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Natalie Weber\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n
A public hearing for a concrete crusher in Rosharon on July 29, 2025. Air Alliance Houston has sought to engage residents in the permitting process for these facilities and other industrial businesses operating near neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
However, that notice isn’t from the local government, the state’s environmental regulators, or even the businesses themselves.<\/p>\n
For the last four years, Air Alliance Houston has been conducting an awareness-raising campaign \u2014 known as AirMail \u2014 and notifying community members about industrial facilities seeking to operate in their neighborhoods. <\/p>\n
Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n 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 an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant<\/a>. Air Alliance joined several other organizations whose grants had been terminated in a class action lawsuit<\/a> against the federal agency last year.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n “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 with Houston Public Media.<\/p>\n The lawsuit is still pending, and the EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n Much of the greater Houston area lacks zoning and parts of the region have consistently failed to meet<\/a> federal 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.<\/p>\n