Dallas, TX
EPA test fish to see how pollution from Dallas concrete batch plants affects people’s health
Fish Trap Lake, five miles west of downtown Dallas, glowed with sunlight, ducks and geese swam, and a man with a fishing rod cast his line on a warm January morning. On the trail that loops around the 10-acre lake located inside a park, mothers with strollers walked to the sounds of rippling water and birds chirping.
Across the street from the park stands a row of industrial companies, including plants that turn sand, water and cement into concrete to build highways and subdivisions and high-rises in fast-growing Texas.
While fish is in the lake’s name, Janie Cisneros, 41, a mother and digital researcher who grew up nearby, says it’s common knowledge in the area to “catch them, don’t eat them.” Locals believe the lake is polluted from wastewater runoff from the nearby plants.
Cisneros, the director of the neighborhood association Singleton United/Unidos, said many residents who live nearby have long complained about pollution from the plants, and suspect that it’s contributing to health problems ranging from asthma to bronchitis to throat cancer. They also say the thousands of concrete batch plants located across Texas disproportionately impact low-income communities like theirs.
Desiree Rios
/
for The Texas Tribune
West Dallas’ Zip Code 75212, where 27,000 people live, is 68% Hispanic and 25% Black. Cisneros, wearing her signature cherry lipstick and black neighborhood association shirt, said that for decades a relentless stench has infiltrated the homes of residents in her working-class neighborhood.
Residents have long complained to the state’s environmental agency about pollution from the plants and say their concerns have been brushed off. But now their efforts have caught the attention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency has found that the air pollution and particulate matter from concrete batch plants can increase the risk of asthma and cardiac arrest if people inhale too much of it.
Now it has launched a pilot project — the first in Texas — that will survey air, water, and soil to determine how the combined pollution from this cluster of industrial sites impacts public health in two predominantly Black and brown Dallas neighborhoods: West Dallas and Joppa in South Dallas.
EPA says the project is expected to be completed by July 2024. The agency’s final report will be shared with the communities, the city of Dallas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state agency that regulates batch plants.
But before any of that can happen, the first step was going fishing.
Fish will be tested for heavy metals
By 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, three EPA scientists, wearing bright orange life vests, grabbed two Home Depot buckets, stuffing them with buoys and fish traps meant to capture predator fish like bass.
They boarded a small beige boat branded with the agency’s logo. When the boat’s motor refused to start, they paddled to the lake’s center.
Using cat food as bait, they cast their nets.
“[These nets] are just a really effective way to try and catch a lot of fish in a short amount of time,” said Rob Cook, an environmental scientist who has worked for the EPA for 12 years.
Desiree Rios
/
for The Texas Tribune
Cook, a 54 year-old who wore rain boots, reflective sunglasses and a straw hat, said the group needs to catch three to five catfish and predator fish like bass, all similar in size, for a reliable testing sample.
Nicholas Scott, 30, an EPA scientist who was on the boat with Cook, says they will filet the fish, freeze the filets and send them to a lab to test the tissue for heavy metals like lead and arsenic. The results from water sampling and the fish tissue analysis will help the EPA determine whether the lake’s water or fish are harmful to human health.
They paddled back to shore, leaving four red buoys floating in the lake, marking their nets’ location. Then they picked up trash around the lake for a couple of hours before rowing back out to retrieve the nets.
Kirk McDonnell, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — which stocks the lake with catfish, bass and other species — said in an email that because the lake is near industrial sites and sometimes receives flood water from the Trinity River, which is under a fish consumption advisory, the department’s Dallas-Fort Worth fisheries division has “speculated that fish contamination could be an issue with the fish currently in the lake.”
West Dallas resident Cynthia Medina, curious about the scientists’ activities, stopped by the lake during her lunch break. The petite 30-year-old said she’s interested in the test results because her husband comes to the lake regularly to fish.
