Hillcrest Groundwater Investigation to Begin

25 million gallons of pollution as close as two foot from the surface flows towards the ship channel

George Rice, MS, a soil hydrologist from San Antonio, opened the February 11th meeting and urged local participation in all aspects of the TCEQ planned investigation of the groundwater scheduled to start in six weeks. He noted that currently not enough data is available to determine the extent of the problem in Hillcrest, but noted that in his 30 years in the industry, he had never seen a more polluted groundwater system that currently exists along “Refinery Row.” He added that movement of the hydrocarbon plume floating atop the groundwater is probably leaking into the ship channel.

State and Federal specialists gathered on here to push forward plans to assess the levels of toxic substances in Hillcrest and Refinery Row groundwater. 70 persons attended including State Representative Abel Herrero, City Councilmen Kevin Keischnick and Larry Elizondo. Elizondo is also an employee of Citgo Refinery. In addition City Environmental Services Director Peggy Sumner and Rich Tuttle, a representative of Flint Hills were at the presentation by TCEQ and EPA personnel.

A TCEQ employee later confirmed that fact and briefly described the area and the current work trying to stop the flow. Based on preliminary data as much as 25 million gallons of light non aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) hydrocarbons are floating on a ground water layer in some areas as close as two feet from the surface of the soil. One speaker commented that the potential amount of hydrocarbons heading for the channel could surpass the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

Recent correspondence from the TCEQ to Flint Hills pointed out the Flint Hills annual monitoring study showed concentrations of benzene within refinery boundaries in the 100's of 1,000,parts per million (PPM). Five PPM is considered a safe level. In October of 2009 Flint Hills was asked to install permanent monitor wells to the east of their fence line within the buffer zone beside Hillcrest. Flint Hills drilled eight temporary wells, reported no detection from a 1 day sample, then filled the wells back in. TCEQ investigation chief, Omar Valdez, said that information was not reliable and would not be used in their investigation.

In a report obtained from TCEQ estimated value of the LNAPL under the adjacent refineries in 1995 was over $40 million dollars. The price of oil in 1995 was around $20 per barrel. Today with oil prices at $70+ per barrel the same amount of hydrocarbons recoverable would be $140,000,000. Historical and ongoing spills from leaking tanks or pipelines are the source of the hydrocarbons.

The volume of hydrocarbons present is being studied to determine if vapors from the plume could be the cause of high benzene levels earlier found in the blood and urine samples of residents of the Hillcrest, Donna and Oak Park neighborhoods. Benezene is one of the common LNAPL chemicals found in most superfund sites. (for more info on LNAPL go to http://www.epa.gov/tio/tsp/download/lnapl.pdf)

Susan Clewis head of the local TCEQ Corpus Christi office, who oversees 45 local TCEQ investigators and staff members, has offered to reassign members of the local staff to the investigation effort. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is the second largest environmental agency in the world, second only to the EPA.

The Federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR) are concurrently re-testing the members of the Hillcrest area to determine benzene levels. That work will begin this week.