Woodwind Lakes subdivision built on oil and gas field turns on neighbor who pointed out the contamination

Even at this time, many residents at Woodwind Lakes knew nothing about the site's former history, the biomound or the RRC investigations. Some heard rumors but did not believe them. Elected members of the homeowners association assured residents there was nothing to worry about.

On February 26, 2003, Paul Anderson called for the resignations of the entire homeowners association board for not informing residents.

The minutes presented at the next association board meeting held one week later stated only: "Paul Anderson was in attendance to offer comments about neighborhood. End result was no decisions or resolutions made based on comments."

On May 5, 2003, the homeowners association board of directors sent letters to a dozen residents informing them that ChevronTexaco would be requesting access to their properties for "upcoming research."

The letter attempted to downplay the potential problems: "Many other Houston and Texas subdivisions are also part of previous oil and gas fields."

It read as though they had actually won something: "Your property is one of the homeowners' sites that has been selected."

All were invited to an "informational meeting" held the next week.

Robert and Melissa Phillips panicked when they got the letter. A breast cancer survivor, Melissa Phillips suffers from a suppressed immune system resulting from chemotherapy treatment.

"I was shocked and angry, furious because my wife should not be around anything carcinogenic," says Robert Phillips, president of Houston's Sheltering Arms Senior Services. "Even the stress alone excites cancer cells."

On May 14, 2003, Phillips and some 20 other residents met in a large room at a nearby community center. Guest speakers included Guy Grossman, the local RRC district director, and Gary Jacobson, ChevronTexaco's environmental projects manager for Texas.

The Phillipses insisted on recording the meeting, despite protests from homeowners association board members. It lasted three hours. According to a transcript of the meeting on file with the RRC, it went like this:

Grossman began by telling the history of Fairbanks Oil Field, though he neglected to mention the Delroc oil refinery.

Grossman said the only reason they were testing in the neighborhood was because "that individual...was very vocal that there were problems out there. And kept coming and kept coming." It's unclear who Grossman was referring to, though it was likely Paul Anderson or Bernie Milligan.

"You-all are going to be drilling a hole in our driveway," Robert Phillips interrupted. "What happens if this is really horrible stuff? I mean, who's responsible and what's going to be done?"

Jacobson, who did most of the talking, replied: "ChevronTexaco will...make sure that you're safe...we'll take care of you..."

Jacobson went on to explain the existence of "data gaps" since records from earlier investigations into Woodwind Lakes had been "scattered."

"They did some testing," Jacobson said of the work done in the mid-1990s. "It's just, it's really hard to give you a lot of assurance they did a really good job here..."

Jacobson failed to add that ChevronTexaco had rebuffed several requests to participate in testing during this period.

Jacobson proved somewhat clumsy discussing the biomound. "It is common practice," he said. "I don't know if it's common practice to leave a biomound later in a neighborhood, but it's common practice in the oilfield..."

Jacobson had talked for more than an hour when Melissa Phillips finally interjected: "I -- you know, I'm just scared. I mean, we're the kind of people that don't use charcoals because we don't want those inhalants. And I'm scared. I'm scared of what we might find or what has disappeared in the last five years that's already in our system or in our trees and in the leaves and dropping on the ground..."

She continued: "You know, it's kind of interesting. We just had our backyard torn up and had a bunch of trees put in, and they came out with this really heavy equipment and these twirly blades, and they went pretty deep and got our ground all torn up. And now our dogs have these really strange skin conditions, and they throw up every day, all four of them. If it was just one dog that was sick, you know, you probably wouldn't think too much about it...We took our dogs to the vet and he said he hadn't seen this skin rash before."

Then she made Jacobson an offer: "This is really -- it's going to sound like a funny question, but this is an emotional question. If anxiety over this is a problem, would Chevron like to buy our house now?"