A quarry may be built to mine aggregate road base on Needmore Ranch, formerly known as Little Arkansas.
The public comment period is open on an Air Quality Standard Permit from the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality to allow for a permanent rock crusher on Needmore Ranch with the intent of mining and producing road base for use both on the property and for commercial sale. The 30-day public comment period will end on April 1.
A rock crusher has been in use on the property for the last six months, according to property owner Greg LaMantia. The permit application, which is filed by Far South Mining, LLC, is to change the use from a temporary rock crusher to a permanent permit.
“The intent is to have road base both for use on the property and whatever else it needs to be used in the public domain,” LaMantia said. “…You have a combination of both what we would use and what they would sell to the outside for people that are trying to build roads, whether it’s on their ranch or whether it’s TxDOT or whatever it is.”
The facility would be located 2.5 miles down Fulton Ranch Road from Ranch Road 12 next to the Texas State University’s Forensic Anthropology Research Facility at Freeman Ranch.
The permit request states that the maximum production rate for the facility is 200 tons per hour and 528,000 per year. The area leased for the rock crushing permit is around 2,000 feet in width and 4,000 feet in length. The facility would be greater than 200 feet from the nearest property line and more than 440 yards from any building in use as a single or multi-family residence, school or place of worship.
Nearby property owners have begun to voice concerns about the potential health hazards of living near an aggregate mine. As of last week, TCEQ had received 21 comments on the permit with nine requesting a public meeting be held. Members of Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) are currently fighting a larger rock crusher permit in Comal County. Milann Guckian, a founding member of TRAM and president of Preserve Our Hill Country Environmental Foundation, said she has not reviewed this specific permit request but shared general concerns she has with aggregate mines.
“The air quality will be impacted by this (particulate matter) that is produced from all the blasting and the crushing of the limestone and the minerals dust and the hydrocarbons and the soot from all the diesel equipment that it takes to run some of these processes,” Guckian said. “…So when you hear operators say that this stuff drops out at the fence line, it does not do that. It carries for miles and miles past the fence line. And it settles on everything, so homes, cars, roads, but most importantly it settles and it affects the health of people, of wildlife, of the plant, the flora, the fauna, the whole nine yards.”
LaMantia said that rock quarries are common in much more populated areas than Needmore Ranch.
“The basic scope of what you’ve heard from people is they’re concerned about air quality, dust and noise,” LaMantia said. “When you drive around San Antonio, there’s rock quarries in San Antonio in the city limits and life goes on.”
He later stated, “the fact of the matter is that, for six months, we had a temporary rock crushing plant on the property operating under TCEQ permits. There was not one complaint of dust. There was not one complaint of noise. There was not one complaint of the quality of health on any of the surrounding properties, whether it’s our fence line or five miles away. So what’s the difference?”
The area is within the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.
According to the TCEQ website, a study completed by the University of Texas in 2011 found that there were 124 quarries, strip mines and gravel pits located in the recharge and contributing zones of the Edwards Aquifer in Central Texas.
“These sites pose a potential risk to groundwater and aquifer water quality because they remove vast amounts of soil, which normally serves as a filter during water infiltration, and expose potentially permeable rock,” TCEQ’s website said. “This means that surface water and its associated pollutants have a more direct pathway to aquifers and groundwater. For example, perchlorate and diesel contamination of groundwater may be linked to nearby quarries.”
The study lists best practices for mining in a recharge zone, which include installation of perimeter berms to divert stormwater flow, con struction of paved roads and parking lots to prevent tracking sediment onto adjacent roads and reduce the generation of dust, use of tire wash systems to clean vehicles that travel on unpaved roads and the preservation of naturally vegetated stream buffers to filter overland flow.
This portion of Needmore Ranch falls within the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District and the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
“(The) State of Texas did not give regulatory authority over quarry development to groundwater districts,” David Marino, communications and outreach manager for BSEACD, said. “The State regulates quarries through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) under the Edwards Aquifer rules… Under these rules, quarry owners must apply to the TCEQ in order to create or expand a quarry located in the recharge or contributing zone of the Edwards Aquifer. An application for development in the recharge zone is generically referred to as an Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan and consists of several plan types including a Water Pollution Abatement Plan (WPAP). This application process includes opportunities for input from the public and any concerned parties. BSEACD and EAA can not require the (best management practices) to be implemented but can review the WPAP and provide comment.” The Edwards Aquifer
Protection Program said they were reviewing their records on the topic, but did not respond to questions in time for publication to clarify if there are additional regulations on quarries or mines in the recharge zone or if an EAPP has already been requested or approved for the property.
