HOUSTON MAYOR BILL WHITE, MAYOR PRO-TEM CAROL ALVARADO JOIN CITIZENS FOR DEMOLITION OF AN EAST-SIDE ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD
April 25, 2005 -- Mayor Bill White today joined residents of Denver Harbor and the city’s environmental team to begin demolition of an east-side environmental hazard. Demolition began on the Ware Electro-plating facility located at 630 Boyles street.
Diligent work on the part of citizens, the Houston Police Department environmental inspectors and the Neighborhood Protection Division led to the listing of the site on the Federal Superfund Clean-up list. Removal of contaminated soil was completed over the last three weeks.
“Its tough work to remove these environmental hazards,” said Mayor White. “But Houston’s ability to reclaim these properties is important for our long-term growth as a city, and the joint effort to get this accomplished is much appreciated.
The Ware Electro-plating firm was cited for violation of state pollution laws in 1999. City environmental inspectors found dangerous levels of hazardous materials in the soil and in an underground storage tank located on the property. The soil included dangerous levels of asbestos, cyanide, cadmium and sulfuric acid.
The City’s environmental inspectors aggressively pursued charges against the original owner, an action that was halted briefly during bankruptcy proceedings. The Neighborhood Protection Division also began dangerous buildings removal proceedings.
When owners made it clear they were not able financially to clean up the property, the City Attorney’s Office, the State Attorney General’s office and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) obtained funding through the federal Superfund program to clean up the location.
