He's rough, he's dusty, and he crushes 1.5 million tons of rock a year. Their love is set in stone. So is the Hill Country, for now.
Break groundAcres of open-pit limestone quarry between Bulverde and New Braunfels, in a non-industrial area with 12,000 residents around it.
Believes quarries and neighbors "can co-exist." Has not lived next to one, as far as the record shows.
Crushed limestone, sand, gravel. Goes into every road, slab and subdivision from episode three.
Residents fighting the quarry in court since before she took office. Hold an annual fundraiser in a cave.
"We know it requires aggregate and concrete, and we expect that."
— Rep. Carrie Isaac, March 2023
Her predecessor in HD 73, Kyle Biedermann, carried quarry legislation in 2019 that residents called far more comprehensive. The neighbors remember. Every Hallmark heroine is haunted by a previous relationship.
She files two bills. HB 3658 would require aggregate and concrete batch operators to monitor emissions at their fence lines. HB 3624 would give priority to operators with reclamation plans. Her statement: "I believe these businesses can co-exist with their neighbors."
She doesn't want to change him. Just watch him from the property line.
The spokesman for the coalition fighting the Vulcan quarry calls her bills "very tiny steps in the right direction," and says they leave "lots of wiggle room for big polluters." What they wanted, he says, was legislation with "some enforcement teeth."
The Texas Supreme Court declines to review the neighbors' challenge to Vulcan's air permit. The state's environmental agency approves the water pollution abatement plan, which opponents describe as the second and final permit Vulcan needs to start mining over the Edwards recharge zone. Vulcan says it will operate "in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible manner."
Hill Country counties put two concrete-shaped items on their legislative wish list: county authority over impervious cover, and tougher permits for aggregate mining. Every new slab is rain that doesn't reach the aquifer. Local coverage doesn't list her among those setting the priorities.
Written by us. Nobody said these words. A backup alarm beeps in the distance.
CARRIE (coughing politely)
Is it always this dusty?
CONCRETE
Only when I'm working.
CARRIE
When do you work?
CONCRETE
Always.
CARRIE (softly)
I'll have someone monitor it. From the fence.
A cement truck passes. Then another. Then another.
A growing Texas needs homes, roads and schools, and those need rock. Monitoring and reclamation are reasonable steps that don't shut down a lawful industry. Vulcan says the site supports local infrastructure and road safety.
Quarries don't belong in non-industrial areas over the aquifer's recharge zone. Opponents say this one brings dust, truck traffic and risks to wells and water quality, and that fence-line monitoring without enforcement changes nothing.
Water, servers, rooftops, rock. Four loves. One ballot.
House District 73 votes November 3, 2026.