On June 14, 2013, the Texas Supreme Court declined to reconsider an earlier ruling that the Texas Clean Air Act ("TCAA") preempts a Houston ordinance specifying location requirements for concrete-crushing operations.

In February of this year, the court ruled in favor of a company that had obtained an air quality permit from TCEQ to move a concrete-crushing facility to a new location but had been denied a municipal permit by the City of Houston pursuant to a local ordinance. The court found that the ordinance was preempted by a provision of the TCAA stating that "[a]n ordinance enacted by a municipality . . . may not make unlawful a condition or act approved or authorized under [the TCAA] or the [TCEQ’s] rules or orders." Tex. Health & Safety Code § 382.113(b). It interpreted this language as demonstrating "the Legislature’s clear intent that a city may not pass an ordinance that effectively moots a [TCEQ] decision." (Opinion at 6.)

The case is Southern Crushed Concrete, LLC v City of Houston, No. 11-0270 (Tex.).