Milwhite Inc. receives lawsuit from City of Brownsville

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The City of Brownsville announced it filed a lawsuit against Milwhite Incorporated.

Residents say the mineral making company has left their neighborhood covered in dust and literally made them sick.

Residents who live on Rey Jaime Street say they have long dealt with issues blowing in from Milwhite Incorporated.

The mining company is responsible for safely working with minerals and dust. Its a responsibility residents see the company missed. They’ve voiced their concerns to anyone who would listen for years about the danger posed to their neighborhood.

"But our property is being affected," said Adhlemy Sanchez, a Brownsville resident. "We have damages to our roofs, and that’s not cheap to replace. Our cars are being affected. Um- our property, our plans, our ecosystem. Um, everything’s being affected."

Leading their case is the city of Brownsville, who heard the residents’ complaints and sought legal action.

_{The sun sets over the Milwhite plant in Brownville on Tuesday evening. By Mark Munoz/ValleyCentral}

"We’re extremely grateful to the city that they continue to work for us," Sanchez said. "And they’re supporting us in every avenue possible.”

Brownsville Mayor John Cowen reached out to Milwhite Incorporated, seeking their compliance.

He said Milwhite made various changes over the years about the issue, but the city says they’ve failed to comply.

"They’re employers, they’re trying to make a living," Cowen said. "And then, you know, um- we want to make sure that, you know, everyone’s operating in good faith towards a solution, right? And I think we’ve tried that. And unfortunately, we haven’t seen the progress that we need to see here.”

The city seeks to have a restraining order issued for Milwhite’s operations, but City Commissioner Linda Macias says they are unsure how the case will go.

”We cannot tell if we’re going to be granted temporary injunction," Macias said. "There’s a lot of other options that the business – as well as the court – can go by. So we can’t speak on that behalf. We’re just going to take it day-by-day."

Brownsville city officials say their first court date will be March 7.

We reached out to the Milwhite company but received no response.