Two chromium waste facilities that operated in the 1960s and 1970s contaminated groundwater beneath more than 40 acres in Ector County, Texas. One facility, Woolley Tool and Manufacturing, sat at the corner of 57th Street and Andrews Highway. The other, at 5329 Andrews Highway, made cooling water additives and cleaning solutions containing chromium. Together they created two separate contaminated groundwater plumes. EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List in June 1986 and began remedial work in late 1987.
Chromium and zinc are the contaminants of concern. Both were found in groundwater in the source zone and the aquifer water supply zone. EPA determined they posed unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. To protect roughly 3,500 nearby residents, EPA extended the municipal water supply to affected areas as part of the first cleanup unit. For the second unit, EPA built a groundwater treatment plant that ran from 1993 to 2001, using ion exchange to pull contamination out of the water. EPA also plugged and abandoned perched zone wells where cleanup goals had been met, though one well had not yet reached its remediation target. A third unit addressed a northern plume under responsible party oversight, with remedial action running from April 1993 to September 2003.
Remedy construction finished in September 1994, and EPA deleted the site from the National Priorities List in July 2004. Human exposure is now under control, with no unacceptable exposure pathways identified. Groundwater migration is also under control, with contamination stabilized in its original area and no problematic discharge to surface water. The site reached ready-for-anticipated-reuse status in October 2007. As of December 2024, four businesses operating on the site employ 15 people and generate about $41.6 million in annual sales.
Community members with questions can contact the EPA Community Involvement Coordinator or the Remedial Project Manager. Site records are available at the Ector County Library at 321 West Fifth Street in Odessa and at the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission at 2910 Laforce Boulevard in Odessa.
