Officials seek EPA action on Superfund site
Representatives of Harris County and the Texas Health and Environmental Alliance are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take action to remediate the Jones Road Ground Water Plume Superfund Site in Cypress.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey took the stage with Rachel Jordan, assistant director of the Texas Health and Environmental Alliance, at a press conference last week to voice an urgent need to address the Superfund site, which was the former location of a Bell Dry Cleaners at 11600 Jones Road.
The facility, which was shut down in 2002, was improperly dumping dry-cleaning solvent chemicals since 1988. The waste seeped into the ground, forming an “underground plume of pollution” beneath the community, according to a precinct press release.
Ramsey and Jordan argue that the EPA has studied the site long enough and immediate action needs to be taken to eradicate the waste contaminating the soil and groundwater.
“So often the EPA wants to monitor something for decades rather than actually getting in and removing it,” Ramsey said in a statement. “It’s been there long enough. It’s time that we’ve dealt with it in terms of remediation.”
According to an EPA report published in 2022, the agency has made several attempts to remedy the site including treatment of groundwater, soil vapor extraction, plugging private wells in 2011 and collecting a list of residents who have a water supply affected by the pollution.
John Meyer, acting director of the superfund and emergency management division of region 6 for the EPA, declared the site not protective to human health due to its toxins, and that the current plans have not solved the pollution issue.
“I have determined that the remedy for the Jones Road Groundwater Plume Superfund site is not protective,” Meyer said in the report. “This Five-Year Review Report specifies the actions that need to be taken for the selected remedy to be protective over the long term.”
The EPA considers the site time-sensitive and recommended stopping exposure to private wells that are still being used in the affected area and evaluating vapor intrusion into the water supply.
Jordan and residents in the THEA Cypress Community Coalition called on the EPA to activate Time Critical Removal Action, which allows for an expedited response with a focus on short-term immediate action to stop exposure to the pollution.
“As an engineer who’s worked in this area for over 40 years, when you say there’s toxins in the groundwater, you don’t want anything to do with it,” Ramsey said. “You’ll want to do whatever you can not to drink the water.”
The EPA is hosting a community meeting about the Jones Road Ground Water Plume Superfund Site from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 at Bleyl Middle School, 10800 Mills Road, Houston.