HIGHLANDS, Texas (FOX 26) – The giant companies responsible for tons of dioxin waste dumped near, and now within, the San Jacinto River have agreed to a $115 million plan to completely remove the cancer causing material.
The Environmental Protection Agency settlement with International Paper and a subsidiary of Houston based Waste Management signals the beginning of a multiple-year project to systematically extract as many as 17,000 truckloads of toxic material.
Jackie Young of the Texas Health and Environment Alliance has led a seven-year campaign for removal. “This is huge for our community. These companies have fought us. This announcement that they have agreed to clean it up the best way possible means that the public will not have to worry about this for future generations,” said Young.
FOX 26: Waste Management, Intl Paper agree to fund dioxin removal on San Jacinto
