05/01/2026
This past week, CREAM submitted written comments to TCEQ about their proposed changes to the standard stormwater permit for concrete batch plants (CBPs). We collaborated with EarthJustice and Bayou City Waterkeeper on this effort.
We described how the proposed permit contains several significant flaws and will not ensure that stormwater discharges from CBPs will meet water quality standards, will not protect and maintain existing designated uses, will not cause a violation of water quality standards, and will not cause or contribute to water quality violations. Nor will it ensure that TCEQ can readily enforce and monitor the permit.
To support our assertions, we reviewed stormwater discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) from 2025 which revealed:
· Eight (8) discharges were corrosive for pH according to federal hazardous waste criteria under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”).
· Seventy-one (71) discharges would violate municipal sewer system discharge standards for corrosivity based on pH. These discharges could cause corrosive structural damage to treatment plants, piping, basins, and equipment.
· Eleven (11) discharges contained chromium at levels that were toxic according to federal hazardous waste criteria under RCRA.
In the proposed permit, permittees must only notify TCEQ when it is non-compliant with its permit. But simply notifying TCEQ of non-compliance will not ensure the situation is remedied. And the proposed permit language would only require written submission of “steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of the non-compliance and to mitigate its adverse effects.” This does not require the permittee to actually remedy the non-compliance and implement mitigation and prevention measures. It also provides no required time frame during which mitigation and prevention measures must be implemented. This hinders TCEQ’s ability to enforce the permit.
If you are interested in more details, take a look at the letter that was submitted:
