HOUSTON – One month ago, Houston was in survival mode.
Inundated with water, with no sunshine in sight. However, once every bass boat came back to dry land, every chopper back to earth, every return of a loved one sealed with a hug, the focus transitioned to assessing the damage.
One area impacted is mostly invisible to the eye.
Cesario Torres says he and his wife smelled a strong gaseous odor in the shadows of Valero's Houston Refinery in the east side Manchester neighborhood, "Yes we felt very much the smell, like it was petroleum,” Torres told Channel 2 Investigates in Spanish. The 67-year-old added, “This odor was hitting me.”
What was hitting Torres and others in Manchester for 18 days according to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality was unknown, until Valero's report was finalized last week. State records show more than 230,000 pounds of contaminants were released. A variety of chemicals, some of which cause short- and long-term health problems -- including eye and throat irritation, liver and kidney damage and cancer.
Brian Zabcik with Environment Texas says Harvey presented unique challenges, "There were going to be massive environmental impacts no matter what, just because this was such a huge storm."
Since the storm, his Austin-based organization poured through governmental reports. Channel 2 Investigates also reviewed many of the same documents, self-reported emissions by local chemical companies. They reveal nearly two-million pounds of air pollution released into the environment around Houston from Aug. 25 to Sept. 14 through spills or emissions - commonly known as flares. Those releases equate to roughly 39 percent of unauthorized emissions for the entire Houston area in all 2016 according to Environment Texas.
Harvey’s aftermath has been eventful for Bakeyah Nelson, the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, "We were extremely busy in the first couple of weeks after Harvey."
Once Nelson and her team began getting calls about a foul smell in Manchester, she brought in Entanglement Technologies from California to measure pollution levels and compare their findings to government agencies, "We felt that we wanted to capture our own data."
The team worked side-by-side with city of Houston crews driving around the neighborhood capturing video and data, "The numbers told us initially that the benzene numbers were extremely high in the Manchester community and so when we took our private monitor out there we found the similar result as well."
A picture from Google Earth dated Aug. 30 shows the scene at the Valero complex, the top of a tank appears to be partially collapsed with a black area around it as well as some temporary booms surrounding it. A Valero official confirmed to Channel 2 Investigates that there was a crude oil leak but also adds that it was contained.
Meanwhile, Cesario Torres says what happened in his neighborhood concerns him and his family, and while some toxic emissions might have been inevitable in a storm as big as Harvey bigger questions remain, primarily, what can be learned and what can be done in the future to minimize the impact?
Nelson says it is an opportunity to sit down and examine what are the regulations needed that could prevent this in the future.
As for the incident at Valero, a spokesperson emailed Channel 2 Investigates the following, “Hurricane Harvey was a historic category 4 storm with record rainfall. Harvey’s heavy rains caused the roof of one of our crude oil tanks to partially sink. Due to the prompt response from Valero’s hurricane ride-out crew, the oil was quickly confined within the tank containment area without impact to Sims Bayou or the Houston Ship Channel. Recovery of oil from this containment area and final removal of oil from the tank required several days to accomplish safely because of complications caused by the hurricane. The crude oil has been pumped out of the tank and the tank has been removed from service. Initial emission estimates which were made by the company under hurricane conditions have been updated to reflect the delays caused by the hurricane and a better assessment of the scope of the release. We have kept the federal, state and local agencies fully informed throughout the duration of the response. Valero takes the welfare of the communities surrounding our facilities very seriously. We worked very hard throughout this unprecedented hurricane to protect our employees, our communities, and the environment.”
