When a concrete batch plant, chemical manufacturing facility or other industrial business seeks a permit near a Harris County or Fort Bend neighborhood, nearby residents often receive a notice in the mail.
However, that notice isn't from the local government, the state's environmental regulators, or even the businesses themselves.
For the last four years, Air Alliance Houston has been conducting an awareness-raising campaign — known as AirMail — and notifying community members about industrial facilities seekingto operate in their neighborhoods.
Now, the environmental watchdog is expanding its AirMail program to Galveston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Louisiana, and other parts of the Gulf Coast, despite facing financial setbacks due to the termination of anEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant. Air Alliance joined several other organizations whose grants had been terminated in aclass action lawsuitagainst the federal agency last year.
Air Alliance Houston's executive director, Jennifer Hadayia, said the organization was able to fundraise part of the money it lost after the grant was terminated.
"We weren't able to raise exactly dollar for dollar what the EPA grant would have provided to us, but we got 75% of the way there," she said in an interview withHouston Public Media.
The lawsuit is still pending, and the EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Much of the greater Houston area lacks zoning and parts of the region have consistentlyfailed to meetfederal air quality standards. Air Alliance is seeking stricter environmental regulations for polluters in the region. The organization works to engage the public to provide comments during the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's permitting process for these businesses.
Air Alliance is partnering with community organizations to send out AirMail notices and engage the public in the permitting process, as it expands to other parts of the Gulf Coast.
Hadayia said she's seen the impact of the AirMail program as it has grown throughout the past four years.
"We saw more permits getting slowed until they were more protective," she said. "We even saw some new construction permits get stopped altogether."
Fort Bend County resident Erika Gibson said the AirMail program created awareness in her community about a concrete and rock crushing facilityseeking a permitthere. Because of the AirMail program, she and her neighbors were mobilized to organize against the facility.
"That postcard changed everything," she said during a press conference late last month. "It turned information into action. It gave us the opportunity to organize, to educate ourselves, to stand together."
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