The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 283, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 25, 1996 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
What’s Inside
Calendar, Page 2-A | Police Beat, Page 6-A I Opinion, Page 4-A I Sports,
Bible Verse.
...4A
Television..
...2B
Calendar...
...2A
Obituaries..
...3A
Food ......
...1-B
Opinion.....
., .4A
Classified.....
..47B
Police Beat..
...6A
Comics ....
...3B
Sports ........
...,8A
Big night for Kiwanis
Civic club's annual banquet
set for 6:30 Thursday night
Security system wwks
Alarms help prevent burglary
at a Baytown business
Joseph Spear
Million Man March not enough
to redeem Louis Farrakhan
Senior profiles
Meet Lee's Watton and
Sterling's Howell
$Sartoton S>uu
Volume 74, No. 283
Telephone Number: 422-8302
Wednesday, September 25,1996
Baytown, Texas 77520
50 Cents Per Copy
Federal officials call Baytown-area pipeline unsafe
Flmff* T* ’”r8 rep°rtS ■ , property 311(1 ^ environment ” feet from homes and businesses Colonial officials have agreed to by the U.S. Transportation Depart- early 1990s, Felder said. Testing
DALLAS (AP) — The nation’s order says. and delivers more than 75 million test and repair the entire line before ment’s Office of Pipeline Safety. still costs about $6,000 a mile,
biggest petroleum pipeline is haz- The line is one of four fuel lines gallons of fuel a day. However, fed- a Jan. 1,2002, deadline. Felder’s agency is most con- amounting to at least $32 million
a“and lts owners have teen that ruptured in flooding near eral officials haven’t notified com- A spokesman for Colonial said cemed with 500 to 600 miles of for the entire Colonial system,
ordered to test the lme, from Texas Houston in 1994, setting the San munities along the line of the risks, the company will do whatever reg- pipeline that may contain stress While Felder said “the odds are
to Nctv Jersey, officials said. Jacinto River on fire for days and “We only tell the emergency-re- ulators ask. But he added: “We feel fractures or damage that occurred that most of the pipeline is in pretty
Federal officials have ordered scorching everything in its path. sponse people when they need to that the pipe is safe.” during shipping in the 1960s. Six good shape,” a number of local of-
Colomal Pipeline Co. of Atlanta to The pipeline originates in respond,” says Richard Felder, of Colonial is owned by 10 oil com- spills have resulted in the past 34 ficials said they are angry they
submit by Oct. 29 a schedule for Pasadena and passes through both the Office of Pipeline Safety in panies, including units of Mobil years because of the damaged pipe, haven’t been notified of regulators’
teste on the entire line — part of the Highlands area and the city of Washington, who signed the order. Corp. and Amoco Corp. A June 27 the Colonial spokesman said. safety concerns,
which runs through the Baytown Baytown’s extra territorial jurisdic- The pipeline contains weak, cor- rupture near Greenville, S.C., — While the pipe damage has been “This is not a secret that should
^ a tion- Tlie line continues on to roded or fractured segments, and the fifth biggest pipeline spill in known for years, no action was tak- be kept,” said John Brasington,
The continued operation of this Beaumont, bypassing Mont there appear to be systemwide U.S. history — that dumped 1 mil- en because testing and repairs were emergency preparedness director
pipeline without corrective mea- Belvieu. problems controlling the pressure lion gallons of diesel fuel into the prohibitively expensive until new in South Carolina’s Cherokee
sures... would be hazardous to life, The pipeline runs as close as 20 along the pipeline, the order said Reedy River, prompted the order technology was developed in the County.
Baytown soaked again
Tony Mezina
tries tc keep
the water out
of his busi-
ness, Tony’s
Lock and Key,
on West Main.
Below, vehi-
cles braved
the high water
under a rail-
road trestle on
Highway 146
Business near
Wismer Drive
Tuesday.
Ship Channel
is Texas’ most
toxic watemay
Thunderstorm dumps
more than three inches
By CHRISTIAN MESSA
The Baytown Sun
The thunderstorm that loomed
over Baytown Tuesday afternoon
soaked some parts of the city
with more than three inches of
rain, causing street flooding and
power outages.
According to meteorologist
Gene Hafele of the
Houston/Galveston National
Weather Service office, approxi-
mately 3.07 inches of rain fell at
the intersection of Goose Creek
and Highway 146.
“That’s the greatest amount
we’ve had basically around (Har-
ris) county,” he said
On average, the rest of Harris
County received only 1 to 2
inches. The rainfall gauge at
Cedar Bayou and Highway 146
received about 1.7 inches, while
just under an inch fell at Goose
Creek and West Baker Road.
The sudden downpour fell
so hard at some places that
Baytown ffibefighters had to
rescue at least one stranded
motorist, pushing her car out
of a pool of water under the
railroad trestle crossing High-
way 146.
In addition to Highway 146,
Nancy Posey of the city of Bay-
From staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON — More than
28.8 million pounds of toxic chemi-
cals were legally dumped by indus-
trial facilities into Texas waterways
over a five-year period and nearly
two-thirds of that went into the
Houston Ship Channel, a new study
says.
The analysis of Environmental
Protection Agency data reported by
the industries themselves was re-
leased Tuesday by two environmen-
tal watchdog groups: the Environ-
mental Working Group and Public
Interest Research Organization. The
study covers 1990 through 1994.
