More than a dozen Burnet County residents and campers filed into a Texas House committee room to urge lawmakers to protect their Hill Country landscape against a proposed rock quarry. Presiding over the testimony, committee Chair Rep. Brooks Landgraf posed a pivotal question: “What makes this location different from anywhere else?”​

“This location” is 3221 FM 3509, or Hoover Valley Road, where Austin-based Asphalt Inc. has applied for permits to build a rock-crushing facility. The site is just southwest of the city of Burnet and near two state parks and a summer camp. The House Committee on Environmental Regulation hearing on April 24 centered on House Bill 5151, a bill specifically designed to stop the project.

No major decisions were made during the hearing, and the bill is still pending with the committee as of April 30.

Introduced by Rep. Terry Wilson, HB 5151 aims to protect Longhorn Cavern State Park, Inks Lake State Park, and Camp Longhorn by prohibiting aggregate operations within its vicinity—a level of protection not previously extended to any other area in Texas.

“We need concrete. We need stone to build our roads and homes,” Wilson said during the hearing. “But while we build and dig, we cannot lose sight of why folks from all over the world visit this location.”

Wilson described the measure as a “precision strike” to prevent “collateral damage” to a uniquely fragile area, rather than sweeping regulation on the aggregate industry.

It would prohibit a quarry or similar operation from being built within:

• 4 miles of a lake owned or operated by a Texas river authority, with a national fish hatchery (Inks Lake is operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority and is home to Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery);
• 4 miles of the entrance of a state park operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with a cavern dedicated as a National Natural Landmark in 1971 (such as Longhorn Cavern State Park);
• and 2 miles of a youth camp founded in 1975 and licensed by the Texas Department of State Health Services (such as Camp Longhorn). 

“The (bill) brackets it to a point that allows for a defined area to be protected,” Wilson told the committee, emphasizing HB 5151 would not affect industry operations elsewhere in Burnet County or along U.S. 281.

Rep. Landgraf pressed Wilson and Burnet County residents there to testify in support of the bill to explain why the measure should move out of committee and into the Texas House when so many other communities across the state are near similar industrial operations. 

“Help me understand what makes this corner of Burnet County different from my home in Odessa,” Landgraf asked. “Because if we’re going to move forward with this bill, we need a compelling reason that it’s more than just a case of ‘not in my backyard.’”

Testifiers offered layered arguments related to the environmental, historical, cultural, and personal significance of the patch of land located off Hoover Valley Road.

“This is not just another rural community that doesn’t want a quarry next door,” said Burnet resident Todd Sifleet. “This is Texas’ Shangri-La, and it’s real.”

Several campers from Camp Longhorn, a nearly century-old summer youth facility located near the proposed quarry site, testified at the hearing.

“I learn to be the best version of myself when I’m at camp,” said Elliot Malek, a third-generation camper. “I’m worried this plant would change the quiet and clean air we have there.”

Twins Robert and Peggy Tips, also third-generation campers, shared their concerns.

“A fence won’t stop the silica dust from getting into our cabins,” 13-year-old Peggy said. “We’re outside all day. We eat and sleep in open-air bunks.”

Randy Printz, chair of Save Burnet, a grassroots coalition that chartered a bus to the hearing, said residents have been failed by existing permitting processes.

“TCEQ’s (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) own staff couldn’t answer basic questions at the December hearing in Burnet,” said Printz, referring to a public meeting the state commission held late last year. “They admitted they had no air monitors in the county. We’ve since installed our own.”

Printz said Save Burnet has placed multiple PurpleAir-brand monitors that are already detecting unhealthy air quality when winds blow from quarry-heavy areas toward the proposed rock crusher site.

Save Burnet member Kenda Avery, who lives less than 2 miles from the site, offered a traveler’s perspective.

“My 30-plus-year career was with a global corporation in the travel industry. … (It) gives me a slightly different perspective on how this is going,” she said. “If you grew up in Texas like I did, you are probably familiar with cities like Galena Park, Deer Park, Texas City. While these cities are very important to our state, it is due to their prominent refineries. You will not find them on anyone’s bucket list to visit while touring Texas. Sadly, our Hill Country is now facing a similar future.”

Many residents pointed to broader concerns about health and hydrological risks. Residents described water wells already strained by drought and warned of runoff from quarry operations contaminating local livestock ponds and aquifers.

House committee member Rep. Rafael Anchía (District 103), who supports the bill, shared his thoughts about the lack of protection from aggregate operations and seemingly double standards of urban and rural areas.

“In my district, people live next to these operations year-round, not just for two weeks of camp,” said Anchía, who represents cities in the Dallas area. “They may not have a state park in their backyard, but they deserve the same protections.”

Other representatives raised concerns about property rights on both sides. 

“We always talk about the property rights of the operator,” Rep. Wilson said. “But what about the adjacent ranchers, some of whom have lived here for generations?”

Wilson, acknowledging Chairman Landgraf’s central question, framed the Hoover Valley Road site as irreplaceable. 

“This is not about stopping industry,” he said. “It’s about protecting a crown jewel.”

WHAT COMES NEXT?

House Bill 5151 was left pending in committee. When a Texas House committee “leaves a bill pending,” it means lawmakers heard testimony but have not yet voted to advance it. This is a common part of the legislative process, allowing time for review, amendments, or political alignment. House Bill 3482, authored by Rep. Ellen Troxclair, who represents Burnet County, also aims to restrict mining near sensitive areas and is currently pending in the Texas House Natural Resources Committee.

A bill left pending can be brought back for a vote, remain in committee—effectively killing it—or be rewritten or reintroduced as a substitute or companion bill. Only bills voted out of committee can advance to the House floor for broader debate.

House Chair Landgraf signaled hesitancy to expand the scope or set a precedent that might disrupt statewide development needs. 

Wilson closed the hearing by highlighting how he views the bill as an opportunity to advocate on behalf of Texans. 

“I think this is an opportunity for the Legislature to give an example to the industry … that says ‘Hey, maybe we shouldn’t be buying right next door to a state park,’” he said. “It would certainly send a message.”

To view the April 24 House Committee on Environmental Regulation hearing on House Bill 5151, visit https://house.texas.gov/videos/21829. 

elizabeth@thepicayune.com