"A World Rocked"

Austin American-Statesman
3/11/2020

As new roads and buildings dot the Central Texas landscape, another landscape is changing just as rapidly. In “A World Rocked,” Austin American-Statesman investigative reporter Tony Plohetski showed how mining operations have fundamentally scarred the Texas Hill Country west of Austin – an area home to many who, ironically, moved to the picturesque limestone hills just to avoid the city.

Plohetski reported that mining operations and aggregate plants had increased an astronomical 1,690% in fewer than 10 years, even as state regulators did almost nothing to safeguard the people living next to these noisy, dirty and dangerous operations.

That might soon be changing. As a direct result of “A World Rocked,” the Texas House named a special committee to evaluate rock-crushing facilities, concrete batch plants and hot-mix asphalt plants across the state. The group will study the enforcement of regulations already in place; nuisance issues relating to the dust, noise and light; threats to the safety of and damage to roads; air quality; blasting enforcement; the distance between facilities and adjoining properties; and whether the state should adopt laws requiring operators to restore the land once they have completed mining.

“A World Rocked,” which was brought to life by the visual reporting of Bronte Wittpenn and Ana Ramirez, shows how a newspaper can serve its community. The reporting was amplified by our editorial page urging lawmakers to act and by a community forum in Marble Falls, a city at the heart of the fight over quarry operations.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 120 showed up to applaud the reporting in “A World Rocked” and to question a state legislator, industry representatives and an advocate fighting the incursion of mining operations. The event was broadcast on Facebook Live and, along with the full reporting of “A World Rocked,” was aired by our broadcast partner, KVUE-TV.

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Submitted by John Bridges.