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“Outstanding service. They were extremely careful delivering the extra large container into our driveway.” -- A. L. GARNER
Protection Agency to discuss plans for the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 at the San Jacinto Community Center in Highlands. lessPeople pack into a standing-room-only community meeting held by the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss plans for the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 at the San Jacinto ... more Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle EPA approves plan to remove San Jacinto Waste pits from riverBack to GalleryThe Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday approved a plan to permanently remove tons of toxics from the San Jacinto Waste Pits - a Superfund site that was heavily flooded and began to leak cancer-causing dioxin into the river after Hurricane Harvey.The plan, which comes after years of litigation and citizen activism that built public support for permanently removing the pits from the river, includes installing cofferdams to prevent release of the pollutants before then excavating and removing an estimated 212,000 cubic yards of dioxin-contaminated material.The decision comes only two weeks after the EPA confirmed that a concrete cap used to cover the pits since 2011 had sprung a leak during Harvey's floods. An EPA dive team found dioxin in sediment near the pit by a EPA dive team in a concentration of more than 70,000 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram of soil - more than 2,300 times the EPA standard for clean-up.The extent of damage caused by that release remains unknown. But flooding of the Superfund site prompted the EPA's Scott Pruitt to visit the area and move up a decision on the proposed clean-up plan that had been pending for about a year. The estimated cost in is $115 million, the EPA announced.Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan says finding that dioxin was exposed at the waste pits during the flooding should have been the final frightening proof needed by the EPA to act."And let's be clear: What we had from Hurricane Harvey was a rai... (Chron.com)
America's most intensely contaminated places. Many are now flooded, with the risk that waters were stirring dangerous sediment.The Highlands Acid Pit site near Chandler's home was filled in the 1950s with toxic sludge and sulfuric acid from oil and gas operations. Though 22,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste and soil were excavated from the acid pits in the 1980s, the site is still considered a potential threat to groundwater, and EPA maintains monitoring wells there.When he was growing up in Highlands, Chandler, now 62, said he and his friends used to swim in the by-then abandoned pit."My daddy talks about having bird dogs down there and to run and the acid would eat the pads off their feet," he recounted on Thursday. "We didn't know any better."The Associated Press visited five Superfund sites in and around Houston during the flooding. All had been inundated with water; some were only accessible only by boat.EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham could not immediately provide details on when agency experts would inspect the Houston-area sites. She said Friday that EPA staff had checked on two other Superfund sites in Corpus Christi and found no significant damage."We will begin to assess other sites after flood waters recede in those areas," Graham said.At the Highlands Acid Pit on Thursday, the Keep Out sign on the barbed-wire fence encircling the 3.3-acre site barely peeked above the churning water from the nearby San Jacinto River.A fishing bobber was caught in the chain link, and the air sme...
America's most intensely contaminated places. Many are now flooded, with the risk that waters were stirring dangerous sediment.The Highlands Acid Pit site near Chandler's home was filled in the 1950s with toxic sludge and sulfuric acid from oil and gas operations. Though 22,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste and soil were excavated from the acid pits in the 1980s, the site is still considered a potential threat to groundwater, and the EPA maintains monitoring wells there.When he was growing up in Highlands, Chandler, now 62, said he and his friends used to swim in the by-then abandoned pit."My daddy talks about having bird dogs down there to run and the acid would eat the pads off their feet," he recounted on Thursday. "We didn't know any better."The Associated Press surveyed seven Superfund sites in and around Houston during the flooding. All had been inundated with water, in some cases many feet deep.On Saturday, hours after the AP published its first report, the EPA said it had reviewed aerial imagery confirming that 13 of the 41 Superfund sites in Texas were flooded by Harvey and were "experiencing possible damage" due to the storm.The statement confirmed the AP's reporting that the EPA had not yet been able to physically visit the Houston-area sites, saying the sites had "not been accessible by response personnel." EPA staff had checked on two Superfund sites in Corpus Christi on Thursday and found no significant damage.AP journalists used a boat to document the condition of ... (New Jersey Herald)
But Toland is not the only customer dismayed by the changes.Hibba Ablahed, who owns a 10-unit apartment building in Highland Park, said she too has been hit with monthly distance charges. A bill sent by Universal Waste Systems showed her building faces an extra $433 in fees to cover the cost of moving trash bins more than 100 feet to the street.Ablahed said that amount, when combined with an overall increase in refuse rates, will add more than $6,000 to her yearly refuse bill. And because the building is covered by the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, she cannot pass the cost on to her tenants.span clas... (Los Angeles Times)
The EPA is holding a series of town hall meetings to address questions about the Superfund site cleanup.The meetings will be this Thursday at the old Highland Branch Library at the corner of Highland and Midland from 9 a.m. to noon and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (wreg.com)