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U.S. NEWSFriday 23 March 2018
American Living:
Hurricane Harvey's toxic impact deeper than public told
By FRANK BAJAK Jessica Chastain talks about the flooding and chemical spills in her Galena Park neighborhood dur- such as AP’s exclusive on
LISE OLSEN ing and after Hurricane Harvey. The Houston neighborhood is a block away from chemical plants. the flooding of toxic waste
Associated Press/Houston A number of Harvey-related spills occurred near Chastain's home, including the 460,000-gallon sites and the Chronicle’s
Chronicle gasoline spill at a Magellan Midstream Partners tank farm and nearly 52,000 pounds of crude oil Arkema warnings before
HOUSTON (AP) — More than from a Seaway Crude Pipeline Inc. tank. fires broke out. But the
a half-year after Hurricane sheer quantity of spills was
Harvey flooded America's (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP) impossible to document in
largest corridor of energy real time — and informa-
and petrochemical plants, vey air pollution posed no to follow through on clean- ing. The state says it has "a tion about some releases
records show the storm's health threat. ups. number of open investiga- was delayed.
environmental assault was The career civil servant who "The public will probably tions" but would not elabo- Academics have tried to
more widespread and se- headed the U.S. Environ- never know the extent of rate. fill in the gaps in environ-
vere than authorities pub- mental Protection Agen- what happened to the The limited extent of post- mental monitoring but say
licly acknowledged. cy's regional office during environment after Harvey. Harvey environmental test- the paucity of data leaves
Piecing together county, Harvey, Samuel Coleman, But the individual compa- ing by state and federal local residents in a state of
state and federal records, now says those general as- nies of course know," said authorities was "unconscio- limbo — not knowing what
The Associated Press and sessments did not reflect Rock Owens, supervising nable," said environmental they may have been ex-
Houston Chronicle cata- local "hotspots" with poten- environmental attorney for sociologist Scott Frickel of posed to — and could hurt
logued more than 100 Har- tial risk to people. Harris County, home to 4.7 Brown University, especially efforts to prepare for future
vey-related toxic releases The priority in the hurricane's million residents. compared to two previ- violent weather events that
— on land, in water and air immediate aftermath was Regulators alerted the pub- ous major Gulf Coast hur- climatologists predict.
— in metropolitan Houston, "addressing any environ- lic to dangers from just two, ricanes. Testing by academics —
America's fourth-largest mental harms as quickly well-publicized toxic disas- After Hurricane Ike hit Tex- in waterways and on land
city. Most were never pub- as possible, as opposed to ters: the Arkema chemical as in 2008, state regulators — has shown evidence of
licized. Only a few were making announcements plant northeast of Houston collected 85 soil samples. likely Harvey-related con-
investigated by federal about what the problem that exploded and burned More than a dozen viola- tamination, they say. But
regulators. State officials was," Coleman said. for days, and a nearby di- tions were identified and scientists also believe the
say they have investigated In hindsight, he said, it might oxin-laden federal Super- cleanups carried out, ac- deluge — five feet of rain
89 incidents but have an- not have been a bad idea fund site whose protective cording to a state review. in some spots — had a
nounced no enforcement to inform the public about cap was damaged by the And after Hurricane Ka- scouring effect on top soil,
actions. the worst of "dozens of raging San Jacinto River. trina’s floodwaters ravaged meaning contaminants
Some 500 chemical plants, spills." Local officials say the The chairman of the Tex- New Orleans in 2005, the likely migrated.
10 refineries and more than state and federal govern- as Commission on Envi- EPA and Louisiana officials “That soil ended up some-
6,670 miles of intertwined ment's response to Harvey ronmental Quality, Bryan examined about 1,800 soil where,” said Hanadi Rifai,
oil, gas and chemical pipe- has weakened efforts by Shaw, told a January leg- samples over 10 months, who heads the University
lines line the corridor. Near- the city of Houston and islative hearing he could EPA records showed. of Houston’s environmental
ly half a billion gallons of in- surrounding Harris County not discuss those spills or Reporters covered some engineering program and
dustrial wastewater mixed to build cases against the possible sanctions while an Harvey-environmental cri- has been studying pollution
with storm water surged out companies and force them after-action review is pend- ses as they happened, in the 50-mile-long Houston
of just one of these chemi- Ship Channel — the petro-
cal plants. chemical industry’s main
The dozens of tons of artery — for more than two
chemicals unleashed — all decades. “The net result on
self-reported by industry — Galveston Bay is going to
include such proven car- be nothing short of cata-
cinogens as benzene and strophic.” Only one of nine
vinyl chloride. Many affect- soil samples collected in
ed plants are repeat envi- September by Rice Univer-
ronmental offenders. sity researchers in a neigh-
Soil and water testing for borhood east of downtown
contaminants by state Houston showed the pres-
and federal regulators was ence of benzo(a)pyrene,
largely limited to Superfund a known carcinogen, at
toxic waste sites. Air sam- levels just above what the
pling was more extensive, EPA deems a cancer risk,
including flyovers, but of- according to an indepen-
ficials released few details dent chemical analysis
and repeatedly assured funded by the AP-Chroni-
the public that post-Har- cle collaboration.q
