CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) — A Cypress business owner has been charged with felony water pollution, according to officials.
Harris County Precinct 1 detectives said his company, which power washes dump-truck engines, was dumping contaminated wastewater into a drainage ditch that eventually leads all the way to the Gulf.
“I am frustrated because this shouldn’t be happening,” John Chiue, who lives nearby, said. “I want to live in my house.”
His report, detectives said, led to a Precinct 1 investigation, and now Michael Ramos Garcia and his truck engine power washing company, Placetas Trucking, are both being charged with felony water pollution.
ABC13 went to the address for the company on Huffmeister Road. It wasn’t marked and shared space with multiple other businesses.
But neighbors said they have been watching from behind the fence.
“They’re power washing. That discharge is not treated at all, and it goes directly into the drainage ditch, which goes behind my house, which eventually goes to Little Cypress Creek, which eventually leads to Galveston Bay and eventually to the Gulf of America,” Chiue said.
Detectives provided photos and said they tested the soil from the company’s property and found nearly 4,000 times the amount of petroleum hydrocarbons than in other spots in the area.
In simple terms, detectives said the company was dumping what they call large amounts of used motor oil and diesel engine oil into ditches.
No wonder neighbors said the smell has been overwhelming.
“We’ve got two neighbors on the other side of us, three kids who can’t go outside and play,” Jeffery Byers said.
“Eventually, the diesel fuel just kind of seeps through my house, and I have to stay in the front side and block off certain rooms,” Chiue added.
Now they hope this state felony charge will mean a safer, cleaner neighborhood.
“Never give up. Keep fighting, fighting, fighting,” Byers said.
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