YFZ Officials Ignore TCEQ Warnings
 
The Eldorado Success
 
A cement bulk plant and a rock crusher appeared to be running full steam ahead last week, well after a shut down order issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Aerial photos taken on Wednesday, June 9, 2004, also revealed another large foundation being constructed adjacent to five other structures already built, or nearing completion. Additionally, a metal barn had been built nearby.

Ricky Anderson, TCEQ Region 8 Director, told the Success on Tuesday that YFZ officials have applied for a permit to operate a rock crusher, but that no such permit has been issued. Additionally, the state’s order to halt operation of a the rock crusher and cement bulk plant remains in place.

Meanwhile, the TCEQ is pushing ahead with its investigation. Already, a series of alleged violations regarding the cement bulk plant and a non-permitted sewage treatment facility have been referred to the agency’s enforcement division.

Documents obtained by the Success reveal that TCEQ investigators from the San Angelo office are perhaps the most concerned about the sewage treatment facility, which they say is inadequate and poses a danger to groundwater, as well as a threat of discharge into Milligan Draw, a feeder of the South Concho River.

San Angelo investigators were so troubled by the sewage facility’s lack of capacity that they referred to it as a Class V Injection Well. A TCEQ spokesman said the designation means that the facility is not capable of safely treating the amount of sewage it is receiving and that there is a danger of untreated waste leaching into the groundwater.

TCEQ is the agency that oversees many of the day-to-day operations of the City of Eldorado as well as other municipalities statewide. It is empowered by the State Legislature to act on behalf of the state and has far reaching enforcement powers and can levy fines of up to $10,000 per day per violation.
 
MyEldorado.net
Originally published June 17, 2004
 
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