Christopher Rincon is the Executive Director of the River Pierce Foundation in San Ygnacio, Texas on the Texas-Mexico border. The organization emphasizes educational programs that support the acquisition, preservation and re-use of historic sites in San Ygnacio with a special emphasis on the Trevino-Uribe Rancho (background). The Trevino-Uribe Rancho has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. Local citizens and groups in the area have had a negative reaction to plans by Tx Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste from the Eagle Ford shale formation on a site less than a mile from San Ygnacio.

Christopher Rincon is the Executive Director of the River Pierce Foundation in San Ygnacio, Texas on the Texas-Mexico border. The organization emphasizes educational programs that support the acquisition,

The steeple of Nuestra Senora de Refugio Church is the most noticeable landmark in the tiny Texas border town of San Ygnacio. Plans by Texas Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less than a mile from San Ygnacio has prompted a broad negative reaction in the town. Tx Energy Services presently operates a salt water disposal well on the property.

The steeple of Nuestra Senora de Refugio Church is the most noticeable landmark in the tiny Texas border town of San Ygnacio. Plans by Texas Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less

The historic, tiny Texas town of San Ygnacio is the kind of place where chickens roam freely in the streets and few people are seen during the day. Residents there fear that plans by Tx Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less than a mile from the town will degrade the quality of life in San Ygnacio.

The historic, tiny Texas town of San Ygnacio is the kind of place where chickens roam freely in the streets and few people are seen during the day. Residents there fear that plans by Tx Energy Services to begin

Tx Energy Services presently operates a salt water disposal area at this site near San Ygnacio, Texas. Plans to begin disposing of oil field waste at the site less than a mile from San Ygnacio has residents there upset.

Tx Energy Services presently operates a salt water disposal area at this site near San Ygnacio, Texas. Plans to begin disposing of oil field waste at the site less than a mile from San Ygnacio has residents

The tiny Texas town of San Ygnacio is full of quaint, historic buildings with a Spanish colonial motif. Residents there fear that plans by Tx Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less than a mile from the town will degrade the quality of life in San Ygnacio.

The tiny Texas town of San Ygnacio is full of quaint, historic buildings with a Spanish colonial motif. Residents there fear that plans by Tx Energy Services to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less

San Ygnacio, Texas draws water from the nearby Rio Grande River. Residents there are upset because of Tx Energy Service's plans to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less than a mile from the historic town.

San Ygnacio, Texas draws water from the nearby Rio Grande River. Residents there are upset because of Tx Energy Service's plans to begin disposing of oil field waste on a site less than a mile from the historic

A Tx Energy Services truck leaves a site near San Ygnacio, Texas where salt water is disposed of. Plans by the company to begin disposing of oil field waste there has people in the nearby town of San Ygnacio upset.

A Tx Energy Services truck leaves a site near San Ygnacio, Texas where salt water is disposed of. Plans by the company to begin disposing of oil field waste there has people in the nearby town of San Ygnacio

SAN YGNACIO — Founded by Mexican rancher Jesus Treviño in 1830, San Ygnacio has survived Indian raids, border skirmishes during the Civil War and Mexican Revolution, and the creation of Falcon Reservoir, which swallowed up other river settlements.

A favorite of bird-watchers and history buffs, San Ygnacio saw its commercial heyday years ago. It's now a quiet bedroom community of two businesses and one blinking light, where chickens and stray dogs casually wander the narrow streets.

Still, San Ygnacio has kept its charm. The picturesque historic district includes the well-preserved Fort Treviño, a classical Mexican plaza with a gazebo and benches, and a tiny alabaster Catholic Church built in 1875.

But the tranquility has been broken by plans to operate an oil field waste dump less than a mile from town. Zapata County commissioners officially oppose the dump, and protest letters are pouring in to the Railroad Commission of Texas.

“It would be really close to our historic town in the county. The Treviño fort is a National Historic Landmark. We just don't want to expose the people there to a dump like that,” County Judge Joe Rathmell said.

