What county in Texas was one of the first in the United States to develop major oil exploration fields, boasts a refinery that will soon be one of the largest in the world, contains five superfund sites and an incineration facility that has received millions of gallons of a toxic nerve agent wastewater and was willing to incinerate PCBs from Mexico? It’s Jefferson County, Texas, which includes the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland and Groves. Environmentalists and other citizen groups have worked tirelessly to stop toxic dumping in this area with little success.

Petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants have been producing toxic emissions in the area for decades. The fabrication of steel and steel products, the manufacture of wood and pulp, and other types of manufacturing also have impacted the environment of Jefferson County.

A concern about incineration of toxic substances in the area was highlighted in April 2007, when the U.S. Army began the shipment of 1.7 million gallons of toxic wastewater from neutralized VX nerve agent, called hydrolysate, from the Newport Indiana Depot to Veolia Environmental Services, in Port Arthur. According to Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), the wastewater contains highly toxic substances that require careful treatment in order to protect public health. CWWG, Sierra Club and other citizen groups brought a lawsuit to stop the shipments. But the U.S. Army convinced the court that the shipments should continue. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that trucks carrying chemical weapons could cross state lines, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality allowed the incineration the toxic wastewater to continue at Port Arthur.

The potential for this county to have air, water and soil polluted with toxic chemicals, along with the health effects from this pollution for the people who live there, made it an interesting subject for the students of The University of Texas School of Public Health Water Environment Course last spring.

In preparation for the project, maps were developed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to show population centers with schools, churches and a hospital, as well as land use features, and the locations of oil and gas fields. Special attention was given to the closest residential area northeast of the Veolia Environmental Services.

Once in the field, students gathered soil and water samples from eleven locations. Analyses included testing for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the soil and water; radon (Rn222) in the soil; and geiger count (alpha, beta, and gamma radiation) in the soil. In the residential area near the Veolia incinerator, samples also were collected at a depth of three feet and one foot from the surface. Water samples also were collected.

According to Dr. Irina Cech, the professor who guided the students in this project, analyses of soil and water samples revealed “nothing interesting.” However, high levels of Radon-222 concentrations in the soil gas were detected with a geiger counter. “Radon is a hazardous gas,” says Cech. “It is considered to be the second leading cause of lung cancer. You cannot see it or smell it, and it can get into buildings.” Cech says more study should be conducted to find out the source of higher levels of radon gas in the area.

Dr. Michael Sommer, chemist and forensic environmental chemistry consultant, also conducted analyses of the soil and water samples taken from the residential area near the Veolia incinerator. Sommers, who has been involved in court cases to prevent the U.S. Army from shipping VX hydrolysate to Port Arthur, says testing conducted by the students was a good training for field work, but to really find out if toxic substances are being released from the facility, tests for heavy compounds closer to the incinerator need to be done. “More work needs to be done. To get the information we need, soil samples need to be taken on the property,” Sommers says. He also suggests that samples from the air need to be collected to test what is in the particulate matter, or soot, that comes from the smoke stacks.

Another aspect of the School of Public Health project involved examining health statistics for Jefferson County from the Texas Department of Health Services. It was noted that data were available for the period between 1999 and 2004, a time span that ends before April 22, 2007, the date the U.S. Army began shipping VX hydrolysate to Veolia in Port Arthur.

Cancer mortality data for the area show that cancer death rates for all people were higher for Jefferson County than for Texas. For white males, black males and black females the cancer death rates were significantly higher than for Texas and the United States.

Mortality data for zip codes in Port Arthur from 1995 through 2001 showed significantly higher numbers of deaths from male liver cancer and female lung cancer. In Beaumont, during the same period, there was an elevated rate of death from lymphocytic leukemia among males. Beaumont also exceeded Texas rates for cardiac birth defects.
Recommendations from the results of the project include further exploration of the elevated concentrations of radon-222 in the soil of some locations since alpha radiation is a major risk factor for leukemia, and there are elevated leukemia rates in several areas of Jefferson County.

Regarding further study of VX hydrolysate and particulate matter from Veolia incinerator smoke stacks, it is recommended that test using a big air turbine air sampler to collect particulates in the dust downwind from the facility.

Dr. Cech explains that the findings of this project are limited and should be regarded as findings from a training project. Students were able to work in the field and gather public health data from health agencies while gaining a meaningful experience in an area that has been heavily impacted by industrial pollution and disposal of toxic waste.

The Dr. Cech and others who worked on the project concluded that more study is needed. “The sirens have sounded and red flags have been raised regarding exposure to toxic pollutants in Jefferson County,” says Jane Dale Owen, president of Citizens League for Environmental Action Now, who funded the project. “It is of utmost importance that further study be done as soon as possible to learn more about the connection between health risks and the pollution for the people living in this area.”