JCT HIGHWAYS 3 6 & 75
The site is located 2 miles southeast of the City of La Marque in Galveston County near the intersection of I-45 and State Highway 3. The site originally consisted of an 11.3 acre tract of land, which expanded somewhat during the remediation to address additional contaminated areas. The site is bounded on the east and south by State Highway 3/146, on the north-northwest by vacant land, and on the westsouthwest by the right-of-way for Houston Lighting and Power (HL&P) transmission lines. The Omega Bay Subdivision is about 1500 feet to the west-southwest and the Bayou Vista Subdivision is approximately 1500 feet to the south-southwest. Galveston Bay is 2 miles south of the site. Portions of the site are at an elevation of +5 feet above mean sea level, which puts the site within the 100-year tidal flood plain. The MOTCO site was purchased in 1959 for recycling styrene tars generated by local industry. The recycling business ceased in 1961 due to hurricane damage. The pits on the site were then used for disposal of industrial petro-chemical wastes. In 1964 the site was permitted as an industrial disposal facility by the State of Texas for the operation of "salvage ponds". In 1968, due to numerous odor complaints, the City of La Marque passed an ordinance prohibiting disposal of liquid wastes in surface impoundments which effectively forced the site out of business. The site was divided into two operable units (OUs) for remediation. The Source Control OU addressed the surface contamination and pits, and the Management of Migration (MOM) OU addressed the ground water and “offsite†soils. The 1985 Source Control Record of Decision (ROD) selected remedies including incineration of liquid organic pit contents at an offsite facility, offsite treatment of contaminated pit water, and offsite land filling of tars, sludges and soils. The ROD also provided for onsite incineration of all waste materials to be considered during the remedial design phase. In 1987, EPA entered into a partial consent decree with a number of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs), who agreed to perform the Source Control remediation using onsite incineration. In January 1993, after initial onsite incineration work and based on new information developed for the site, an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) revising the ROD-specified remedy was issued by EPA. The modified remedy for the Source Control OU included onsite containment (cap and slurry wall) rather than offsite disposal in a landfill, and offsite incinerated for the tars and sludges. The 1989 MOM ROD selected remedies including excavation of shallow offsite soils and ditch sediments, placement of excavated materials onsite beneath a cap, extraction and treatment of contaminated shallow and deep ground water by the Best Available Technology, removal and incineration of Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPL) to the extent feasible, long-term compliance monitoring, installation of deed restrictions to prohibit land development, and installation of additional security fencing around the site.
2,203 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$59,043 |
Average Income |
1,106 |
Occupied homes |
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