Commission and city attorney trump Gough’s objections

Fred Gough got his wish to appear before the Kilgore City Commission and Kilgore Economic Development (KEDC) Board come true.

But before the evening was over, he and city attorney Rob Schleier clashed and Gough had to be escorted out of the city commission chambers by two Kilgore police officers.

Gough asked to make a presentation to the groups regarding the expenditure of KEDC funds for a cleanup project on the Alcoa/CSI expansion site.

Gough believes that a public vote approving the expenditure is necessary before the project can be undertaken.

During his lengthy presentation, Gough cited several sources including HB 2921, the Development Corporation Act of 1979, and several court cases.

He said he had spoken with representatives of the Texas Commission Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Texas Railroad Commission (TRC), a representative from Ana-Lab and the Texas Comptroller’s office, among others.

In question is a portion of Lot 6 in the Kilgore Industrial Park where Alcoa/CSI is expanding its facilities.

Prior to the expansion, KEDC guaranteed Alcoa an environmentally clean site for construction. KEDC now owns the property and has contracted with Scannell Properties to develop it for Alcoa/CSI.

Early in negotiations with Alcoa, KEDC excavated part of the property and 85 yards of material were removed and hauled to a Shreveport landfill because it contained non-hazardous hydrocarbons. However, after the contracts were signed and the expansion project started, another pocket of unsuitable soil was found. That soil must now be replaced.

According to the contract and economic development guidelines, it’s the responsibility of the property owner to pay for the cleanup. KEDC as owner of the property is responsible.

Gough contends KEDC must allow a public vote on the issue before spending money for a clean up.

Although representatives of Titanium Environmental Services, LLC and Apex Geosciences, Inc. have said the soil is not “contaminated” but is “unsuitable” for building, Gough says it’s contaminated.

“We found all kinds of things like limbs, roots, asphalt and rocks in the area,” said Floyd Higdon, senior project manager for Apex. “The soil was silty and could not sustain a building foundation.”

Higdon said the company is replacing the unsuitable dirt with good building dirt to a depth of about six feet in the area in question.

Representatives of both companies as well as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Texas Railroad Commission never used the work “contaminated” in reference to the dirt.

“When we dug up an old sewer line, it broke open on the ground and a little spillage occurred,” said Dr. Laura Rectenwald of Titanium. “That dirt and some other was set to a landfill in Shreveport.”

Gough believes the dirt was sent to Shreveport because of contamination. The reason for taking it to Shreveport was that the local landfill was not classified to take such soil.

“That dirt posed no threat to the groundwater or health of residents,” she said. “Most of the dirt was sent to a local piece of property owned by the city.”

“In 10 years, will the TCEQ come back and tell us it’s contaminated?” asked Mayor Joe T. Parker.

“No, it meets TCEQ standards,” Rectenwald said.

Gough still believes it is contaminated.

Again he cited a number of sources referring to the dirt as “contaminated,”

At that point Schleier took the floor.

“The dirt is not hazardous but there is a problem with compaction and it’s not compatible to building,” he said. “If there were a problem, we would have had to obtain a permit to remove the dirt and no permit has been required.”

Schleier said KEDC still owns the property and is responsible for the cost of the clean up.

He also noted that, although Section 4A of the Development Corporation Act of 1979 speaks to “contaminated property, no where in Texas law is there a definition for contamination.”

The city attorney pointed to the Solid Waste Act that provides in the section on Removal and Remedial Action Agreements, for the “TCEQ to cooperate with municipalities and political subdivisions to clean up sites contaminated waste hazardous waste.”

Rectenwald said earlier the best way to define “contaminated soil” is “soil not meeting applicable standards.”

Schleier said her definition was as good as any and therefor the property in question was not contaminated “so as to fall under 4A” regulations.

Schleier said he had checked with several experts in the environmental and economic development fields and all agreed it was KEDC’s responsibility to clean up the area and that the area was not “contaminated.”

Schleier said the 4A section Gough referred to “only applies when an economic development corporation is cleaning up hazardous wastes from a site owned by a third party. That does not apply here. The KEDC clean-up was well within the law.”

The commissioners sided with Schleier’s opinion and with KEDC’s actions.

“KEDC acted properly to make the site suitable for Alcoa,” said Commissioner Randy Renshaw.

Commissioner Don Lawler said the area contains “unsuitable soil, not contaminated soil.”

After all was said and done, Gough had his wish to appear before the two groups and discuss his point of view and members of the commission and KEDC and other parties had their chance to respond.

However, after the meeting was adjourned, Gough approached Schleier and the two traded remarks. This resulted in Gough butting against Schleier and saying, “I got you now, boy,” before being removed from the building by Kilgore police officers.