San Jacinto Waste Pits
Toxic waste pits hidden submerged in the San Jacinto River near Houston, Texas is one of the latest hazardous waste site to be considered for the National Priorities List of the EPA’s Superfund Sites.
The National Priorities List of Superfund Sites are the most toxic of the Superfund Sites. The waste pits located near where the Interstate 10 bridge crosses the San Jacinto River, certainly should fit that category. According to investigation teams from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the EPA, sediment samples from the site contain extremely high levels of dioxin. The site has been poisoning area waters for decades and n 1990, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a health advisory warning against eating catfish and blue crab caught in the San Jacinto River, Upper Galveston Bay or the Houston Ship Channel because of high dioxin levels. Dioxin is an endocrine disrupter. It can affect the reproductive system and the immune system. And dioxin is known to cause cancer.
The dioxin here is a by-product of paper bleaching that occurred more that three decades ago at the Champion Paper Company in Pasadena. The McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation was responsible for dumping the paper sludge in waste pits on sand dunes near the river in the 60s and 70s. The pits sunk beneath the water as the sand dune subsided. They were hidden under water in the 1980’s and rediscover in 2005 by TCEQ dioxin investigation team. This is just one of the highly toxic sites near Houston. Harris County has 11 superfund sites. Find out about Superfund sites near your neighborhood and let the EPA know you want them cleaned up. Public concern is one factor that is considered by the EPA in deciding which sites deserve immediate financial attention.