OurCalling wastewater treatment plant permit before TCEQ commissioners on April 3
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners meet Wednesday, April 3, in Austin, with the agenda items to include discussion about the OurCalling Inc. permit application for a wastewater treatment plant.
If approved, the permit would authorize the discharge of up to 90,000 gallons of treated domestic wastewater per day from its proposed location at 231 Wickliffe Road near Ferris.
According to the agenda, the commission “will consider the application; timely public comments, and the executive director’s response to public comments; the record; and timely related filings, exceptions and replies.”
Paperwork filed by Ellis County government with the TCEQ indicates the discharged waters would initially go into “an unnamed tributary, thence to Bear Creek, thence to Red Oak Creek, thence to Upper Trinity River in Segment No. 0508 of the Trinity River Basin.”
The county has requested “affected person” status and cited concerns about water quality, impairment of existing uses, applicant’s inexperience as a facility and system operator, and a belief that the OurCalling application is lacking in information. Multiple members of the public have also requested affected person status due to their concerns with the project.
One of those concerns includes erosion; however, in responding to the public comments received during the Ferris meeting, the TCEQ executive director wrote, “The TCEQ does not have jurisdiction to address flooding or erosion issues in the wastewater permitting process. The permitting process is limited to controlling the discharge of pollutants into water in the state and protecting the water quality of the state’s rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.”
The TCEQ executive director and the Office of Public Interest Counsel are each recommending that the three-member commission grant Ellis County’s request for affected person status, which would allow for a contested hearing on the permit application. They're not recommending, however, that any members of the public be granted affected person status, including the request from a property owner who's located within two miles of the proposed facility and its outfall.
In its recommendation, the OPIC wrote, “Due to the intervening distance, there is an insufficient likelihood the regulated activity will impact the health and safety of these persons or the use of their property to be determined affected persons under the commission’s rules.”
According to TCEQ documentation, OurCalling submitted its application on Dec. 12, 2022, with the process proceeding through staff reviews and public notices before culminating with a public meeting on Feb. 20, 2024, in Ferris, at which time the public commenting period ended.
A copy of the OurCalling application and other documents are available to the public for viewing and copying at the Ferris Public Library, 301 E. 10th St., Ferris. More information about the public participation process is available through the Office of the Public Interest Counsel at 512-239-6363 or the Public Education Program at 800-687-4040.
Thursday’s meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m., may be viewed remotely at https://www.goto.com/webinar/join using webinar ID 524-140-371. The OurCalling project is No. 2 on the agenda.
Written by Jo Ann Livingston/ITKE.
(Updated to reflect the meeting date of Wednesday, April 3).
