By Juan Montoya
See that ugly stain contaminating the ground in the alleys in downtown Brownsville?
Just last week, residents noticed the pools of oil in front of the GMS dumpsters and the trail the truck was leaving as it made its way down the alley collecting garbage from apartment and business dumpsters. They speculate that it is either motor oil from a collection truck, or hydraulic oil of the attachment that lifts the dumpsters to dump them in their holds.
In one three-block stretch - between Jefferson and Madison streets, the wide stain is still visible. Residents ask themselves; "How could the truck be spilling so much fluid without the crew noticing and removing the truck from service?"
Other readers have reported similar spills in alleyways across the city.
That oil is mute testimony to the level of commercial waste service in the city. It comes as the city commission this month voted to vacate a February 5 vote to give the multi-million five-year contract to Republic Waste and to give new City Manager Noel Bernal to take bids to award the contract to the best proposal.
The awarding of the contract has been in the works since complaints against GMS started to mount from downtown merchants who said the service was not worth the price and that the equipment - dumpsters and rolling stock - had outlived their service life.
The city commission approved the Request For Proposals to replace GMS back in July 2017. The city commission - after discussing it in executive session on February 5, 2019, voted to award it to Republic. That action was followed this month by the vacating of the award and Bernal was ordered to take new RFPs.
The issue remains unresolved. Withe the new calls for RFPs, the three companies (GMS, Redfish and Republic) have the chance to bid again, this time with a clear knowledge of what the others' proposals look like.
Until then, the month-to-month contract for commercial waste collection is still being performed by GMS. Has the company investing in its equipment and allowed its - and its rolling stock - to deteriorate to the point where it is contaminating the alleys and streets of Brownsville pending the eventual commercial waste award?
It is estimated that just one quart of oil can contaminate up to a quarter million gallons of drinking water or cause an oil slick almost 2 acres in size. If one adds the accumulation of oil and other chemical wastes seeping into the ground and into the water table over the years, the impact of that pollution becomes immediately clear.
That contamination inhibits plant growth that in turn impacts the insect and animal food chain, not to mention its effect on contaminated water seeping into the water table that ends up in the Laguna Madre and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. The Laguna Madre is the nursery for shellfish like shrimp and oyster beds, red fish, flounder and other valuable game fish that fuels a multi-million tourism industry.
Far-fetched for an alleys-wide oil spills in the city? It is instructive that when the Union Pacific Railroad turned over its railroad right-of-way to Cameron County, it included deed restrictions in its use.
U.P., in trying to shield itself from any liability of people coming into contact with any potential hazardous substance contamination that had accumulated on the land after more than 100 years of its cars and engines hauling dangerous substances and chemicals, was reluctant to yield on the county's wish to include a hike and bike trail option in the deed.
Union Pacific grudgingly accepted its inclusion when the county insisted.Here are some of those covenants:
1. Union Pacific retains all mineral rights and prohibits such exploration by the county. If any such exploration is performed, it will have to be 500 feet below the surface of the property. The county may use the property for hike and bike trail purposes (including, but not limited to, structures constructed on paved ground that support the trail use, such as water fountains, restrooms, and benches), for roadways, or for any other use not consistent with the terms...
2. The property must not be used for any of the following purposes:
1.) residential
11.) lodgings or accommodations (including, without limitation, hotels, boarding houses, dormitories, hospitals, nursing homes,, or retirement centers) or
111.) Cultural, educational, or child-care facilities (including without limitation, schools, kindergartens, day-care centers, gymnasiums, athletic fields, picnic grounds or parks).
Notwithstanding any other provisions herein, the term "picnic grounds" and "parks" expressly do not prohibit structures being constructed on paved ground that support hike and bike trail use as described herein.
If the county decided it wanted to do so, it can request the UP release the restriction on the prohibited uses. When and if it does that, UP may (or may not) issue the release.
U.P. made sure it would incur no liability for potential chemical contamination making the transfer to the county acknowledged that it accepted the land on the basis of its own investigation of the "physical and environmental conditions of the property, including the subsurface conditions and (it) assumed the risk that adverse physical and environmental conditions may not have been revealed by its investigation."
Likewise, U.P. required that the county release it from "all claims, suits, actions, causes of action, demands, rights, damages, costs, expenses, penalties, fines or compensation whatsoever, direct or indirect, which (the county) now has or which (it) may have in the future on account of of or in any way arising out of or in connection with the property (including, without limitation, "any contamination in, on, under or adjacent to the property by any hazardous or toxic substances or material, or any other federal, state or local law..."
Years of oil and other chemicals seeping into the subsoil and water table have far-reaching consequences apart from smearing the road surfaces and dirt around the city and making it unsightly. If we allow it to continue, we may help to cheat our children's future from afar.
U.P., in trying to shield itself from any liability of people coming into contact with any potential hazardous substance contamination that had accumulated on the land after more than 100 years of its cars and engines hauling dangerous substances and chemicals, was reluctant to yield on the county's wish to include a hike and bike trail option in the deed.
Union Pacific grudgingly accepted its inclusion when the county insisted.Here are some of those covenants:
1. Union Pacific retains all mineral rights and prohibits such exploration by the county. If any such exploration is performed, it will have to be 500 feet below the surface of the property. The county may use the property for hike and bike trail purposes (including, but not limited to, structures constructed on paved ground that support the trail use, such as water fountains, restrooms, and benches), for roadways, or for any other use not consistent with the terms...
2. The property must not be used for any of the following purposes:
1.) residential
11.) lodgings or accommodations (including, without limitation, hotels, boarding houses, dormitories, hospitals, nursing homes,, or retirement centers) or
111.) Cultural, educational, or child-care facilities (including without limitation, schools, kindergartens, day-care centers, gymnasiums, athletic fields, picnic grounds or parks).
Notwithstanding any other provisions herein, the term "picnic grounds" and "parks" expressly do not prohibit structures being constructed on paved ground that support hike and bike trail use as described herein.
If the county decided it wanted to do so, it can request the UP release the restriction on the prohibited uses. When and if it does that, UP may (or may not) issue the release.
U.P. made sure it would incur no liability for potential chemical contamination making the transfer to the county acknowledged that it accepted the land on the basis of its own investigation of the "physical and environmental conditions of the property, including the subsurface conditions and (it) assumed the risk that adverse physical and environmental conditions may not have been revealed by its investigation."
Likewise, U.P. required that the county release it from "all claims, suits, actions, causes of action, demands, rights, damages, costs, expenses, penalties, fines or compensation whatsoever, direct or indirect, which (the county) now has or which (it) may have in the future on account of of or in any way arising out of or in connection with the property (including, without limitation, "any contamination in, on, under or adjacent to the property by any hazardous or toxic substances or material, or any other federal, state or local law..."
Years of oil and other chemicals seeping into the subsoil and water table have far-reaching consequences apart from smearing the road surfaces and dirt around the city and making it unsightly. If we allow it to continue, we may help to cheat our children's future from afar.
4 comments:
It seems like GMS is not protected unless Charles Cabler gets in as mayor of Brownsville. How can you prove that GMS caused the oil spill, but the damage has been done now Cabler has to protect his nest egg.
Who else is there to blame only GMS.
As for the railroad trail area i always wondered of some type of spillage of chemicals, no one reported them for years and now a trial? Really i hope no one get sick out there.
Look at the mechanic shops there's about a trillion of them here and I can bet they all dump the motor oils on the ground
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