Let's keep pushing to get the Toxic Twins, GAF and TAMKO, out of Dallas! We want our community in West Dallas and Joppa to have clean and healthy places to live, and for us and our neighbors to be free of pollution. These industrial polluters must be removed for that to happen. One of the first steps is for Dallas City Council to initiate a 5 signature memo to begin the process. Enter your name, email, and zip code to send (and edit) the letter!

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Sample Letter:

We, the undersigned residents and constituents, are writing to urgently request that you take bold and immediate action to protect the health, safety, and future of Dallas communities by addressing the ongoing harm caused by the nonconforming industrial polluters, GAF and TAMKO, to the North Texas region. On August 19, 2025, Councilmembers Cadena and Bazaldua of District 6 and 7, respectively, in the City of Dallas publicly announced their commitment to begin the first steps toward the closure of TAMKO and GAF through a City of Dallas Council-led 5 signature memo. This memo would start the appraisal of TAMKO and GAF, which is a necessary step under City of Dallas code as a response to State’s passage of SB 929 during the 2023 State Legislature Cycle. This is the first, to our knowledge, formal amortization of a major polluter post SB 929. Although we are appreciative of the council members' commitment to starting this process, we believe that the result of the amortization process of TAMKO and GAF will have ramifications for all Texas residents living next to toxic polluters. The appraisal of these properties can set a costly precedent for how all industrial polluters and nuisance needs to be analyzed, if that appraisal becomes untenable fiscally that could entrench polluters near our communities with no recourse for their impacts on the health and well-being of the adjacent communities. We need you to take this process seriously and advocate on the behalf of residents and your constituents.

We call on you on you to help residents and constituents in the following ways:

1. Implore Councilmembers Bazaldua and Cadena to initiate the 5 signature memo process

After the memo is initiated:

1. Demand clear documentation of the appraisal methodology for TAMKO and GAF, identifying the assumptions made to comply with the language stated in SB 929.

2. Ensure there is transparent documentation of the ways TAMKO and GAF operations are out of compliance with zoning code and the Forward Dallas Comprehensive Land Use Plan

3. Establish clear timelines for the amortization process including the status of the Nonconforming Use Fund

4. Push for Public hearings to provide regular updates to constituents regarding the closure of both nonconforming uses

As you know, the Toxic Twin factories are decades-long non-conforming, toxic asphalt shingle factories next to our neighborhoods, schools, churches, retirement communities, and medical centers. The impact of these antiquated plants on our health, community and children warrants sustained action NOW. The effects go beyond West Dallas and Joppa, extending to the region. The environmental and human costs are undeniable:

• TAMKO and GAF have both been around for 40 and 80 years respectively. Chronic exposure from these factories led to both Joppa and West Dallas being in the 95th percentile in Particulate Matter exposure, Air Toxics Cancer Risk and Air Toxic Respiratory Risk nationally based on the EPA’s former EJ Screening Tool.

• In 2022, GAF and TAMKO together produced over 60% of all industrial sulfur dioxide pollution in Dallas County based on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Point Source Emissions Inventory.

• These two factories were responsible for over 10% of Dallas’s hydrocarbon gas emissions and responsible for more than 20% of the county’s industrial particulate matter pollution.

• Despite the fact that Joppa and the Singleton Corridor make up 0.15% of the Dallas population, nearly 10.5% of the county’s total industrial pollution is being dumped in these neighborhoods.

• The trapping of pollution from TAMKO And GAF also contributes to extreme heat and heat related illnesses in Dallas. The result of increased heat includes worsening kidney diseases or kidney stones; worsening mental illnesses (anxiety, schizophrenia, depression); skin related issues such as more heat rashes; and more heart and lung diseases.

• Air and toxic pollutants into our atmosphere contribute to climate change. We’ve seen links between climate change and worsening floods, hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires globally.

• TAMKO and GAF are in proximity to 11 churches, 9 schools, 8 sports fields, 5 parks, 2 community gardens, several daycares and senior living facilities, and thousands of working residents and families.

We urge you to demonstrate your leadership by holding the Councilmembers Bazaldua and Cadena accountable for issuing the memo that begins the process of holding toxic polluters accountable and that you will fight for a transparent process so that residents know that their health is a priority for Dallas and the State of Texas.

We are counting on you to stand with residents who live with the consequences of decades of inaction everyday. Please contact justiceforjoppa@gmail.com and/or singletonunited75212@gmail.com if you have additional questions regarding this matter.

Sincerely,