Watching CBS This Morning and this story about groundwater contamination gave me flashback chills of another site I had worked on top of without a clue
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/seeking-to-solve-a-pediatric-cancer-mystery/
The Brio Site, near Friendswood,TX came to light in the mid 80’s. The power crews I worked on set poles and then the underground grid, in more often than not muddy conditions. I recall pulling tar and foul smelling dirt away from the auger and shoveling it back in as we set poles. We all looked at each other wondering what was happening. Several of us had rashes, flu like respiratory issues and headaches following each work session but never related it back to working in Southbend Subdivision. I then often returned as a two man service crew to hook up new homes, including my sister-in- laws around 1982,I think. Putting a shovel in the ground always produced a foul odor and often very black tarry soil.
I left Houston about time this all started to come to light. Read some again after my then adult son talked about as teens hanging out in abandoned subdivision and knowing my former sis- in- law had been bought out.
Hurricane Harvey, along with other big rain events have often flooded this area as well. Pretty somber reading that put a knot in my stomach this morning seeing the mothers in this CBS story in Indiana and knowing there are a lot of hidden ones still.
A few links to Brio:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_Superfund_site
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/08/us/southbend-journal-fear-eats-away-ideal-neighborhood.html
http://southbelthouston.blogspot.com/2015/01/brio-superfund-south-belt-ellington.html?m=1
This was our neighborhood paper as I lived close enough to know where that abandoned refinery was before the building boom made it next door
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/seeking-to-solve-a-pediatric-cancer-mystery/
The Brio Site, near Friendswood,TX came to light in the mid 80’s. The power crews I worked on set poles and then the underground grid, in more often than not muddy conditions. I recall pulling tar and foul smelling dirt away from the auger and shoveling it back in as we set poles. We all looked at each other wondering what was happening. Several of us had rashes, flu like respiratory issues and headaches following each work session but never related it back to working in Southbend Subdivision. I then often returned as a two man service crew to hook up new homes, including my sister-in- laws around 1982,I think. Putting a shovel in the ground always produced a foul odor and often very black tarry soil.
I left Houston about time this all started to come to light. Read some again after my then adult son talked about as teens hanging out in abandoned subdivision and knowing my former sis- in- law had been bought out.
Hurricane Harvey, along with other big rain events have often flooded this area as well. Pretty somber reading that put a knot in my stomach this morning seeing the mothers in this CBS story in Indiana and knowing there are a lot of hidden ones still.
A few links to Brio:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_Superfund_site
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/08/us/southbend-journal-fear-eats-away-ideal-neighborhood.html
http://southbelthouston.blogspot.com/2015/01/brio-superfund-south-belt-ellington.html?m=1
This was our neighborhood paper as I lived close enough to know where that abandoned refinery was before the building boom made it next door