WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE SAN JAC WASTE PITS? Enhancing the armored cap over toxic waste can be safe, effective remedy
THERE’S no shortage of opinions about the fate of the San Jacinto waste pits site off Interstate 10 in Harris County.
This area of the San Jacinto River has been impacted for decades by numerous pollution sources. The San Jacinto waste pits themselves are the legacy of paper mill-related disposal operations that occurred five decades ago — with a design, construction techniques and at a location approved by Harris County.
As one of two companies working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the waste pits, we have a deep interest in ensuring that none of the encapsulated material is released into the river. We also think it’s vitally important that the facts regarding the site’s present state and future cleanup are known and understood by the public.
Years of site-related data have been compiled by EPA to ensure the Superfund process concludes safely. As residents weigh the pros and cons of choices for the final cleanup, we believe all of the facts — including recent new information — need to be shared.
An armored cap was completed at the site in 2011 to encapsulate the underlying paper mill waste. However, while data were still being collected to test the cap’s effectiveness, some voices had already turned to a different alternative for the final site remedy: full excavation and removal.
Promoting removal before all the information needed to select a remedy has been reviewed does everyone a disservice. No one wants contaminants, now buried under a cap proven stable by newly available environmental sampling data, to be released into the surrounding waterway. Those who work on or around the San Jacinto River and those who live nearby or downstream deserve to make their own judgments, using the best information available.
The EPA asked the U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers for the agency’s expertise and independent advice on the final remedy. The Corps’ report, which responds to those who demanded independent data about capping versus removal,
shows removal to be far riskier than permanently capping the site. According to the report, “full removal …would be expected to significantly increase shortterm exposures to contaminants.”
More alarming, if flooding occurs during the removal (estimated to take at least a year and a half), even when using enhanced removal techniques, “releases may be up to five times greater.” Andif a storm occurred “during the actual removal/dredging operation, the likelihood of extremely significant releases of contaminated sediment occurring is very high,” the report states.
There’s more. Contamination of river fish tissue may be dozens of times greater with removal (again, even using enhanced techniques) and natural environmental recovery of the area, now occurring, will be delayed by 10 to 20 years, the report says
What about capping? Can a containment structure withstand nature’s forces? Yes, says the Corps report. Enhancing the cap with specific improvements the agency recommends would be highly effective.
One of the often-repeated criticisms of the cap made by removal advocates is that an Ike-like hurricane, or worse, might wipe away as much as 80 percent of the armored cap. What’s ignored, however, is that this finding doesn’t apply if the Corps-recommended enhancements to the cap are made. To quote the re- port: “These issues related to cap permanence can be addressed by additional modifications.”
Although cost is one of EPA’s nine criteria for evaluating a Superfund site, some have claimed cost is the key driver for us. Not true. What’s essential to us is the safety and effects of the remedy chosen. What is unusual about this site is that full removal of the existing armored cap and the underlying waste is the most expensive remedy, yet results in significantly more releases to the environment, making it actually the least cost-effective remedy in the long run.
We appreciate and understand the concerns of the community, and we certainly don’t want contaminants from the waste pits released into the river. We fear, however, that those advocating for full removal without having or conveying key scientific data about the effectiveness of the cap to date or the effects of cap removal, do the community a disservice. So we urge everyone to take a closer look at the real risks stated in the Corps report.
During the comment period prior to EPA’s selection of the final remedy, respectfully sharing what the science and technical data say about protecting the environment, local citizens and potentially impacted communities, is in everyone’s best interest. Since its inception in 2009, Haldin has been a member of the EPA Region 6 Community Awareness Committee for the San Jacinto Waste Pits, representing McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp (MIMC). MIMC is one of two companies to date working with EPA on final cleanup of the San Jacinto Waste Pits.