Vulcanus

In the early ’80s, Brownsville became a focal point of resistance to proposed toxic-waste burns on the ships Vulcanus I and II, planned for a site 140 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Fearing spills, incomplete combustion, and toxic ash settling on the seafloor, local shrimpers, environmentalists, and business leaders mobilized. Their concerns were heightened by weak regulation and the absence of indemnification for damages. In 1983, over 6,000 people turned out at a Brownsville hearing to oppose the permits, backed by the Texas Governor, Attorney General, and the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Mounting pressure helped push EPA to halt ocean-incineration rulemaking in 1984. Chemical Waste Management then withdrew its application in 1988, and that same year parties to the London Convention agreed to phase out and ban ocean incineration worldwide by 1994. Remarks included below, from Deyaun Boudreaux, a shrimping industry representative, Merriwood Ferguson, a Brownsville environmental activist, and Steve Frishman, an advisor to Governor White, help illustrate the controversy.