Environmental company returns to property with chemical leak

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. — An environmental cleanup company has been called to the old Anderson truck line in Hudson for the second time this week because firefighters found containers of chemicals leaking on the property.

There are thousands of containers filled with a glue byproduct and wastewater at that location.

"What we're doing right now, is trying to keep everyone safe,” Hudson Fire Department Chief Tommy Courtner said. “We haven't definitely identified the product."

Last week, an environmental cleanup company built a berm around the containers to keep anything from leaking further but heavy rain this week damaged the berm allowing the chemicals to reach a nearby storm drain.

Danny Pipes lives nearby and is concerned because he and others in the area rely on well water.

"I'm worried about the groundwater because I have a well,” Pipes said. “They bring them in, take them into the wash pit and wash them out and ship them out, but then they started accumulating more and more."

Channel 9 learned the containers have been on the property for nearly two years but the owner said the company that placed them there has gone bankrupt.

The town of Hudson said the water glue byproduct doesn't pose a threat to people but they alerted the Environmental Protection Agency after learning the containers were deteriorating.

"We're basing everything on what we're told at this time based on the (fact that) placards have been removed from the totes,” Courtner said.

He said that makes it more difficult because some containers are improperly marked and because of that, firefighters said if they're ever called to fight a fire at the property, they will only contain that fire and not put firefighters at risk.

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