Gulf Metals Industries

The Gulf Metals Industries landfill site is located on Telean Street, northeast of the intersection of Mykawa Road and Almeda-Genoa Road in Houston.The approximately 16-acre site was operated as a sand and gravel pit in the 1940s and 1950s. From the 1950s to the mid-1960s, the site was used as an open dump. During this time, hazardous materials were disposed of in the sand pits. The waste consisted primarily of oily sludges and other miscellaneous wastes. From 1965 through 1967, the site was operated as a commercial landfill for the disposal of metal slag and other foundry debris, including furnace sand and refractory brick. Much of this waste was apparently placed into the sand and gravel pits in an attempt to stabilize the petrochemical waste. The site's most prominent feature is an unlined impoundment of unknown depth measuring approximately 400 feet by 190 feet. Gulf Metals Industries (GMI) purchased the site for Class II and Class III commercial waste disposal. In 1973, the Texas Water Quality Board directed the company to not accept Class II wastes because of poor management practices at the landfill and instructed GMI to fill in the oily sludge pits. Through the late 1970s, GMI filled the site to grade with steel mill wastes and other miscellaneous construction debris. Use of the site as a disposal facility stopped in 1981.

• October 16, 1987, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (12 TexReg 3858-3859) describing the site, proposing the site to the state Superfund registry, and announcing that a public meeting to receive citizen comments would be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on November 4, 1987.
• January 22, 1988, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (13 TexReg 427-428) listing the site on the state Superfund registry.
• September 8, 1992, effective date of an agreed order that was signed by potentially responsible parties to underwrite costs of a remedial investigation/feasibility study, and establishing rules, responsibilities and enforcement options for responsible party cleanup under monitoring supervision of the TNRCC.
• October 28, 1992, remedial investigation/feasibility study underway.
• February 1, 1993, Houston Representative Ron Wilson met with a nearby resident to hear her concerns about contamination possibly spreading into nearby water wells.
• March 4, 1993, members of the Minnetex Civic Club were updated on activities at the Gulf Metals Industries landfill site by theTexas Water Comission project manager.
• June 24, 1993, representatives of the Texas Water Commission (predecessor agency to the TNRCC) hosted a site tour at the Gulf Metals Industries landfill site for the benefit of several area residents who had previously expressed an interest in the site.
• September 1, 1993, effective date of the creation of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission from the joining of the Texas Water Commission and the Texas Air Control Board and a portion of the Texas Department of Health.
• November 26, 1996, TNRCC approved a requested 75-day extension for completion of the baseline risk assessment.
• December 30, 1996, Phase II of the remedial investigation work plan was approved to include the addition of six more surface soil samples.
• February 2, 1997, TNRCC received the baseline risk assessment for review and comment.
• May 22, 1997, the TNRCC project manager and other environmental staff monitored on-site measurements to groundwater, the calculation of water flow direction and gradient and assessment of ecological receptors at the site.
• February 23, 1998, TNRCC requested an addendum to the remedial investigation work plan to evaluate groundwater to the east of the site.
• March 27, 1998, TNRCC requested a revised baseline risk assessment, including a summary of responses to TNRCC comments.
• May 14, 1998, potentially responsible party proposed three cone-penetration testing and direct-push groundwater sample locations to be included as Revision VI to the Phase II remedial investigation work plan.
• May 29, 1998, TNRCC project manager requested a revision to the submitted revised Phase II remedial investigation work plan.
• August 19, 1998, TNRCC approved the work plan with a request to the PRP to initiate access agreements with adjacent owners or operators.
• February 8, 1999, TNRCC project managers monitored remedial investigation activities at an offsite property. The remedial investigation was expanded offsite after a landowner signed an access agreement.
• March 25, 1999, the PRP contractor submitted the first draft and preliminary analytical results of groundwater sampling.
• April 8, 1999, the TNRCC project manager updated members of the Minnitex Civic Club on recent activities at the Gulf Metals Industries landfill Superfund site.
• May 15, 1999, an updated copy of the community relations plan was prepared for the Gulf Metals Industries site. [Read the text of the community relations plan in PDF. (Help with PDF.) The PDF file does not include illustrations or copies of documents cited as references. The complete community relations plan is available as part of official repository records at the Bracewell Branch Library and at the TCEQ Records Management Center.]
• May 20, 1999, TNRCC approved the on-site management of investigation derived waste.
• June 16, 1999, TNRCC approved the next step in the remedial investigation, a topographic survey of the site and geotechnical testing, and requested a map showing the proposed locations for the testing.
• July 22, 1999, mediation was used to resolve a legal dispute between the Gulf Metals PRPs and the adjacent landowner concerning access and permission to install off-site monitoring wells.
• August 30-September 18, 1999, off-site monitor wells were installed to further delineate the groundwater.
• October 8, 1999, groundwater samples were collected from the 24 on-site monitoring wells.
• November 4, 1999, groundwater samples were collected from two off-site residential monitor wells.
• January 20, 2000, TNRCC approved the final addendum to the remedial investigation report and granted a requested 30-day extension for the remediation standards notice.
• March 7, 2000, TNRCC accepted the PRP's notice of intent to conduct a site assessment under the Texas Risk Reduction process standards for the site.
• April 5, 2000, TNRCC received documentation on the proposed cleanup levels from the PRPs.
• March 2, 2001, TNRCC approved the Final Table of Proposed Cleanup Levels (Risk Assessment) for the site. A meeting was scheduled with the Voluntary Cleanup Program, as the PRPs anticipated applying for that program.
• November 14, 2001, TNRCC approved the final presumptive remedy document for groundwater for the site.
• November 27, 2001, TNRCC notified the PRPs that responded to the agreed RI/FS administrative order for the site, that the order terms had been satisfied. The decision concludes the remedial investigation and feasibility study phase at the site.
• December 31, 2001, TNRCC received an application from the PRPs requesting that the remediation action continue under the Voluntary Cleanup Program.
• January 11, 2002, The TNRCC Voluntary Cleanup Program completed the review of the application and assigned a project number: VCP1430. To continue tracking this project, review the VCP database (ZIP file. Help with Downloading Files.).
• March 7, 2002, members of the Minnetex Civic Club were updated on activities at the Gulf Metals Industries landfill site by the Superfund project manager. Members were also introduced to the Voluntary Cleanup Program project manager, who will be overseeing cleanup work to be performed by the responsible party.
• May 3, 2002, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (27 TexReg 3827; PDF) proposing to delete the site from the state Superfund registry in accordance with 30 TAC §335.344(c), and inviting public comment on the determination that the site has been accepted into the TNRCC Voluntary Cleanup Program. A public meeting was scheduled June 4, 2002, at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 6320 Madden Lane (off Mykawa), Houston.
• June 4, 2002, a public meeting was held at the Knights of Columbus Hall for the purpose of receiving comments on the intent to delete the Gulf Metals Industries site from the state Superfund registry. No challenges or comments were received to the determination that future cleanup will be monitored under the Voluntary Cleanup Program.
• July 5, 2002, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (27 TexReg 6126; PDF) officially deleting the Gulf Metals Industries site from the state Superfund registry in accordance with 30 TAC §335.344(c). No challenges were received on the determination that the site was eligible for deletion from the Superfund registry. The site has been accepted into the TNRCC Voluntary Cleanup Program.
• September 1, 2002, effective date of the name change from Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

 Back to Top

E-mail: superfnd@tceq.state.tx.us if you have questions.