“As a result of this continuing
pollution, thousands of water bodies
nationwide are damaged as are the
1 Top discharges
j into Slip Channel
i
Pounds
1
fm millions)
111 c«*aiKf
rdcuiiy
I Mobil
Cite discharge
Pasadena 15.4
? BocnRetay
Baytown 1.5
Fbhm&Haas
Pasadena .42
Exxon Chem,
Baytown 36
Occidental
rasaoena .14
Champion
Sheldon .06
Ethyl Copr.
Pasadena .06
She!
Deer Park .06
J Mob! Chem
Houston .05
economies that depend on them, ni^5’ tlie.sfud^s aadl?rs ^
from tourism to fisheries,” said En- . J^e. Cltize"s Texas have
vironmental Working Group presi- t0 ^ ab? P°llutlon of
their water, air or land that may pose
a risk to human health or the envi-
town Public Works Department
reported that Lee Drive and West
Main Street were swamped with
water, although they were never
closed.
Several reports of water seep-
ing through car doors came in
from that area.
Houston Lighting and Power
District Manager David Bakqr
said approximately 600 Bay-
town-area customers lost power
as a result of the storm, but that
fewer than 10 were still without
electricity later in the afternoon.
‘Today was a little bit of light-
ning, but it was not as bad as we
had in the last month,” he said
dent Ken Cook.
Cook noted that the “vast majori- „ ,
ty”ofthe chemical releases were le-
gal
Some of the chemicals have been
Voter registration drive
set for Saturday at mall
By MAIKE van WUK
The Baytown Sun
As the Oct. 6 deadline to register to vote nears,
voter registration efforts are hitting high gear in
Baytown.
The San Jacinto Mall announced this week that
it will host a voter registration drive this weekend.
The registration drive, organized by the League
of Women Voters of Baytown, will take place this
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the mall’s But-
terfly Court.
“We want people to register to vote,” said
League President Nancy Neavel. “The only rea-
son not to vote is apathy.”
Neaval said jury duty, often a deterrent to regis-
Mews tip? Coll 422-8302
tration, is no longer selected from voter registra-
tion listings.
Voter registration forms are now available from
City Hall, the municipal courthouse, schools and
Sterling Municipal Library.
The deadline for the Nov. 5 election is Sunday,
Oct. 6. Since the last date is a Sunday, applica-
tions that are postmarked Oct. 7 will still be ac-
cepted.
The Harris County Tax Office and its branch
offices will be open for the public to register dur-
ing the following special hours: 7:45 a.m. to 8
p.m. Monday, Sept. 30 through Friday, Oct. 4; 8
a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5 and from 1 to 5
p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6.
Him
W *
Wednesday Partly cloudy
with a 20 percent chance of
showers or thunderstorms.
Highs in the mid 80s.
Thursday: Partly cloudy with
a 20 percent chance of rain.
Art by Shonte Mixon.
Of the ship channel’s top 10 pol- linked t0 cancer> othfs tojeproduc-
luters, the Exxon Refinery and twe or environmental problems
Exxon Chemical Americas in Bay- Slightly more than 18 million
town ranked second and fourth, re- P°mds o{Je^L overa11 20 mil*
spectively. The refinery reportedly Fon-pound discharge into water-
dumped 1.5 million pounds of pol- (x-c^red m ^ Houston Ship
lutante, while Exxon Chemical sup- ChanneL ^ Biazos fover ^ sec-
posedly discharged 362,276 pounds onc^ W1^ 2,442,430 pounds; fol-
into the waterway. lowed by the Neches River> with
According to a statement released 1,645,307, and Galveston Bay, with
Wednesday morning by the Exxon 918,161 pounds.
Refinery, the company stands by its The Neches River, however, re-
commitment to the environment ceived more carcinogenic chemicals
“In fact, due to the outstanding I11311 ^ °tfier Texas waterways. The
work of many employees, total Neches ranked ninth among all U.S.
emissions to water from the Bay- waterways, with 273,205 pounds of
town Refinery have decreased by carcinogenic chemicals. The Brazos
about one-half since 1990,” the was 42nd, with 47,616 pounds;;
statement read “As a result of (the) while the Houston Ship Channel
cooperative approach involving reg- was 45th, with 46,423 pounds,
ulated industries and the state, water Nationally, the report found that
quality in the Houston Ship Chan- over 1 billion pounds of toxic chern-
nel is remarkably better today than icals were discharged directly into
it was 20 years ago.” waterways from 1990 to 1994. An-
The environmental groups are other 450 million pounds were dis-
recommending speedy implementa- charged down drains to sewer treat-
don ofEPA’s proposal to expand the ment plants — a category not
number of facilities and industries counted as official releases of pollu-
required to report toxic releases. don by EPA.
They also are campaigning to In Texas, almost 150 million
have EPA increase the number of pounds of toxic materials were
toxic substances that must be re- flushed to sewage treatment plants,
ported. The Toxic Release Invento- EPA estimates a quarter of all dis-
ry requires reporting of some 340 of charges nationwide flow through
the 73,000 chemicals used in com- sewage treatment plants untreated.
_______________
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 283, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 25, 1996, newspaper, September 25, 1996; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1104801/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.