would have brought some old pictures."
Many residents — if not all who attended and spoke during the hearing — expressed extreme frustration and concern over the pending air permit renewal.
Angel Garcia Donjuan, a student and member of Singleton United/Unidos, talked about what he says is a long history of racial segregation in Dallas.
"There's a reason why Black and Hispanic neighbors are here today on a Thursday, at 9 p.m. and Highland Park residents are at home with their families," Donjuan said. "It's textbook."
West Dallas residents have tried to use other methods to advocate for GAF’s closure. Cisneros tried twice to file for a scheduled closure of the plant.
Those attempts failed. Officials said they needed to amend a city code due to a law passed in 2023 that changed the process for a closure — also called amortization. KERA exclusively reported on Cisneros’ efforts to navigate the process.
“They’re giving us the run around…no one wants to take this application, no one wants to speak with us,” Cisneros told KERA last year. “Doors keep getting shut.”
The city’s proposed code amendment would take away a resident’s right to file for amortization on their own — and instead leave the power to call a hearing over a proposed closure to a city council member.
But that’s only if the city has enough money in a proposed amortization fund to pay for the closure.
Cisneros filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year for blocking her efforts to file for amortization of the GAF factory. Currently, the company has agreed to exit West Dallas by the end of the decade.
GAF is opening a new facility in Kansas and says it is a way to eventually move out of West Dallas.
"GAF's announcement of a new manufacturing facility in Kansas is consistent with the timeline communicated in 2022 to wind down operations in West Dallas,” a GAF spokesperson said in a statement to KERA earlier this year. “We remain committed to our plan to voluntarily cease operation at the plant five years from now.”
A recent study conducted by researchers from Texas A&M University found residents living along the Singleton Corridor appear to be exposed to higher levels of harmful air pollution — and increased risks of respiratory illness.
During Thursday's hearing, an air quality consultant hired by GAF questioned the report— and said the firm had done an analysis of the same data.
'Administratively complete'
Some who spoke at the hearing called into question GAF's tactics during the meeting.
"To pit the workers against the residents is really tragic and unnecessary," Downwinders at Risk Co-Chair Evelyn Mayo said during the meeting.
The numerous workers who showed up at the hearing lined the back of the room the hearing was hosted in. Before it started, a TCEQ employee had to ask the workers to make room for West Dallas residents who were also attending the hearing.
The TCEQ's executive director has already said GAF's air permit application is "administratively complete," according to the public hearing notice.
"Information in the application indicates that this permit renewal would not result in an increase in allowable emissions and would not result in the emission of an air contaminant not previously emitted," the notice said.
"The TCEQ may act on this application without seeking further public comment or providing an opportunity for a contested case hearing if certain criteria are met."
The hearing comes as an amended amortization ordinance makes its way through City Hall, Cisneros' lawsuit against the city over that same ordinance, and a pending zoning case initiated by GAF.
The company maintains it will vacate West Dallas by 2029. Residents said Thursday that's not soon enough.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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