Dallas County Wants Texas to Do Something About Shingle Mountain and Superfund Sites. Good Luck.

Eighteen months have gone by since Marsha Jackson first complained to City Hall about the mountain of shingles that has taken root in her southern Dallas backyard. But even after a city lawsuit and a court's order, and numerous protests, Shingle Mountain is still there off S. Central Expressway. And will be for another year. At least. On Tuesday, the Dallas County Commissioners Court finally took notice ... by passing a resolution calling out the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for allowing Shingle Mountain to happen, for permitting Blue Star Recycling last year and failing to punish the Collin County company when it violated that permit. Which, I guess, is something.Jackson appreciates the gesture, if only because it reminds her she has not been forgotten and abandoned. But let us be honest here: Jackson could use an army of dump trucks to clear the polluted land behind her home. She has seen but one truck in the last week. No one wants this material, it would seem. And maybe they never did. San Antonio has a similar Shingle Mountain. It has been there for years, subject of lawsuits and hand-slaps and fines. Those owners said the same thing that Blue Star did last year: Ground-up shingles make great asphalt. Except there's one problem: The Texas Department of Transportation only allows such materials "in the base layer of a road but not for the surface layer," a TxDOT road engineer told The Rivard Report earlier this summer.   Continue reading...