Subject: NEWS RELEASE: TCEQ RULING PROTECT DICKINSON BAYOU
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2017
Contact: Chad Wilbanks
512.423.0049
TCEQ Commissioners Ruling Protects Dickinson Bayou
Unanimously Reject Hazardous Waste Company Attempts To Avoid Toxicity Testing
Austin, TX – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality unanimously ruled against Clean Harbors San Leon, Inc. – subsidiary of an international corporate conglomerate – in its attempts to avoid performing toxicity testing on the 105,000 gallons of hazardous waste Clean Harbors plans to dump into a tributary of Dickinson Bayou daily.
The Commissioners agreed with the law firm representing the San Leon Municipal Utility District – Naman Howell Smith & Lee – that TCEQ’s written policies and water quality standards must be adhered to and that the agency’s implementation procedures require that all major industrial discharges must perform a specific type of testing, known as biomonitoring or Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing, in order to protect the health and safety of the state’s waters.
Joe Manchaca, president of the San Leon Municipal Utility District stated, “The ruling is a clear victory for the residents of San Leon.” He added, “TCEQ’s requirement of constant biomonitoring testing ensures protection of our waters for future generations.”
“The WET testing requirement is very important because disparate pollutants can have synergistic effects and cause harm even when each individual pollutant meets individual permit limits,” said Stephanie Potter, attorney with Naman Howell Smith & Lee.
Clean Harbors fought vigorously to oppose the biomonitoring condition despite an analysis conducted by TCEQ that showed the rating for potential toxicity from this facility far exceed the lower classification levels it sought.
TCEQ Commissioners disagreed with Clean Harbors’ arguments, and echoed protestants’ concerns of the potential unknown synergistic impacts the pollutants could have on the receiving waters without biomonitoring. Thus, they concluded that biomonitoring testing must be done as a condition of Clean Harbors’ permit.
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PO Box 342693 Austin, TX 78734 · 512.423.0049 phone · chad@wilbanksgroup.com
In the January edition, correspondent Marsha Canright reported about efforts by Lisa Halili, vice president of Prestige Oysters, to fight Clean Harbors San Leon Inc.’s plans to dump up to 105,000 gallons a day of treated industrial wastewater from oil and petroleum into a tributary flowing into Dickinson Bayou.To the editor:
I wish to kindly comment on “Accidental Activist,” and the Clean Harbors issue.
First, I want to thank Mrs. Halili and Prestige Oysters in San Leon for their efforts into helping stop Clean Harbors from dumping into Dickinson Bayou. Many, many thanks. It’s probably Mrs. Halili and her business that will have enough clout to stop this, if anyone can.
But others have been fighting this for a long time, and your article seemed to fail to mention this. This has not been a one-person effort. So, I would also like to kindly thank all the rest of the folks in this area, Steve Hoyland Sr. and the Seabreeze newspaper, and especially all the rest of the citizens of sunny San Leon, Bacliff and surrounding areas who have also been fighting this permit for Clean Harbors to dump into Dickinson Bayou and bay. Others have been going to hearings, taking time to write to the (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) TCEQ; some even paid for water samples of their own, and contacting state officials and such to try and stop this permit.
So, to those fine folks, my hat’s off to you. I say thank you in a big way.
– Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017
Clean Harbors Neglects Chemical Toxicity Concerns, Judge Concludes TCEQ Failed To Follow Their Own Written Policy
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
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