Two groups plan weekend rally against proposed Spicewood rock crusher and quarry
This map shows the proposed site of the Spicewood Crushed Stone quarry on Texas 71 in the Spicewood community. According to an information sheet from the company, the quarry is on 281 acres and ‘is strategically positioned to meet the needs of the surrounding community and support the growing economy.’ Courtesy illustration
FROM STAFF REPORTS
SPICEWOOD — Opponents of a proposed rock crusher and quarry hoping to dig in between two Spicewood residential communities are holding rallies on Sept. 8-9 at the Double Horn Creek subdivision entrance starting at 9 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.
Spicewood Environmental Protection Alliance Texas and Texas Environmental Protection Coalition are rallying against the proposed rock-crushing plant, which is planned on approximately 281 acres between Doublehorn Estates and Spicewood Trails.
According to an information sheet by Spicewood Crushed Stone LLC, the quarry, located at 5550 Texas 71, “will mine high-quality limestone and dolomite. The quarried rock will then be crushed and screens to specific sizes depending upon the intended use.”
Spicewood Crushed Stone is owned by the Dalrymple family, which also owns Dalrymple Gravel and Contracting Co. in upstate New York and has quarries in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and McQueeney, Texas. Dalrymple Gravel and Contracting Co. was incorporated in 1936, though its initial business started 34 years prior.
The company filed for a “air new source permit” in August through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The plan isn’t sitting well with some residents of the area.
“There are already four rock-processing plants operating in the immediate area. The addition of a fifth plant in even closer proximity to local residents will increase health risks from carcinogenic dust, water contamination, and dangerous truck traffic as well as threaten our water supply, destroy wildlife habitats, and reduce property values,” according to a SEPATX media release.
“These types of plants are damaging people’s health, property values, and water supply,” said Grant Dean of the TEPC. “We’ve got tremendous support from many different communities, and we are going to stand together in a show of solidarity against these plants being built in our backyards.”
The Spicewood Crushed Stone paper stated: “We are committed to investing in the future of Burnet County by creating a safe, socially, and environmentally responsible manner.” It added, the quarry and its operations will “meet or exceed regulations and guidelines established by local, state, and federal laws and regulatory agencies.”
The protests are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, but organizers said people don’t have to stay the entire time. The rally will take place at the Doublehorn Estates entrance at the corner of Texas 71 and Vista View Trail. Parking is available in the office parking lot at 103 Vista View Trail.
To track the pending permit for Spicewood Crushed Stone, visit the TCEQ’s website.
8 thoughts on “Two groups plan weekend rally against proposed Spicewood rock crusher and quarry”
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Protect and preserve our BEAUTIFUL TEXAS HILL COUNTRY. NO NEW SUCH SITES should even be considered, let alone permitted, until the present ones are not producing the materials needed.
Just what or who does TCEQ protect anyway? Seems to protect developers and aggregate industries more so than the people or environmental quality!
If you want to control a piece of property, then buy it. Otherwise, be ready for your neighbor to tell you what color to paint your house and when to mowe your grass. Like the previous comments from rashional thinking people, instead of the selfish, self centered whinners they interviewed.
Hilarious! These groups shouldn’t be against rock crushers, hot mix asphalt plants, concrete plants or quarries. They should be against subdivisions. Subdivision development in Burnet County is the main reason the asphalt, concrete and rock crushers are here. They move with development. I also find it ironic/hypocritical to say they threaten the water supply and destroy wildlife habitats; you mean like a subdivision development where everyone scrapes their lots and install sprinkler systems?
And where do you live… A SUBDIVISION possibly ? Most of our developed lots in Double Horn Creek are composed of natural grass and trees, not the water guzzling fancy grasses seen in most homes in Austin. Very few folks have sprinkler systems. Those that do have water collection systems so as not to waste precious well water.
Now, take a little time our of your day and come watch where these gravel trucks, asphalt trucks and concrete trucks go. 90% of them head toward Austin where the growth of SUBDIVISIONS has exploded… Not so Hilarious if you had one of these plants next to your home. Also, the deer, fox and other wildlife live very happily here.
You move to the country because you don’t want to pay city taxes or like govt regulations. Then you get mad because there are no govt regulations. You want rock houses, driveways and mailboxes, as long as the rock comes from someone else’s community.
Enough is enough! TCEQ is a continuing joke if they approve this as they did the application for a rock crusher at CR 403 and 281. Our government is beyond archaic to keep issuing permits without doing site visits and looking at the facts!
Why blame tceq? They are doing the job they were put in place to do. If you want to place blame put it towards the developers, realtors,ranchers who had to sell out,people flocking to where the grass is greener,etc etc.
I agree. The developers between bee cave Tx and Marble Falls(all along 71) are gobbling up the land. Talk about an environmental nightmare. It’s out of control. The animals are losing habitats and water will be scarce let alone worrying if it will be safe to drink. There won’t be water with the hundreds upon hundreds of homes being developed. Double Horn to Ugly Sweetwater.