Police are investigating an East Houston business that allegedly leaked hazardous chemicals into the city’s stormwater drainage system, FOX 26 reported Thursday.
sergeant. Patrick Morrissey of HPD’s Environmental Investigations Unit told FOX 26 that the unit is “executing an environmental search warrant” on an unidentified business on Boyles Street. Morrissey continued: “We will gather evidence to find out what the discharge was and whether it was potentially criminal in nature.”
Local authorities in hazmat suits were entering and exiting the company’s facility on Wednesday, FOX 26 reported. “This is a chemical manufacturing facility,” Captain Jason Wilson of the Houston Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Response Team told FOX 26.
Wilson continued: “I’ve also been told that these chemicals are being released illegally into storm water systems. This affects streams, lakes, rivers, bays, etc.” The food we eat. It’s also putting pressure on our stormwater systems,” he added.
The business under investigation is about a half mile from Buffalo Bayou, FOX 26 reported. Buffalo Bayou feeds Galveston Bay, where recent oyster harvests have been making people sick. However, FOX 26 reported that there was no known link between the alleged chemical spill and the contaminated oysters.
“Everything flows to the Gulf,” Morrissey said. “We do this to prevent it from getting there. So we can keep the waters clean. [That way, we can] Keep our fish still edible, our oysters still edible. “