“I tell him: Don’t take [the fish] home, we are not going to eat it. It is not safe,” said Medina, who has lived in the neighborhood her entire life and works at a nonprofit that connects children of color to books and promotes reading.
She pointed to a shopping cart partially submerged near the lake shore. “I don’t know what those fish are eating.”
Scientist hopes study informs policy
Aimee Wilson, an EPA scientist and project manager in a navy striped blouse featuring an embroidered EPA logo she stitched herself, said the agency decided to conduct a cumulative impact assessment in Texas because TCEQ was proposing changes to the state’s concrete batch plant permits, which sets the air pollution standards companies must follow.
Those changes included lowering production limits, reducing dust coming from plants and setting minimum distance requirements from nearby communities, but did not take into account the cumulative pollution created by plants clustered close together, like those near Fish Trap Lake.
For years, environmental advocates have criticized the state for not taking into account the health impacts for people living near multiple concrete batch plants.
In 2021, Harris County attorney and Lone Star Legal Aid, a nonprofit law group, filed civil rights complaintswith the EPA alleging that the TCEQ discriminated against people of color and those with limited English proficiency in the agency’s permitting process to build new concrete batch plants and renew permits for existing ones.
“There hasn’t been a lot of studies on [cumulative impact],” said Wilson, who has worked for the EPA for 14 years. “So we want to see what’s there because we don’t know.”
While TCEQ announced its new requirements for concrete batch plants last week, before the EPA study was completed, Wilson hopes their work can help the agency develop better guidance and policies for how to consider cumulative impacts from industry in future permit decisions.
At noon, as the EPA scientists on the boat approached the lake shore, Cisneros, the neighborhood association director, waited with her two nephews and her mom to see what the EPA crew caught.
The group did not catch any of the fish they were looking for, but a local resident who caught a bass with a fishing rod donated it so the EPA can test its tissue.
Cisneros said the EPA’s attention to her community is a relief because at times she feels like her concerns are ignored by state regulators.
“The EPA is being brave,” Cisneros said earlier in the day while sitting with her 4-year-old daughter, Lila Rosa Bravero, under the park’s pavilion. “They are not fearing that this [project] might open up a can of worms.”
Disclosure: The Texas Parks And Wildlife Department has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/02/epa-concrete-batch-plants-study-dallas/.
Sunday was another frustrating game for Dallas Cowboys fans who had to watch the secondary miss one tackle after another against the New York Giants.
In addition to the poor angles and inability to wrap up, the defensive backs couldn’t consistently stop an aerial attack that was without their top two players. That sums up the season for the Dallas defense, which is why Matt Eberflus being relieved of his duties feels like a foregone conclusion.
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From there, the question turns to who will replace Eberflus. While there’s no shortage of options available, here’s a look at some of the top candidates if Dallas made fixing the secondary their primary goal.
Daniel Bullocks, DB Coach/Pass Game Specialist, San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have one of the most impressive coaching trees. While Robert Saleh didn’t excel as a head coach, he returned to his role as defensive coordinator and continued to excel. They’ve also seen DeMeco Ryans do an extraordinary job in Houston as a head coach, with a staff loaded with former 49ers assistants.
That’s why looking at their staff is a wise move. One name to consider is Daniel Bullocks, who has been an assistant with San Francisco since 2017. He currently serves as the safeties coach and pass game specialist. While they haven’t been elite this year, his unit is usually among the best in the NFL.
Aubrey Pleasant, Assistant Head Coach/Pass Game Coordinator, Los Angeles Rams
Aubrey Pleasant has been a name to watch for years, even interviewing for multiple defensive coordinator vacancies. He’s been with the Los Angeles Rams since 2023, and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2024.
Cory Undlin, Pass Game Coordinator, Houston Texans
DeMeco Ryans was mentioned earlier as a great coach to come out of San Francisco. One assistant he brought along with him is Cory Undlin, who has been a pass game specialist for the 49ers (2021-2022) and now the Houston Texans (2023-present).
