EPA Drags Out San Jacinto River Superfund Solution

The EPA has decided to allow the two companies responsible for the toxic waste at the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site to continue to plan the cleanup operation…at least for now.  That decision last week follows an EPA announcement in January that the companies, International Paper and Waste Management subsidiary, McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation, had submitted a “seriously deficient” remediation plan. The EPA warned the companies they had a short window, just 20 days, to fix the plan or the agency would take over the project.  

On April 18th, the EPA gave the companies 90 more days to submit a final plan. In its letter to the responsible parties, the agency said they “provided enough information in the Plan to potentially provide a path forward.”

Now the companies have three more months to come up with a plan that meets the EPA’s requirements for the site.  The companies agreed to those requirements back in 2018. 

THEA’s Founder and CEO says the EPA’s decision to give yet another delay was disappointing, “the companies’ response was a plan to make a plan, which they have failed to do in the past seven years.” She called the delay “disheartening for the community.

Does the San Jacinto Site remediation meet the intent of the Superfund Law?  It’s a question worth asking. Under the law, known as CERCLA, the EPA is expected to take the appropriate action “necessary to protect the public health or welfare or the environment.” The first option is to require the responsible parties to clean it up, if “such action will be done properly and promptly.” 

Done Properly?  In this case, efforts from the companies responsible for the health hazard, International Paper and McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation, have failed to keep contaminated material from leaking into the river. Notably, the companies placed a temporary containment “cap” on the waste site in 2011 and it has experienced a number of problems, especially during Hurricane Harvey, when material contaminated with dioxin escaped, according to the EPA. Despite that, the companies have continued to argue that they should be allowed to continue attempts to contain the toxic material, rather than remove it. 

Done Promptly? Far from it. With this latest 90-day extension, the EPA has granted more than 800 days of delays.  Last year, the EPA and the companies spent nine months supposedly “negotiating” over hiring a third party to review the cleanup plans before the EPA pulled the plug on the negotiations saying they weren’t producing any results. We will also note that the first EPA ordered the companies to participate in this process in 2009.

Responsible or Irresponsible? In January, after the EPA said it was taking a tough stand with the responsible parties, Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey asked whether the companies were behaving like “irresponsible parties.” Good question! Every day that the cleanup process is delayed is another day that the government agency and the companies have failed local communities and the environment.