Erica Hubbard used to drive by the grassy lot off Jensen Drive with her handheld air monitor, testing how polluted the neighborhood already was. The owner of a concrete mixing company last summer wanted to start up operations there, which would potentially add dangerous particles to the air. Hubbard and her neighbors had seen the company try this elsewhere and planned to fight it.

Her Fifth Ward community rallied to prevent that facility from coming to the neighborhood. Machinery at these sites funnels water and dry materials into the spinning drums of concrete trucks. People feared breathing in the small particles that escape. They also didn’t want to deal at all hours with bright lights and the rumble of idling engines.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Opposition solidifies against Houston’s concrete batch plants

The company never started construction, and Hubbard and her neighbors are hopeful it never will.

Theirs was a temporary victory against one of many proposed concrete batch plants that communities around Houston regularly fight. Advocates say these proposals are part of an unjust pattern that has persisted for years and continues today. A meeting over a pending permit for a batch plant in Aldine drew a crowd of people who hoped to prevent its approval Thursday. Two other new plant permits in the county are also awaiting state approval.

Fifty-four percent of concrete facilities exist in neighborhoods that are majority people of color, a Houston Chronicle analysis of Harris County data shows. Some areas lack deed restrictions to keep the plants out, and residents there don’t always have money to push back when they try to move in. Data also shows that when a plant is built in a predominantly white area, the neighborhood tends to be less densely populated than Hispanic and Black areas with plants.

The analysis further found that throughout Harris County, when a plant is in a predominantly Black area, it’s more likely the neighborhood will have multiple plants. The Chronicle found that there are nine predominantly Black areas with plants and 20 total plants in those areas, according to Census tract data. That’s about 2 plants per tract, or roughly per 4,000 residents, in these neighborhoods. For Hispanic and white areas that ratio is closer to 1.3 and 1.4 plants per tract, respectively.

It’s yet another chapter to the story of the environmental injustices that state and local officials have allowed to endure for generations. Texas Southern University Professor Robert Bullard drew the link decades ago, when he found most of Houston’s landfills and trash incinerators were in Black neighborhoods. Harris County Pollution Control has issued 40 violation notices against plants in the past six months.

Batch plant owners say they take precautions to keep the plants safe. And they say they need to be in central locations because they have about an hour to get to work sites across the massive region before the concrete starts to set. The demand is certainly there: Tens of thousands of homes have been built during the pandemic and land all over the area is being bought up.

The company that pursued the Fifth Ward site, Soto Ready Mix, exemplifies both the problem and the unfair solution that often plays out. Public humiliation has been the only effective way to stop companies from moving in, government officials say. State regulators say they are required to make sure public health is protected no matter where the site is, so they generally don’t care what’s nearby. (In the case of Hubbard’s neighborhood, the plant would have been near a preschool.) Houston has no zoning laws, and the state Supreme Court rescinded the city’s authority to require that plants get city approval.

A man pushes a cart full of scrap metal down Jensen Drive on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston. Residents opposed a concrete batch plant that they feared Soto Ready Mix was going to open last year at the site behind him.

So residents engage in an endless game of whack-a-mole against concrete mixing facilities, in which Soto Ready Mix has been a repeat offender. The company first tried to open a plant several years ago in Acres Homes, a historically Black community where Mayor Sylvester Turner grew up. The proposal drew significant backlash, and the company agreed to look elsewhere.

In another case, in 2020, the owner of Nomadic Aggregates withdrew a permit request to open a plant in Aldine, which is largely Hispanic, after residents spoke out against it for two hours at a meeting with state regulators.

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Hubbard and others are tired of having to shoulder this this burden.

“The people of Fifth Ward deserve clean air just like any other community in Houston,” she said. Hubbard wants to see focus, effort and investment from state regulators, who are under regular review this session by the legislature, and an emphasis on safety over profit.

Residents opposed a concrete batch plant that they feared Soto Ready Mix was going to open last year at this site in Fifth Ward. The location was photographed Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Houston.

A TexCon Ready Mix concrete batch plant, photographed Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston.

Erica Hubbard, president of the Progressive Fifth Ward Community Association, talks about industries located in her neighborhood, as she stands next to Texas Blending and Warehousing Corp. in Fifth Ward on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Houston.

Selina Valdez talks with Dominga Castillo about a concrete batch plant that may be built nearby Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. Advocates are trying to fight against the plant.

Selina Valdez puts a flier in a fence Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. Valdez and others passed out information about a proposed concrete batch plant that could be built nearby.

Marina Flores Sugg talks with two men after giving them a flier Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. She and others passed out information about a proposed concrete batch plant that could be built nearby.

Signs indicate that an air permit application for a concrete batch plant is being sought Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston.

