Furst: Dirty air is affecting our quality of life

My neighborhood, in far south Houston, is a place where you can live in the country without leaving the city.

Not far from where Beltway 8 and Texas 288 meet, my husband and I own a post-Depression house with some land for horses and pecan trees. There are nights when the stars above us are truly big and bright. That is why we moved here 20 years ago.

Now, an outbreak of concrete batch plants is threatening our idyll - and our health.

One of these plants, which produce the ready-mix concrete used for new buildings and roads, operates around-the-clock behind our fence. The sky is often a milky haze because the facility creates so much dust. We also see the tiny white particles on the back of our palomino horse, Joe. Our trees do not produce pecans anymore.

It is heart-breaking. I know if I can see the dust in the air and on my horse, then I am breathing it, too. So are my neighbors.

The tiny particles can get can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream. Scientific studies have linked particulate pollution with aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and premature death for people with heart or lung disease, according the Environmental Protection Agency.

Many people do not realize how widespread this problem is. As the Houston Chronicle reported ("Efforts to bring fresher air to Houston face headwinds" Page A3, Sunday), Harris County has 188 concrete batch plants, more than any county in Texas. The number is likely to grow with the area's population because the plants tend to locate near a project site.

Where I live is ground zero. There are 18 concrete batch plants within a four-mile radius, including five along Schurmier Road, one of the main streets in my neighborhood. That is because land is relatively inexpensive but rich in sand, one of the ingredients for concrete.

The plants do more than dirty the air. They produce truck traffic on roads that are too narrow for them. There is noise at all hours. Open fields where horses and cattle grazed are now wide, deep canyons because of sand mining. There is pooling in our drainage ditches from these operations.

It is difficult not to feel hopeless. The plants can operate in residential areas because Houston does not have zoning, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality does not always require a 440-foot setback from a home, church or school as part of their permits.

Thankfully, Houston officials are starting to take a closer look at the problem. It is the right thing to do, considering the city's general plan lists "nurture safe and healthy neighborhoods" as a core strategy.

Here are the actions that I would like them to take:

First, the city should develop criteria to evaluate the sale or lease of its land that considers the existing environmental hazards in a community. This review should be part of the decision-making for any transaction involving the city.

Second, the city should include language in its sales contracts specifying that the land cannot create an environmental hazard for the surrounding community. Not only are these facilities a threat to public health, they harm our property values.

Third, the city should establish incentives for developers who intend to use land for a potentially hazardous purpose to locate away from where people live, work, learn and play.

Taken together, these policies would help neighborhoods like mine to breathe easier.

Furst is a resident of Houston's Minnetex neighborhood.