Texas Property Owners Sue Voestalpine Over Iron Production Plant’s Metallic Dust

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Steel manufacturer voestalpine has been hit with a proposed class action from more than 100 San Patricio County, Texas property owners who claim their belongings have been damaged by metallic dust emitted from the company’s iron processing plant.

Filed against voestalpine Texas Holding LLC and voestalpine Texas LLC, the lawsuit explains the defendants’ La Quinta plant converts pre-processed iron oxide pellets into highly metallized iron in the form of hot briquetted iron. As the case tells it, the defendants’ 500-acre Corpus Christi Bay facility spreads red and black dust onto the plaintiffs’ nearby properties, “including without limitation their homes, cars, boats, air conditioners, pools and outdoor furniture.” In addition to discoloring driveways and walkways, the dust, the suit says, corrodes metals it comes into contact with, and has damaged the plaintiffs’ rain gutters, window screens and metal roofing, among other belongings.

According to the complaint, the defendants knew before the plant’s construction that the facility would be a “major source” of pollution in the community, as supposedly evidenced by air permit applications submitted to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in 2013. In fact, the case says the defendants’ initial application stated that the facility would emit 101.54 tons of metallic dust each year. In March 2016, the suit continues, the defendants’ permits were approved under the condition that the plant would not “interfere with the normal use and enjoyment of animal life, vegetation, or property.”

The plaintiffs allege that metallic dust began to rain down on their communities almost immediately after the plant’s opening in April 2017. After receiving 141 complaints about the dust from nearby property owners, the TCEQ, the suit says, investigated the facility and found that it was in violation of its air permits in that it was “storing iron ore pellets outside and uncovered.”

According to the suit, the defendants have already accepted responsibility for the dust and even set up a hotline so that those affected may file claims for damage repair costs. The case seeks injunctive relief that requires the defendants to cease operating its facility in a manner that subjects “nearby residents and businesses to nuisance conditions and illegal trespasses.”