Michelle Flores, who works with Harris County Precinct 2, cleans James Driver Park on Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. The fence in the background lines a lot where a proposed concrete batch plant may go. Advocates are trying to stop the plant from being built.

Selina Valdez and other volunteers prepare to go pass out fliers about a proposed concrete batch plant Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. Advocates oppose the plant which could be built nearby.

A fence, seen in the background, lines a lot where an air permit for a concrete batch plant is being sought, on Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston.

Marina Flores Sugg talks with Roberto Perales about a concrete batch plant that may be built nearby Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston.

Marina Flores Sugg puts a flier in a fence as she passes out information about a proposed concrete batch plant on Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston.

Marina Flores Sugg, left, talks with Sonia Gomez about a concrete batch plant that may be built nearby Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. “I have a son, he’s 2, and I don’t want him breathing that in,” Gomez said about dust and particulate matter that is often found in the air near batch plants.

A boy rides his bike past a large lot on Jensen Drive on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston. Residents opposed a concrete batch plant that they feared Soto Ready Mix was going to open last year at the site.

A man walks along Collingsworth Street past Texas Blending and Warehousing Corp. on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston. Advocates say the area is home to a high number of industrial and chemical facilities, and that their presence negatively impacts residents’ health.

A TexCon Ready Mix concrete batch plant, photographed Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston.

Erica Hubbard, president of the Progressive Fifth Ward Community Association, talks about health problems associated with living near concrete batch plants as she stands outside of a TexCon Ready Mix concrete batch plant in Fifth Ward on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Houston.

A TexCon Ready Mix concrete batch plant, photographed Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston.

A TexCon Ready Mix concrete batch plant, photographed Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Fifth Ward in Houston.

Hubbard, who directs library services at Houston Community College, moved seven years ago to Fifth Ward, an area with a strong cultural legacy just northeast of downtown.

She later learned about the air pollution she and her neighbors were facing from batch plants that already exist. A handful are next to the city animal shelter, along with a chemical storage facility and metal recycling spot. “Contamination alley,” Hubbard calls it. State scientists found the area also has higher rates of some types of cancer.

The batch plant operations that potentially contribute to air pollution are fairly rudimentary. Workers use front-end loaders to scoop up piles of sand and various sized rocks and dump them onto a slanted conveyor belt that carries them up to bins. The bins deposit specific amounts of each material onto a second belt, which carries it all toward a waiting truck.

From there, the mixture drops through a circular, rubber opening into the spinning barrels of the trucks. Cement and fly ash are dispensed into the truck too from tall silos. Water is also added to the cement truck drum where all the materials are mixed.

The batch plant operations that potentially contribute to air pollution are fairly rudimentary. 

The greatest concern for advocates is what’s known as fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, that escapes during this whole process. The particles are smaller than sand and can be inhaled deep into the lungs and potentially enter the bloodstream, triggering heart attacks, coughing and making breathing difficult, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Josh Leftwich, president and CEO of Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association, said state regulators have done extensive modeling to figure out how these plants can operate safely. He lives near two himself, he said. Operators run sprinklers on the rock piles to keep down the dust. They vacuum particles from the air as the materials are released into the truck drum.

Batch plants sometimes run at night so work crews can avoid traffic and heat, but that means more disruption to neighborhoods. The companies do the best they can to minimize the light and sound coming from the plants, Leftwich said. “They want to be good members of the neighborhood and the community,” he said.

Because Houston lacks zoning laws, the facilities often wind up in neighborhoods where residents settled due to historic discrimination, said Corey Williams, research and policy director of Air Alliance Houston, a community-based group that advocates for clean air. Industrial sites set up shop in communities of color because deed restrictions kept them out of white areas that prohibited people of color from purchasing homes. The undervalued land in less restricted and less affluent neighborhoods gave concrete plants an incentive to choose those sites.

Williams believes these plants shouldn’t be within a quarter mile of homes, schools, hospitals, parks or places of worship.

Many residents had an immediate response when Soto’s request about a Fifth Ward site appeared on the May 2021 agenda for Houston’s Planning Commission: The company seemed to be subbing in one less-protected community for another, Acres Homes. Soto wanted the commission to sign off on plans to leave a street that dead-ends into its lot, rather than adding a through street or making it a cul-de-sac, as city rules require.

A representative for the company, Joyce Owens, said in the meeting that state Rep. Harold Dutton had recommended the spot. Dutton’s district includes Fifth Ward. The Houston Democrat later denied Owens’ account, saying in an interview he wouldn’t have proposed a place in his district, although he might have offered up Kingwood. At the planning commission meeting, residents repeatedly spoke against it.

“We do not want people to take advantage of us because we’re a low-income community,” Delores McGruder told the commissioners. “It’s polluted enough.”

