Huber renews push for increased dust production
Huber Carbonates LLC, a branch of Huber Engineered Materials, wants to increase mining and rock-crushing production at its plant in southern Marble Falls, just off of U.S. 281. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Huber Carbonates has filed an application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to roughly quadruple its total dust particle output at its limestone quarry on the south side of Marble Falls. A public meeting on the permit request is scheduled for May.
Huber, in January 2025, filed an application to amend its air quality permit with the TCEQ for its quarry at 849 U.S. 281 in Marble Falls in the hopes of operating its facility for longer hours and producing more material, which in turn would increase its dust output.
The application had been delayed until recently, following an official protest from the city of Marble Falls in May 2025. At the time, city leaders noted concerns about the permit regarding air quality and traffic– those concerns are still present.
“We are always concerned about the air quality and traffic in our city,” Mayor John Packer told DailyTrib. “We will be in attendance at the May meeting.”
The public meeting, to be hosted by the TCEQ, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 7 at Max Copeland Gym on the Marble Falls High School campus, 2101 Mustang Drive.
File a public comment at the meeting or file one online with the TCEQ. To submit a comment, visit this link and enter the permit number 8252.
According to Huber’s air quality permit application, the company is asking for overall increases to its allowable “particulate matter emissions” at its quarry, referring to the potentially airborne dust and debris that would be produced from its limestone mining operation. Depending on their size, the particles can be classified as “inhalable,” which poses health risks like decreased lung function, asthma, and other respiratory issues.
The smaller the particle, the greater the potential health impacts.
- Total particulate matter increase request- from 2.45 tons per year to 10.54 tons per year (314 percent increase)
- Request for increase to particulate matter of 10 micrometers or less- from 1.9 tons per year to 6.26 tons per year (229 percent increase)
- Request for decrease to particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or less- from .95 tons per year to .94 tons per year (1 percent decrease)
At this stage, the permit amendment application has been declared “administratively complete,” and a technical review by the TCEQ is underway.
This article includes some errors. The application wasn’t “delayed” following a protest by the city and this isn’t a “renewed push” by Huber. Rather, the application is following the normal process with TCEQ and is just moving on to the next stage. This article seems to have been written with the intent of causing a stir. Notice that there was no statement by or attempt to reach out to anyone at Huber for comment.
And it should cause a stir, this is the air we breathe. What possible comment would Huber have to offer? Think about your children’s future.
Another way to put it: “We want to lower the health and quality of people living in Marble Falls”. There is no safe level of rock dust for people to breath into their lungs.
Air quality is more important than ever before. Monitor, Monitor, Monitor the air we BREATHE!!!! We should be strengthening our qualities and not relaxing them!