CHANNELVIEW, Texas – The San Jacinto River flows through Channelview, and its currents bring in fish, ships, and, unfortunately, even toxins.
In 2008, the EPA classified two waste pits in the San Jacinto River as superfund sites.
In 2018, the EPA and the company responsible for the toxins put a plan in place to clean up the waste pits. Families who live near the San Jacinto River in Channelview were excited about waves of change, but that change never fully reached the shore.
“It’s just so totally frustrating. We get one promise after another promise, and all of them fail. So, we have no reason to believe. When the agreement was made to clean the waste pits, there was a timeline and a promise made to us that it would be completely remediated, completely removed,” Carolyn Stone, a homeowner in Channelview said.
I spoke with THEA, an environmental group that has helped advocate for the cleanup. Their CEO says there is still work to be done.
“The remediation at the southern waste pit is actually almost complete. The remediation at the southern waste pit has removed over 200,000yd³ of contaminated waste material. The land has been backfilled and the full construction should be complete this summer. As for the northern waste pit, there isn’t even a plan of how exactly they’re going to clean that site up.” said Jackie Medcalf CEO of THEA.
The EPA has given the company responsible for the waste pits 90 days to resubmit a new plan after the last plan was deemed deficient.