Woman ejected from SUV dies when vehicle lands on top of herSan Antonio Express-News

Squatter blamed for blaze at S.A. homeSan Antonio Express-News

2 women cut each other in knife fightSan Antonio Express-News

Mom rolls SUV off S.A. highway on way to child's schoolSan Antonio Express-News

Body Goes Missing From Funeral Home — and Family's Lawyers Blame Employee Who Was 'Into Satan'People

4 suspects detained after leading police in chase across San AntonioSan Antonio Express-News

San Antonio shooting victim walks to store, waves while being carted into ambulanceSan Antonio Express-News

“We have similar dumps in the county, and they are not a pretty sight. It's an eyesore, and the smell from these chemicals is considerable,” he added.

Tx Energy Services, an Alice-based company that already operates a saltwater injection well on the 72-acre property just east of town, wants to expand the facility to accept other types of oil field waste.

According to its application with the Railroad Commission, the site would receive a variety of oil-based and water-based drilling fluids, basic sediment from crude oil production and pit sludges, and other waste. It would not, however, take radioactive or asbestos-contaminated material.

John Crist, a spokesman for Tx Energy Services, which operates 19 deep-well saltwater disposal sites around Texas, said the proposed facility would be closely regulated and that local concerns about odors, pollution and runoff contamination are misplaced.

“These fears have no basis in reality. The way we have engineered the site, we have mitigated the risk of those fears,” he said.

Crist said the rapid rise of drilling activity in the Eagle Ford Shale has dramatically increased the production of oil field waste and that it all has to go somewhere. Operating a modern dump reduces environmental risks, he said.

“People will be dumping it wherever they can. I'd much rather have it in one place, where it's regulated and monitored. We're not going to take any shortcuts,” he said.

Waste brought to San Ygnacio will be separated into liquids and solids, with the liquids injected several thousand feet below the surface, and the solids “remediated,” Crist said.

“If there are any hydrocarbons in there, you pull them out. You make sure it doesn't have any heavy metals. Then you mix it with soil. There are places where they are growing crops on stuff like that,” he said.

He said that about the only thing locals would notice would be increased truck traffic.

“If we didn't have to permit the thing, it would be operating and no one would know it because nothing would change,” he added.

But because the permit is being contested, the Railroad Commission will eventually hold public hearings.

And despite the safety requirements for the dump, including monitoring wells, load checks on all incoming waste, and double-lined waste pits, local residents are not appeased.

They note that the site is within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood and that it drains into El Grullo Creek, which in turn empties into the Rio Grande upstream from the town's drinking water intake.

Luis Lozano, 68, who operates a convenience store on U.S. 83 near the current Tx Energy Services facility, said locals are fed up with being dumped on by everyone else.

“The county dump is about a mile from here on a hilltop. We have the town sewage plant two miles north of town. On the west we have the river, which gets all the black water from Laredo and Nuevo Laredo,” he said.

“I'm afraid of the dump smell and the heavy traffic, and a good hard rain could put it into the arroyo and the river,” Lozano said.

These sentiments were echoed by Angel Garza, a former Zapata County commissioner, whose property is near the Tx Energy Services site.

“Why should Zapata County take care of Dimmit, La Salle, Webb or other counties' chemical wastes?” he asked.

“If we want a safe future, we need to do the right decisions in the present. What is safe today might not be safe in the future,” he added.

Wally Gonzalez, 65, who, with his wife, Gloria, lives a few hundred yards from the facility, said occasional chemical smells and horns blaring from trucks arriving after dark are already an annoyance.

“We are in a low-lying area, and if they have any spills and it rains, it will come right through here,” said Gonzalez, a retired railroad worker who said he is probably freer to speak out than some of his neighbors.

“Most of them work in the oil field, so they're not going to make a stink because they are afraid of losing their jobs,” he noted.

Christopher Rincón, 42, has lived in San Ygnacio since 1995 and is an employee of the River Pierce Foundation, which acquired and preserved Fort Treviño years ago. He said the dump is just the latest threat to the oldest settlement in Zapata County.

“It's amazing that 50 years ago, when the Falcon Dam was being built, the people of San Ygnacio were able to escape destruction by standing together against the condemnation of their land,” Rincón said.

“They were dealing with a government agency. Now this waste dump is happening through a private company. It would be a terrible thing that would jeopardize San Ygnacio's future.”