Goat Island, TX -- October 25th, 2008
Jeff Lewellin, TCEQ:   I'm Jeff Lewellin, I'm
with the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality.  We've been working with our federal
partners since September 13th, removing
orphan containers, hazardous materials that
might impact the public or harm the
environment.  To date, we've removed
approximately 7500 containers in the range of
five thousand to twelve thousand gallon tanks.
Gary Moore, EPA:  We've done two sweeps of
Galveston Island, we've done two sweeps of
Bolivar, up to the county line.  The green dots
are the items that we've already collected or
picked up.  The red dots are the ones we have
yet to take care of.
Jeff Lewellin, TCEQ:  Primarily the contents of
the drums have been fuels, lubricants, with
some chemical solvents, things of that nature.
We're currently working with the
Environmental Protection Agency and United
States Coast Guard to prevent the public from
getting exposed to any of these containers
that may have spilled or still contain contents
that are unknown.  It's really a public health
protection activity we're doing.
Gary Moore, EPA:  FEMA provides the
funding to do this activity, and we've been
working with them fairly closely as well.  What
they're doing right now, is we're actually
moving containers that we locate to certain
staging areas, and they're basically just
loading them on to roll-off boxes for hazard
categorization and disposal.
Jeff Lewellin, TCEQ:  Or recycling.
Gary Moore, EPA:  And recycling
For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov