MARBLE FALLS, Texas — The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality hosted a public information meeting with the Marble Falls community on Thursday.

The agency was there to answer questions about a quarry that is set to receive a permit to come to the neighborhood, but the public was less than satisfied with the answers they received.

Community members are concerned that air quality permits, like the one Spicewood Crushed Stone LLC is about to get, are issued without enough consideration for the quarry’s health and environmental impact on the area.

Some people’s biggest concern was that their input will have close to zero impact on whether the quarry will receive a permit. The TECQ is set to approve the company’s permit to build the rock crushing quarry right across the highway from another quarry. Both sit between two neighborhood developments, regardless how the residents feel about it.

“If a company meets all the state and federal requirements, if they meet all the restrictions and the limitations of the standard permit, we are obligated for them to issue them the permit,” Beryl Thatcher with TCEQ said. “In this case there are no distance limitations from neighborhoods or developments.”

The Texas Environmental Protection Coalition filed a lawsuit in Travis County against the TECQ, alleging that its practice of giving out permits is unconstitutional because it doesn’t take public opinion or input into account.

That lawsuit is set to go to district court in February. ​