City staff present municipal setting designation for contaminated industrial parcel on American Petroleum Road

Houston Public Works staff presented a municipal setting designation (MSD) application for 12510 American Petroleum Road in Houston on June 16, 2025, describing a past surface release and subsequent soil removal and asking the council committees to move the MSD request forward for later council action.

An MSD is a voluntary deed restriction initiated by a property owner that “prevent[s] the use of contaminated water,” Cassandra Walker, administration manager of the Brownfields and MSD section of Public Works, told the joint Quality of Life and Housing and Affordability committees. Walker said the designation legally prohibits the use of groundwater for drinking on the property and is “a legally binding way to ensure the public is not exposed to contaminants.”

Walker said the designated property is a 66.5803-acre parcel along the Houston Ship Channel and Buffalo Bayou owned by Target Downstream LLC. Public water in the area is supplied from much deeper sources, she said, and groundwater is typically found at 20 to 60 feet compared with public water supply wells commonly near 600 feet. The MSD application includes investigation and cleanup steps intended to show that any remaining groundwater contamination is stable or decreasing and that the source has been removed.

City staff described a reported release discovered July 15, 2020, from a bulk storage tank (Tank W2L). The release was reported to the National Response Center (NRC incident number 1281972) and to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ spill number 20202155), Walker said. Initial response included a superficial excavation and soil sampling in August 2020; later soil borings in October 2020 found benzene and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in surface soils at concentrations exceeding TRRP tier 1 protective concentration levels, she said. Braun Entec submitted a self-implementation notice on June 24, 2022, and Walker said contractors excavated contaminated surface soil in a removal action from August 30 to September 9, 2022, for source removal.

Walker outlined the city’s MSD requirements for applicants: enrollment in state or federal cleanup programs as appropriate, a thorough investigation confirming plume stability and delineation, demonstration that the source has been removed or otherwise addressed, and certification of the application by a third-party professional engineer or geologist. She said stakeholders and property/well owners within a five-and-a-half-mile radius received notice of the MSD application and that a hard copy of the application is available at the Galena Park Library. Walker provided a direct city contact and said an electronic copy of the application is available on the Public Works website.

No committee vote or final council action on the MSD was recorded in the committee transcript. The presentation concluded with the applicant’s representatives in attendance but no formal motion recorded during the time captured in the transcript.

Why it matters: An MSD, if approved later by council and/or TCEQ as required, restricts use of groundwater on the parcel in perpetuity (or as specified) and clarifies which party is responsible for ongoing remediation obligations while enabling redevelopment that avoids potable groundwater use.

Details noted by staff: the parcel address and owner (Target Downstream LLC), NRC incident number 1281972, TCEQ spill number 20202155, excavation dates and a June 24, 2022 self-implementation notice, and the local library location for a physical application copy. Cassandra Walker provided a city phone contact during the presentation.