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Houston has a vicious defense led by hard-hitting safeties and physical cornerbacks. Undlin deserves credit for helping develop their young talent and could help Dallas get back on track in the secondary.
Al Harris, Pass Game Coordinator/DB Coach, Chicago Bears
Everyone who follows the Cowboys knows, and loves, Al Harris. He was part of Dan Quinn’s defensive staff and was credited for developing ballhawks such as Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.
Harris left this offseason and while the Cowboys fell apart, the Chicago Bears began to generate turnovers at a high rate. We’ve seen enough to know Harris should have been kept.
Raheem Morris, Head Coach, Atlanta Falcons
Raheem Morris was fired after two seasons as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad coach. Morris remains one of the more well-respected defensive minds in the NFL, even winning the Super Bowl in 2021 as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. That was his second Super Bowl ring, as Morris earned one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2002 season. That year, he was a defensive quality control coach for Jon Gruden.
Morris excels at coaching defensive backs and brings extensive experience to the table. He may be exactly the kind of hire Jerry Jones would feel comfortable making, and one Cowboys fans could believe in.
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The Dallas Cowboys wrapped up their 2025 season on Sunday and will now turn all of their attention to offseason work in the name of not finding themselves out of the playoffs this time next year. Obviously that is much easier said than done.
This upcoming offseason is one of the most important and critical in recent Cowboys history as they have multiple first-round draft picks for the first time since 2008. With the Cowboys now officially done for the season, we know where they will be picking come the 2026 NFL Draft.
Updated 2026 NFL Draft order
Here are the first 12 picks of the draft, through the Cowboys selection at number 12 overall, courtesy of Tankathon.
If all of this sounds familiar it is because it is… the Cowboys held the 12th overall pick last year and used it to select Tyler Booker. They also used it in 2021 to select Micah Parsons, more on him in a moment, although they picked it up after trading back two spots. For what it’s worth the Detroit Lions held the pick in consecutive seasons beginning the year after and landed Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, so hopefully that type of success is what the Cowboys find.
While we know where the Cowboys are picking, it is still unknown exactly where their other first-round pick will land. Dallas holds Green Bay’s selection in the 2026 NFL Draft and the Packers are currently set to visit the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round which means we are all rooting for Chicago to take care of business.
Updated rundown of Cowboys Draft Picks
Keep in mind that Dallas has also already dealt away 2026 draft capital as well.
The Cowboys are projected to receive a couple of compensatory picks as well, potentially in the fifth-round, but those are not fully known at this time.
It seems like a match made in urban planning heaven. Most metro areas have an abundance of underperforming retail property, such as half-vacant shopping centers, and a shortage of housing that average Texans can afford. Turn that retail into housing, and voila, two problems solved at once.
But no complicated problem has such an easy fix. The North Texas growth juggernaut means that burgeoning exurbs need additional retail space even as dilapidated strip centers plague core cities and older suburbs. Some homeowners may fear and fight plans for new, higher-density housing near them, even when it replaces obsolete shopping centers.
Yet reinvigorating or repurposing underused commercial property can improve a neighborhood’s quality of life while also adding value to a city’s property tax base. That new revenue is especially important because state lawmakers have been keen to limit homeowners’ property taxes. Responsible city leaders need to grow other parts of the tax base just to keep up with the increasing cost of providing public services and maintaining aging infrastructure.
What North Texas needs is a variety of tactics to address these related issues: streamlined rezoning, public incentives to redevelop infrastructure, increased public education about budget issues, and a greater tolerance for change. Fading retail centers can be revitalized in ways that preserve their original use or transform them into something totally different, such as housing. It just takes determination, money and imagination.
Retail abundance
Dallas-Fort Worth has about 200 million square feet of retail space, and it’s about 95% to 97% occupied, said Steve Zimmerman, managing director of the brokerage group at The Retail Connection. Colliers, a real estate services and investment management firm, reported in August that retail rents here have been rising about 4% annually. Those statistics suggest that retail space isn’t severely overbuilt.
