ustxtxb_obs_2007_10_19_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

0 TOMBALL KINGWOOD NORTH HOUSTON HOUSTON BAYTOWN PASADENA BELAIRE 1 Geneva Industries LA PORTA Located at 9334 Canniff Road, the Geneva Industries site 13.5-acre site is a mere jaunt down a one-lane, dead-end road jutting east from the access road to Interstate Highway 45. Before coming to the attention of the EPA in 1983, the site housed a series of failed refineries. Its three wastewater lagoons are gone, but there are still picturesque foothills that beg for picnicking. The hills are the product of a multilevel “containment cap” that embraces the area in a comforting hug and, allegedly, protects the city of South Houston’s drinking-water well, located 1,300 feet east of the site. During the 1980s, the EPA removed a million gallons of poison water, 62,000 tons of contaminated soil, up to 1,000 buried drums of organic waste, and, for good measure, 8 cubic yards of bagged asbestos. What could possibly be left? 2 Sol Lyn For those who prefer their Superfund sites with a more urban feel, Sol Lyn is a mere 15 minutes away. From Geneva, hop on 1-45 North and take South Loop 610 West just past Almeda, behind the feeder road. Sol Lyn is surrounded by businesses, from a tire store to Carmen’s Boutique, a favorite local source for adult novelties. In the 1970s, Sol Lyn was a scrap metal and electrical transformer salvage and recycling facili This explains its outstanding concentration of trichloroethylene, or TCE. The chemical is found in older electronics and is what makes the fumes from Wite-Out so addlingly delightful. TCE also causes brain damage, coma, and death in sufficient concentrations, but you can safely enjoy TCE in water with up to 5 parts per billion. At one point, Sol Lyn’s groundwater had a TCE enrichment of 790 parts per million. Presumedly the OCTOBER 19, 2007 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15