The TCEQ said that “the air quality permit does not authorize the quarry,” but did not respond to additional clarifying questions before the time of press. Other governmental officials stated that it is common for companies to try and receive approval for an air quality permit before continuing on in the process, because the air quality permit is more difficult to obtain; however, the Wimberley View was unable to confirm if that is the case in this instance.
Far South Mining, LLC did not respond to multiple attempts to request a comment.
Quarries require the use of water to maintain control of the dust created during the mining and crushing process. According to the permit application, there would be permanently mounted spray bars installed on all of the crushers and shaker screens.
“Dust emissions from in-plant roads and active work areas that are associated with the operation of this facility shall be minimized by watering,” the permit request said. “All stockpiles shall be sprinkled with water as necessary to minimize dust emissions.”
LaMantia said that the amount of water required is small while Guckian stated that quarries can use enough water to provide for thousands of households per year. The Wimberley View was unable to confirm the accuracy of either statement as of the time of press.
Needmore Ranch, the BSEACD and the Trinity Edwards Spring Protection Association (TESPA) have previously reached a settlement for the use of permitted water well on the property. Generally speaking, the water from the well can only be used for agricultural purposes. LaMantia stated that the water that would be used for the quarry is not from the well that was involved in the settlement.
“That water well is on another part of the ranch,” LaMantia said. “That water was used to irrigate the three pivot systems we have on both Bermuda fields in the lower part of the ranch. So that water will not be utilized, touched in any fashion with what we’re talking about on the rock plant.”
TESPA said they are looking into the permit application as well.
“We are closely monitoring this application and the impacts to our essential air, groundwater, aquifers, springs, the Blanco River, and this area of the Hill Country,” stated TESPA Executive Director Patrick Cox, Ph.D. “Needmore Ranch has made commitments to protecting this area and to be good stewards of our lands and natural resources. We urge that TCEQ thoroughly examine the full impact of this requested permit on our irreplaceable air, land, and water and hold an in person public hearing on this permit in Wimberley, Texas.”
In a press release, TESPA stated that they are, “particularly concerned with making sure that groundwater from the Needmore ranch is not used for rock crushing operations. Under a previous settlement agreement reached between TESPA and Needmore after TESPA challenged Needmore’s groundwater permit, Needmore may only use groundwater pumped under its permit for agricultural irrigation and wildlife use. If Needmore Water LLC, its successors, assigns, or any other person or entity seeking to use the water authorized for production by the groundwater permit, files an application to amend, convert, or otherwise change the use of the water authorized in the Permit before May 19, 2027, TESPA has the right to raise all objections including refiling of the lawsuit. TESPA is unaware of any amendment application being filed as of the date of this release.”
LaMantia has owned Needmore Ranch for 11 years following the passing of previous owner John O’Quinn. In the time he has owned the ranch, he has been approved for a Municipal Utility District, requested rights to a substantial amount of groundwater and is now attempting to build a mine for material commonly used in the development of roads or even housing. The combination has led many to speculate for years that he plans to develop the property, but LaMantia insists that isn’t the case.
“We don’t intend to develop the property,” LaMantia said. “We have never intended to develop the property. Nothing. Period. We intend to use it exactly how we’re using it.”
He continued later, “our family enjoys this area. Our family has planted hundreds if not thousands of trees. We have reseeded and improved thousands of acres of pasture with native grasses. We love the wildlife. We love the livestock operation. And I think it is important to note that nothing has come to pass on all the theories that have been thrown out there on, ‘Oh my gosh, the world is coming to an end here because of something we’re going to do or not.’ And that hasn’t happened.”
The 30-day public comment period on the Air Quality Standard Permit with the TCEQ will end on April 1.
“The public will have the opportunity to submit comments to the agency and to be informed on the outcome of the standard permit review,” Laura Lopez, Media and Community Relations Manager for the TCEQ, said. “The public notice will not, however, allow for the public to request a contested case hearing. The executive director (ED) will approve or deny the standard permit registration not later than the 30th day after the end of the public comment period. The ED will base the decision on whether the representations made in the application meet the requirements of this standard permit. The ED will consider all comments received during the public comment period in determining whether to approve the registration and issue a written response to all (commenters).”
Public comments about this application, proposed registration no. 167888, may be submitted at any time during the public comment period. Comments may be submitted either in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, or electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/.
