Contaminated Nation - Water Contamination, Land Pollution & Hazardous Waste locations

By: Duane Craig

Some people living near Robstown, Texas, are increasingly uncomfortable with the current environmental issues that might be associated with U.S. Ecology’s operations there, according to this report on Corpus Christi Caller.com.

U.S. Ecology expanding Robstown footprint

U.S. Ecology is currently seeking to expand its footprint so it can process and store even more hazardous materials, such as hydrocarbons, inorganic wastes, organic waste, debris, PCBs and other industrial wastes. At a public meeting in August, the company claimed its operations were safe and able to expand, according to this earlier article on Caller.com.

Even though the company paid $286,000 in fines for various environmental violations, it claimed the violations were about inaccurate reporting or incomplete documentation. Some question whether inaccurate and missing paperwork is in itself a sign of deeper problems because it means reporting might not be accurate.

The folks in the Robstown area were warned by residents living near another of U.S. Ecology’s now closed operations in Winona, Texas, about the kinds of changes that would happen in their community because of the company’s presence.

U.S. Ecology’s operations in Beatty, Nevada, were recently fined $500,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for hazardous waste violations there. Some of these violations related to the thermal treatment of waste materials that released hazardous materials into the air, according to an EPA press release.