THEA Urges Head of EPA To Order Complete Cleanup Of San Jacinto River Superfund Site.

Eight years ago, the first Trump Administration ordered the companies responsible for the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site to clean up the dioxin and other contaminated material that threatens the community, river, and Galveston Bay. However, residents are still waiting for the cleanup of the Northern Pit of the site. 

This week, THEA wrote to the head of the EPA urging him to stop the delays and order remediation of the site. 

The Responsible Parties, Waste Management subsidiary McGinnis Industrial Maintenance  Co. and International Paper, have asked for and received 565 days of delays in the planning process and they have submitted three different final cleanup plans. Two were rejected by the EPA because they did not meet the agency’s requirements for a full and efficient removal of the toxic waste from the site. The latest plan was submitted three months ago and the EPA still hasn’t accepted it. THEA’s analysis of the plan found a number of unacceptable problems. 
In the letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin, THEA CEO and Founder Jackie Medcalf writes: 

“The responsible parties’ latest 100% design plan, like the ones before it, falls short and is unacceptable to the community. The right decision is to move the site to Remedial Action by requiring the parties to follow the EPA’s design or by taking over the remediation directly. The wrong decision would be to repeat the cycle of comments and revisions. This cleanup was ordered during the first Trump Administration. It is time now to finish the job.”