But not all retail centers are full of high-performing, high-value businesses. Aging strip centers tend to attract vape shops, nail salons, pay-day lenders, check-cashers, doughnut shops and vacancies; their capacious parking lots remain mostly empty. Those underutilized properties don’t enhance nearby neighborhoods or the tax base as much as busy, attractive retail centers would.
Last year, the Texas Legislature created a new tool to help redevelop commercial properties. Known as Senate Bill 840, the law forces large cities in urban counties to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential development on commercial, office, warehouse or retail property without a zoning change.
SB 840 is meant to encourage developers to transform bleak, underperforming retail spaces into badly needed housing. For example, it might have prevented the fight over Pepper Square in Far North Dallas.
That shopping center languished while the developer and nearby residents sparred in a bitter and protracted rezoning dispute. It is a prime example of how local government processes and NIMBYism make it hard to redevelop in Dallas.
But implementing the new law has been more complicated than we’d hoped. For starters, some North Texas suburbs reworked their zoning code to try to sidestep the new rules.
Irving, for example, set an eight-story minimum height requirement for new multifamily or mixed-use residential development — much taller than what’s typical in the area. Frisco pulled a different trick. Senate Bill 840 exempts industrial areas, so Frisco changed its zoning code to permit heavy industry in commercial zones.
Market conditions also may be slowing commercial-to-residential redevelopment. Our newsroom colleague, Nick Wooten, reported in November that there is a temporary over-supply of apartments in Dallas, fueled by a construction boom and a stream of remote workers in the post-COVID years.
(Unfortunately, that oversupply hasn’t made rent much cheaper. Even if a lease is relatively inexpensive, there are plenty of added costs, like electricity and Wi-Fi. Plus, building managers often nickel-and-dime residents with mandatory fees for trash collection, parking lot security gates, parcel lockers, pets and on and on.)
The temporary situation doesn’t erase the region’s long-term shortage of lower-cost homes. We need SB 840 to work because we need a larger, more diverse stock of housing, including multifamily and townhomes, across the entire region. With a more generous supply of all types of homes, both rental and owned, housing costs should eventually decline.
More options for faded retail
Senate Bill 840 is only one strategy for remaking forlorn retail properties into something more useful and valuable. Some creative owners, managers and public officials have found ways to maintain a property’s retail orientation while adding unique experiences and features.
Carrollton updated design standards and established a “Retail Rehabilitation Performance Grant Program” to encourage property owners to reinvest in underutilized retail centers. One notable success: Carrollton Town Center, where occupancy had dipped to 20% more than a decade ago, according to a story in PM Magazine. Now it is a bustling, walkable, Asian-focused retail and restaurant destination.
Hillcrest Village in Far North Dallas is part of an entire block of aging retail along Arapaho Road. A public-private partnership transformed a parking lot into the “Hillcrest Village Green,” a 1.5-acre expanse of turf with a playground at one end. Restaurants with oversize patios overlook the city-owned greenspace.
Local developer Monte Anderson, a champion of “incremental redevelopment,” is remaking the Wheatland Plaza shopping center in Duncanville. He’s reworking interior spaces and reclaiming some of the parking lot for food trucks, new landscaping, and eventually, a dozen for-sale townhomes built with Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity.
Cities can speed retail redevelopment with small and large incentive programs. Retail properties typically don’t have the utility infrastructure needed for housing; grants and revolving, low-interest loan funds can help residential developers keep costs down so their end product is more affordable. Elected officials need to help constituents understand why most cities need denser, higher-value redevelopment to keep tax rates lower.
D-FW has matured into a metropolis with a vibrant, diversified economy. To accommodate population growth, cities can’t ignore languishing commercial property, or allow only one type of new housing, or permit property tax bases to stagnate. By tackling all three issues at once, they can lay the foundation for a more prosperous future.
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