(July 12, 2007)

Residents say they woke up this morning seeing and smelling what appeared to be a thin layer of oil on top of the floodwaters covering their yards.

Their suspicion is that it came from the pits, which for years has been a collecting area for refuse, and has in the past - registered high levels of benzene, barium, and mercury.

What's more, residents say the last time their area flooded that combination ended up killing their trees, grass, and plants. And they say officials have not done enough to mitigate the environmental problems there.

Some residents are now talking about selling and getting out of the area, despite their fears that because of the flood they would never be able to sell their property for anywhere near it's proper value.

TCEQ, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality did have an inspector looking over the site today.
Residents seemed to think the TCEQ inspection would confirm their own findings.

But even if potentially hazardous materials are identified in the water, there's still no guarantee that they came from the pits. That would have to be determined through a formal investigation.

Andrew Whitman, 3-News