Potential Home Buyers Kept In Dark About Toxic Dangers
The state's not mentioning it, either, so with new development sprouting up all over, these deadly secrets could be lurking anywhere. The state knows the ground water is contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical in this north Harris County neighborhood, but our investigation finds the state has a policy that helps to keep it a secret from the families who may consider moving here.

Potential Home Buyers Kept In Dark About Toxic Dangers

Tonight, Local 2 investigates toxic property and the potential home buyers being left in the dark about the dangers. A cancer-causing chemical has contaminated a local area, but no one’s talking about it.

Tonight, how one neighborhood’s secret could make you sick. KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Stephen Dean has the story. 
                                     
               Video: Home Buyers Left In The Dark About Toxic Neighborhood
                            
                            Home Buyers Left In The Dark About Toxic Neighborhood 


How can a decades-old toxic cleanup be kept a secret? This is the area of Forestburg Drive off Richards Road. Neighbors here blame premature deaths and miscarriages on the chemicals now seeping through the soil. The state says it notified all the people who live here, but for anyone who is thinking about moving here, our hidden camera investigation finds it's being kept hush-hush.

What aren't they telling you? Our hidden camera teams went shopping for three different houses in this neighborhood, and none of the Realtors or property owners mentioned a toxic secret we found affecting all of the land.

This potential buyer was kept in the dark like we were.

"Nothing. Never hinted at any problem," Brian Badger said.

Badger was shopping for a new home off Rayford Road, east of Interstate 45. He's afraid other families may not realize it's an active cleanup site because sellers aren't mentioning it.

"They just wanted to get out. They didn't care who else was moving into the home," Badger said.

The state's not mentioning it, either, so with new development sprouting up all over, these deadly secrets could be lurking anywhere.

TCEQ Map of Contamination Plume

The state knows the ground water is contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical in this north Harris County neighborhood, but our investigation finds the state has a policy that helps to keep it a secret from the families who may consider moving here.

"As you increase the concentrations, then the risk for cancer would go up," said Joe Bell with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

It's called the Charlie Burch Pitts site. Newspapers in the '80s showed dozens of barrels of poison dumped here, and this document from 1966 shows state environmental regulators were worried about the pollution problem when Lyndon Johnson was president.

Newer paperwork shows the soil contaminated with a chemical called dicholoroethane with levels several hundred times the safe limit.

"It's a carcinogen if it's ingested or inhaled over long periods of time," Bell said.

The state now says it thought the toxic chemicals were contained here on the dumpsite.

But in 1980 while digging for this waterway, crews found the chemical seeping off into the neighborhoods south and east of it.

This map shows where soil tests found the long plume well above the safe level of just five parts per billion, measuring 141, 138 and 108 parts per billion in spots.

When Badger saw this map, he was angry at the seller who tried to move his family into the area.

"We explained to her: 'Do you realize this house is contaminated, seriously contaminated with all kinds of poison, toxic poisons?'" Badger said.

Even when we asked, sellers didn't mention it to our undercover teams at three nearby properties. And Badger says the seller in his deal told him to initial some routine forms as if they were trying to hide it.

"We took it home and looked at it, and the more we read through it, the more we were just shocked," Badger said.

Dozens of families have already settled out of court with the company now cleaning it all up. By law, they have to disclose to any buyer the toxic pollution mentioned in these cartons of court papers.

But no one is watching to make sure they do.

Even if sellers are keeping secrets, there are ways to check on neighborhoods.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the State Commission on Environmental Quality both list current and former toxic cleanup sites.

Federal law also requires the nearest public library to keep maps and documents on all toxic cleanups in any given area.

Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, on KPRC Local 2 at 6 p.m.

A state lawmaker says he's drafting a bill hoping to make potential homeowners aware of toxic secrets uncovered by Local 2 Investigates.

Last night, we exposed a state policy helping to keep dangers hidden as families move into a subdivision off Richards Road on the Montgomery-Harris County line.

As we showed you yesterday, state policy gets a lot of the blame. The state only puts red flags on the property deeds if cleanup is expected to last 15 years or more. This cleanup has lasted more than 40 years, but the state still won't place those warnings on the deeds.

When our hidden camera teams went shopping for property off Interstate 45 and Rayford Road, none of the sellers mentioned a toxic cleanup that's spilling into the soil below all the homes in this neighborhood.

Documents show the state has been in various stages of cleaning up the old Charlie Burch Pitts dump site since 1966. Now, a cancer-causing chemical called dichloroethane is contaminating the soil below dozens of homes along this street.

But, the deeds for all of these properties make no mention of it.

"People in that whole area right there -- with little kids. I worry about them and their little kids -- if they're aware of the problem," potential home buyer Brian Badger said.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has a policy of not attaching red flags on the property deeds of the affected land until after cleanup is finished.

"In general, we're trying to protect the property value by not placing it on the deed," said Joe Bell, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

"Why would your interest be in protecting the property value, as opposed to protecting health?" KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Stephen Dean asked.

"Well, we are protecting health at the same time," Bell said.

A number of neighbors who live on this street among this toxic mess say they're angry with the state. They tell us off-camera that had the state attached red flags to the deeds of these properties years ago when the dump was discovered, they wouldn't have moved here to begin with. Their families wouldn't be forced to live here now.

Trees are dying and homeowners report strong smells in their homes. But most can't afford to move because their properties are worth so little because of it.

State environmental regulators say they've notified all the current residents about the cleanup, but if new homeowners come in now, it's not the state's problem.

"There is no recurring condition or any requirement for notice under our rule," Bell said.

The state says the reason it didn't flag the property deeds here is because that 15-year clock was restarted every time a wider area of contamination was found.

The TCEQ is defending its policy, but now State Rep. Rob Eissler says he's drawing up legislation that would change it because of our report.

He says the agency should do anything it can to let potential homebuyers know about these dangers. If you have a news tip or question for KPRC Local 2 Investigates,
drop them an e-mail or call their tipline at (713) 223-TIPS (8477).
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