Citizens of Montgomery County and The Woodlands township have banned together to do whatever is necessary to stop toxic waste injection wells from being developed near their homes and over three aquifers that provide drinking water for most of the Texas Gulf Coast region, including Harris County. They are holding a golf tournament fundraiser this week, and have voted to pay the largest amount of money ever spent for a lawsuit in the history of the county to contest the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permit for TexCom Gulf Disposal (TexCom) waste injection wells to be located in the abandoned oil field in Conroe, Texas.

Even Huntsman Chemical Company, which generates the most chemical waste in the area, will continue to haul their waste 25 miles away rather than use the site, agreeing that the site is not safe for toxic waste injection.

While the permit application describes non-hazardous Class 1 injection wells, the chemicals slated for disposal here anything but safe for disposal near aquifers that provide drinking water for millions of people. The list of chemicals that could be injected underground in these wells include paint thinner, spent acids and caustics, petroleum distillates, ethylene -glycol-based antifreeze and more. The list also includes scrubber waste, which contains toxins such as mercury that are scrubbed out of refinery and incinerator smoke stacks to reduce these toxins in the air.

“When I saw paint thinner was part of what was to be injected, I researched and wondered how they could say this is not hazardous,” says Lisa Howard, a teacher and homemaker, who just moved to The Woodlands with her husband. She is spending much of her time these days fighting the injection wells.

Howard says many times these types of facilities are located in low income communities, and the community nearest the injection well site fits this profile. “Down the road there are subdivisions that are more affluent,” Howard says. “We got the word out, and attendance at neighborhood meetings jumped from 25 to 700.”

Jennifer Real, also is working full-time to stop the injection wells. “Toxic waste is so important to me, I let my job go to work on this full time,” says Real. Her mother-in-law, who lived near Dow Chemical, recently died of myelodysplasia, a disease linked to benzene exposure.

The grassroots efforts have resulted in $400,000 being allocated for a lawsuit from The Woodlands Association and Montgomery County. All state legislators of the area, City of Conroe and the Lone Star Ground Water Conservation District are standing up against the injection wells being located at the Conroe site.

Underground injection wells use a technology that injects liquid waste at high pressure thousands of feet below the ground in porous formations. The liquid waste is held within the strata by pressure from overlying rocks. Underground injection involves drilling a well into a geological formation and pumping, or "injecting" waste to displace the native fluids or gases.

Toxic waste sometimes comes up unexpectedly and pollutes water wells and can make people sick. They also endanger nearby aquifers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that possible contamination can occur in several ways including, upward migration of waste liquid from injection zone along the outside of the well casing; escape into potable aquifers due to well-bore failures; and vertical migration and leakage to land and aquifers through abandoned oil, gas and other wells.

The EPA report states, “Because areas with a long history of oil and gas production are chosen for deep well injection of hazardous waste, there are many ways hazardous waste can rise to the the surface.”

This is what concerns the residents of communities near TexCom’s proposed injection wells located in the old Conroe oil field. According to Howard, the 27 acre property has 700 abandoned oil wells plugged with mud. Directly below the proposed drilling site lie three major aquifers -- Chicot, Evangeline and Jasper aquifers -- that provide drinking water for millions of Texans in 54 counties in South Texas. Hundreds of abandoned wells in this area remain undocumented with the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency that regulates contamination of ground water. The area contains significant fissures, potential access points for toxic leaks to seep into freshwater supplies.

Residents who oppose the TexCom injection wells are also concerned about another company that may use these wells to dispose of harzardous waste. Foxborough Energy Company, which recently acquired 60 percent interest in TexCom, opened a new business in January named Montgomery County Environmental Solutions to do disposal of hazardous waste material. A media release on the Stop the Toxic Wells website states: “What is unclear, but seems likely, is that if TexCom receives approval to move forward with non-hazardous waste disposal, Montgomery County Environmental Solutions would step in and change that charter to include hazardous waste disposal.”

This recent concern over toxic waste injection wells is just one of many. The amount of hazardous waste injected underground in the United States is staggering. There are more than 170 hazardous waste injection wells in the country, and more than nine billion gallons of hazardous waste are injected every year. Billions of gallons of automotive, industrial, sanitary and other wastes are injected underground as well. In 2001, industries in Texas reported injecting more than 77 million pounds of liquid hazardous waste underground, more than any other state in the country.

Toxic wells are unwelcome for good reason. They have repeatedly been implicated in groundwater, soil and air contaminations. Serious health problems resulting from ground water contamination from injection wells have been reported in five states. It is not unusual for property values to take a free fall when injection wells are located in the vicinity.

The next step in this battle over the siting of injection wells in the old Conroe oil fields is State Office Administration Hearings (SOAH) for recommendations. The SOAH sends their recommendations to the TCEQ commissioners who will make a final decision this summer. “Our battle will not be over at the time the TCEQ makes its ruling,” says Howard. “We have a monetary commitment from Montgomery County, the water district, The Woodlands Association, and citizens groups from other small communities for a legal battle. We will file and appeal in any new cases we can afford.”

Residents of The Woodlands and Montgomery County are wondering why TCEQ permitted the development of toxic waste injection well in such an unsafe location in the first place. They want to know why they must spend their time and money to fight this permit. “We must be able to depend on agencies like the TCEQ to protect these resources,” says Howard. “They need to be abolished if they are not going to do their job.”