West Dallas Resident Sues City For Blocking Request To Immediately Close Nearby Shingle Plant

A West Dallas resident is suing the city of Dallas for refusing her request to initiate the removal of a heavy polluter from her neighborhood.

Janie Cisneros, leader of neighborhood advocacy group Singleton United/Unidos, filed the lawsuit just before Christmas in Dallas County District Court. The complaint alleges city officials have prevented Cisneros from filing a petition to begin amortization proceedings that would pave the way for the immediate closure of GAF, an asphalt shingle plant on Singleton Boulevard.

“The city shenanigans to protect GAF at all costs need to stop. People are sick. People are dying,” Cisneros said in a statement. “The city has equity and empathy as core values. Why do they not apply to the residents of West Dallas?”

The city's amortization process had allowed residents and city council members to initiate proceedings to determine whether a business was causing enough negative impacts to kick off an eviction process. But a new state law has given additional protections to businesses, prompting Dallas officials to ponder stripping residents of their right to launch amortization.

The lawsuit is the latest in a multiyear citizen campaign to remove GAF from West Dallas. Cisneros and her neighbors say the industrial facility emits harmful pollutants and that prolonged exposure to dangerous chemicals has contributed to increased morbidity and mortality in the West Dallas community. 

Cisneros’ neighborhood is one of several so-called sacrifice zones within the Metroplex. The historic freedmen's town of Joppa is home to several heavy polluters, and in Fort Worth, residents of Echo Heights have sounded the alarm over harmful emissions from nearby heavy industries.

Industrial facilities in Texas frequently evade federal environmental law by applying for licenses intended for lower-level polluters, according to a January report by The Texas Tribune and Inside Climate News. GAF was named in the report, citing an air quality permit approval by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2022 that didn't designate GAF as a major source of pollution.

GAF agreed to shut down its nearly 80-year-old West Dallas factory, steps from Cisneros’ home, in the summer of 2022. The decision came after a 2020 emissions report by Paul Quinn College and Downwinders at Risk found the manufacturer to be the top emitter of sulfur dioxide in Dallas County.

The same study found there is a 15-year disparity in life expectancy depending on which Dallas ZIP code a resident lives in, with a disproportionate amount of air pollution emitted south of Interstate 30.

The future closure of GAF was a major win for Singleton United/Unidos, but a new battle ensued when the company said it would take seven years to wind down operations. 

Cisneros immediately filed for amortization herself but was rebuffed by city officials who said they were unable to accept Cisneros’ application due to changes made during last year's legislative session. 

Senate Bill 929, signed by Gov. Greg Abbot on May 19, requires cities to inform property owners of potential zoning changes that would turn their business into a nonconforming use. If the change prompts a closure, the business may also be entitled to compensation from the city.

A citizen's right to file for amortization proceedings is one of Cisneros' last avenues for the immediate removal of GAF.

A proposed zoning amendment was introduced in October that would take away the right of citizens to file for amortization. Instead, the request would need to come from the city council, a stipulation Cisneros said goes beyond what is required by SB 929.

The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee voted in November to send the ordinance to Dallas' City Plan Commission for review. It would then need to be approved by the city council, but a timeline for those steps hasn't been set, Cisneros said.

The city didn't immediately respond to Bisnow’s request for comment. Cisneros’ civil suit hasn't yet been scheduled for any hearing or action.