Triangle Chemical Company ran a chemical mixing and blending facility in Bridge City, Texas from the early 1970s until 1981. The facility handled industrial cleaning compounds, automotive brake fluid, windshield washer solvent, hand cleaners, and pesticides. Poor waste management practices left both soil and groundwater contaminated. Between March 1976 and October 1982, seven fish kills occurred in nearby Coon Bayou, believed to be caused by hazardous discharges from the site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in September 1983 and removed it in April 1997 after cleanup goals were met.
EPA identified nine contaminants of concern, all found in soil across the entire site. They are acetone, carbon disulfide, chlorobenzene, mixed isomers of dichlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, nitrate and nitrite, tetrahydrofuran, trans-1,2-dichloroethene, and base neutral acids. EPA determined these chemicals pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.
Cleanup began in 1982 with emergency removal actions, including fence installation, drum removal, and contaminated soil bulking and solidification. The long-term remedy, selected in June 1985, used deep-well injection of liquids and mechanical aeration of contaminated soils. That work finished in September 1990. In total, roughly 53,000 gallons of hazardous liquids and more than 3,000 cubic yards of contaminated sludge were removed, along with about 1,000 drums and 350 cubic yards of contaminated trash and soil.
Human exposure is currently under control across the entire site, with no unacceptable exposure pathways. Contaminated groundwater has been stabilized in its original area, with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The site achieved sitewide readiness for reuse in March 2011. The most recent five-year review, completed in June 2021, confirmed the remedy is protective of human health and the environment in the short term. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality performs annual groundwater monitoring. EPA also planned a groundwater and indoor air sampling event for late spring 2023 to test for 1,4 Dioxane detected in monitoring wells. The next five-year review is estimated for June through August 2026.
Community members with questions can contact EPA's Remedial Project Manager Britt Dean or Community Involvement Coordinator Michael Morrison. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also has staff assigned to the site. Site records are available for public review at the Orange Public Library in W Orange, Texas.
