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Contaminated soil from Victoria spill to pass through surrounding counties

San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera said Coastal Bend residents might experience the smell once more as the dirt is transported along Highway 77.

SAN PATRICIO COUNTY, Texas — Just a few weeks ago, the San Patricio County Sherriff's office dispatch center received calls from residents on the east side of the county reporting a foul ammonia-like odor. 

"Later on, we got calls in Refugio and Aransas County that actually came from the Port of Victoria, from the Shamrock plant over there. They had about 300 barrels that spilled over and that caused an odor that came all the way through this county," San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera said. 

In a statement released by the port of Victoria on Jan. 5, we now know that smell was actually a mixture of crude oil and diesel with elevated sulfur content.  

In the coming weeks, Rivera says there is a possibility that residents in the county may smell that odor again as trucks filled with soil from the Victoria spill will be traveling along Highway 77. 

"We hope it doesn't happen, but the fact is that there will be about 50 to 60 trucks that are going to be transporting this dirt over to the U.S. ecology in Robstown. It's a place that handles hazardous material," he said.

"Those trucks will be coming through 77, through our county and we know that through Odem, they're going to have to slow down and when they do, we expect there's going to be some smells. We want people to be aware of it so they don't get spooked like they did over on Jan. 3." 

Rivera adds that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has already made the state and county emergency management departments in Victoria, Refugio, San Patricio and Nueces County aware of movement that will be happening along the highway. 

"I don't think residents need to be worried about it, but they need to be aware of it. We don't want surprises when they start smelling things coming through Odem. It's possibly going to be these trucks coming by, if it's something different, we'll let them know," Rivera said. 

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