Reprint from the Progress Times - April 13, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

Green Light Is Given To Demolish Chemical Plant

"This has been the goal for some years. We finally got what we wanted - they're going to tear it down."

That was the reaction by Mission Mayor Beto Salinas to news that Johnny Hinojosa, owner of the abandoned Hayes-Sammons chemical plant warehouse, has agreed to have the deteriorating structure demolished.

Although final details are yet to be completed, Hinojosa said he had sent paperwork this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency giving the EPA permission to demolish the building where pesticides were mixed during the 1950s and 1960s.

Salinas said he was pleased that the demolition will be carried out without the city having to get involved.

Earlier, when EPA began removing top soil from the site in its most recent cleanup, Hinojosa had indicated that he would not give a green light to demolishing the building without some compensation.

However, this week he finally gave in to the sustained pressure and agreed to the demolition, which undoubtedly will go a long way toward pacifying those who reside in areas near the old plant site.

However, at the earlier EPA hearings, some of those persons had indicated they felt that in addition to demolishing the old structure, they should be relocated out of that area.

An EPA study released in January, 2006, found pesticides at higher levels than allowed by the state. At hearings held by the EPA in Mission, witnesses testified that health problems such as cancer, asthma and other ailments were higher in the area than state averages.

In its latest cleanup, the EPA had removed more than three feet of top soil and in some instances up to 19 feet. This contaminated soil was disposed of by EPA at sites away from Mission.

Although Hinojosa said he had sent papers agreeing to the demolition, Valmichael Leos, EPA on-scene coordinator, said his agency still has not received formal legal permission to demolish the building.

The EPA has twice conducted clean-ups of the site of the old chemical plant, but those actions have not satisfied those living in the neighborhood.

The mayor credits U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, with being one of the driving forces behind the EPA cleanup.

Doggett issued a statement in connection with Hinojosa's announcement that he has agreed to demolition of the building. "Every step forward is welcome, no matter how modest or long overdue," the congressman said.

Residents around the old plant site would agree the action is overdue, but they undoubtedly wouldn't describe that action as modest.