Brio Superfund Site - Site History and Contamination

Site History and Contamination

The 58-acre Brio Refinery site was home to several chemical companies between 1957 and 1982, when the owner, Brio Refinery Inc. declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. During that period, the site had been used for copper recovery and petroleum re-refining, typically the processing of tar, sludge, and other residue from oil tanks and other sources, as also occurred at the adjacent Dixie Oil Processors site. Throughout the years, at both sites, unprocessed petrolum and waste materials were stored in 12 large earthen pits, ranging from 14 to 32 feet deep and extending into porous soil and, thus, groundwater. Leaks from these pits also spilled into a local drainage ditch, Mud Gulley, and subsequently, via the adjoining Clear Creek, into Galveston Bay. By the late 1980s, the EPA had detected copper, vinyl chloride, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, fluorene, styrene, ethylbenzene, toluene, benzene and other toxic chemicals, including numerous chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in the air and groundwater.

The EPA placed the Brio site on the National Priorities List in 1984. Beginning in 1989, the EPA began remediation by demolishing buildings, digging out contaminated soils for processing or disposal, containing groundwater by use of a physical barrier, and capping the site. The site was removed from the National Priorities List in 2006.