After the meeting, Soto withdrew its request, according to the city. The attorney for the company, Erich Birch, declined to comment.

The permitting process leaves all parties at a loss. Companies spend money pursuing permits. Government officials and nonprofit groups make efforts to deter businesses from proposed sites. Residents spend precious time fighting them, only for the battle to move onto the next neighborhood.

But initiatives for alleviating these woes have failed to make headway. Only one related bill in the last legislative session became law, requiring companies to provide a facility site map with their permit. Legal challenges by the county and Lone Star Legal Aid over how the state regulates concrete batch plants remain pending against TCEQ. One legal argument urges reconsideration of emissions of a compound called crystalline silica that some argue needs to be better understood.

So, for the time being, these same battles play on repeat.

On HoustonChronicle.com: One Houston neighborhood is putting Texas’ air quality rules to the test. They’re losing.

Government officials are encouraging community members to continue raising their voices. Harris County Pollution Control Services mails out a form letter to residents when it hears of a new concrete batch permit in the neighborhood, explaining what the company plans to do, why it’s dangerous and that they have a right to speak out against it. The City of Houston is organizing an art-based public awareness campaign with the goal of educating people about particulate matter pollution.

A city of Houston public awareness campaign recently launched called  “The Hidden Cost of Concrete Batch Plans."

Politicians, advocates and residents gathered at a county park on Wednesday to drum up a call to action ahead of the Thursday hearing in Aldine. State Sen. Carol Alvarado, state Rep. Armando Walle, County Commissioner Adrian Garcia and County Attorney Christian Menefee stood behind a podium with adults and kids from the area, who held handmade signs with phrases such as “Save our lungs!!” The atmosphere resembled a rally, as they called on the company to withdraw its request or be prepared to fight.

On Thursday night, residents filled a community room to try to sway the outcome. The permit applicants, Ivan Gomez and his father Meliton, portrayed themselves as small-business owners who saw this site as a dream opportunity. They went over the standard pollution precautions they planned to implement and promised no trucks would pass through the neighborhood but would instead exit straight onto the highway. The crowd wasn’t buying it. “We’ve heard it all before,” Abel Garza said at the microphone.

Aldine resident Manuel Ronquillo voices his opposition to a proposed concrete batch plant being built, during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia voices his opposition to another concrete batch plant being built in Aldine during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

State Rep. Armando Walle voices his opposition to another concrete batch plant being built in Aldine during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Rocio Witte holds up a sign in opposition to a proposed concrete batch plant during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Ivan Gomez and his father Meliton Gomez, who are trying to build a concrete batch plant in Aldine, listen to residents rising their opposition during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Ivan Gomez and his father Meliton Gomez, who are trying to build a concrete batch plant in Aldine, answer questions from residents during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

State Rep. Armando Walle and Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia listen as residents voice opposition to another concrete batch plant being built in Aldine during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Meliton Gomez, who is trying to build a concrete batch plant in Aldine, answers questions from residents during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Ivan Gomez and his father Meliton Gomez present their plan for building a concrete batch plant to residents attending a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

Meliton Gomez listens to Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia voice opposition to another concrete batch plant being built in Aldine, during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

State Rep. Armando Walle voices his opposition to another concrete batch plant being built in Aldine during a public meeting by TCEQ at the East Aldine Management District building on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Houston.

For three hours, residents cheered one another as they questioned the permit applicants and gave official feedback to TCEQ about their concerns. They described all the work that went into improving their community. A woman who was still experiencing long term COVID symptoms held up her inhaler to show the officials. An elementary school band teacher talked about his students with asthma. A woman who worked with seniors related that her clients like to picnic in the park next door to where the plant is being planned.

The crowd appealed to the Gomez father-and-son team as parents, as people who love their home and as Hispanic residents. They had been a target for these kinds of businesses for too long, they said. They’d fought against too much. They didn’t want this. Commissioner Garcia offered to buy the property.

“Please,” said Rosalva Hernandez. “Listen to us.”

Marina Flores Sugg, left, and Selina Valez hand out fliers about a proposed concrete batch plant Saturday, April 2, 2022, in north Houston. Advocates are trying to fight against the plant which would be built nearby.

Wesley Ratko and Jon Shapley contributed reporting.

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Emily Foxhall covers the environment for the Houston Chronicle. She joined the paper in 2015 as a suburban reporter. She has documented the city's sprawl while playing a key role in the paper's breaking news and enterprise coverage. Her reconstruction of the Santa Fe High School shooting, along with two other colleagues, won first place for feature writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. She was part of the Chronicle team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2017 for coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Soon after, she began roaming the state as the Texas Storyteller.