Naked City

Residents of Webberville in far East Travis Co. held a barbecue and fundraiser Oct. 27 to support their ongoing campaign against strip-mining operations that could soon turn their pastoral environs into an enormous gravel pit. Due to lax regulations regarding gravel mining, Trinity Materials Inc. and Texas Materials could begin mining in the area at any time, say the residents, who have formed a nonpartisan group called Village of Webberville to preserve the historic Webber's Prairie. (First settled in 1830, Webberville is the oldest settlement in Travis Co.)

"A lot of people are watching daily for activity," said VOW member Keith Weber, who lives adjacent to tracts owned or leased by the companies and ostensibly set aside for mining. In October, Trinity canceled its request for a permit from the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality to build a rock-crushing plant in the area -- a small and apparently only temporary victory for VOW. In total, the minable area spans at least 1,000 acres and is contiguous to many homes, according to a map drafted by VOW. (Neither TXI nor Trinity could be reached for comment.)

"People think of strip mines as a little sandbox in someone's back yard," said VOW member Carol Goodrich, who worries that Trinity's parent company, Transit Concrete, eventually will build a plant in the area. Meanwhile, she says, the fine dust generated by basic gravel and sand mining can cause or worsen asthma, allergies, and lung problems; some residents can already write their names in the dust that drifts onto their porches from existing mines. According to the EPA, crushing and screening can produce emissions and waste that react with air and water to produce metal ions that can contaminate water sources such as the nearby Colorado River. VOW also worries that additional gravel trucks will substantially worsen the safety of FM 969, a narrow, winding two-lane that serves as a route for trucks hauling rock.

The Travis Co. Commissioners Court and state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos have taken note of VOW's concerns, and have written letters to the TCEQ and the Texas Dept. of Transportation on their behalf. And the group plans to keep the barbecue fires of opposition burning. If lobbying state regulators doesn't help VOW's cause, Goodrich says, "We'll go to the EPA."