The history of Brio Superfund plex sites

Brio Superfund Site History

Brio Refinery Inc. in Harris County, Texas, ran a chain of chemical companies on a 58-acre plot of land as early as 1957, which is when the history of the Brio Superfund plex sites began. (Greenstone and Gallagher 967).

End of Chemical Companies

Following the bankruptcy estate by the site's owner, Brio Refinery Inc., the chemical companies would eventually come to an end in 1982. At the time of operation, the site was mainly used for sludge, copper recovery, tar processing, and re-refining of petroleum. (Barth and McNichols 178).

Influence of Dixie Oil Processors

The adjacent industrialists in Dixie Oil Processors were as well pertinent to the operations that would prove costly to both the environment and the inhabitants of the neighborhoods regarding health and safety. Waste material of industrial chemical nature, as well as unprocessed petroleum, were stored in huge earthen pits, twelve in number and measuring 14 to 32 feet deep. The holes were exposed to porous soil. Hence the chemical liked into groundwater (Barth and McNichols 181).

Environmental Contamination

The leakage would extend to drainage ditches around, the great Mud Gulley, all the way to the Galveston Bay through the Clear Creek. The Environmental Protection Agency raised the alarm in the late 1980s following the discovery of chemical contaminants in both the water sources and the atmosphere, including substances like styrene, vinyl, chloride, toluene, fluorine, and benzene as well as other volatile organic compounds (Greenstone and Gallagher 992). Consequently, the EPA earmarked the Brio site as a dangerous sport and it thus by 1984 appeared on the national priority list. The efforts were made to decontaminate the site, tame the spread of the contaminants and create public awareness about the impending health calamities.

Location and Superfund

Located in Texas in Harris County, the Brio Super Fund site is located adjacent to the Dixie Farm Road beside the Beamer Road (Coverage Leader 22). Following the increase in the amount and distribution of locations with hazards material and chemical contaminants, the American federal government came up with a strategy to contain the pollutants through the organ of Superfund (Gawel and Hemond 128). Through the Environmental Protection Agency, the Superfund under the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act advocated for the decontamination campaigns and facilitation of the process up to and including the remote regions of the country.

Health Problems and Contamination

The contaminations at the site caused a lot of harm to the environment and the people in the neighborhoods. Pulte Homes was a construction company that was doing most of the architectural structures in the South Bend region, and members of the workforce complained about health problems at the beginning of the project (Bolen et al. 22). Nevertheless, the contractor denies any knowledge about the contamination within the precincts of work until 1983. Not long before, the residents of the neighborhoods began to complain of many health problems, most important the rate of abortions were on the rise. Furthermore, cardiac problems and many more congenital disabilities were reported, the central nervous system malfunctions, as well as the upper respiratory defects, were escalating every other time. Even though some of the residents opted to seek alternative residence elsewhere, a higher percentage of those who moved out of the contaminated region would report autoimmune diseases, vasculitis and cancerous malignancies decades later (Gawel and Hemond 121). Research based evidence by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry revealed that the health problems caused by the contaminated sites were very adverse. The rate of incidence and prevalence was escalating at a very high rate, had it not been for the effects put in place to curb the effects from getting out of control.

Works Cited

Barth, Mary E, and Maureen F McNichols. “Estimation and Market Valuation of Environmental Liabilities Relating to Superfund Sites.” Journal of Accounting Research 32.3 (1994): 177–209. Web.

Bolen, By James et al. “Detected Brio Chemicals Deemed Threat.” 2.4 (2010): 1–452. Web.

Coverage Leader. “South Belt Houston Digital History Archive Brio _ DOP EPA Superfund Site 1980s Leader Coverage.” 2014: 1–456. Web.

Gawel, James E., and Harold F. Hemond. “Biomonitoring for Metal Contamination near Two Superfund Sites in Woburn, Massachusetts, Using Phytochelatins.” Environmental Pollution 131.1 (2004): 125–135. Web.

Greenstone, Michael, and Justin Gallagher. “Does Hazardous Waste Matter ? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123.3 (2008): 951–1004. Web.