HUDSON, N.C. — About 1.5 million gallons of potentially hazardous chemicals have been found abandoned near neighborhoods in Caldwell County, and Channel 9 has learned that the situation has been brought to the attention of the federal government.
Channel 9 reporter Dave Faherty was at the scene near 2698 Hickory Boulevard (Highway 321) Tuesday in Hudson and could see stacks of containers.
The chemical in the rows of containers was glue byproduct and wastewater.
An environmental company said it built a berm around the containers after some of them began to crack.
"It causes problems -- problems for the sewer plant and streams, if it ever gets into it," Gary Sparks, with STAT Inc., said.
The containers have been on the property for nearly two years but the owner said the company that placed them there has gone bankrupt.
Town of Hudson officials said the water glue byproduct doesn't pose a threat to homeowners in the area but they alerted the Environmental Protection Agency after learning of the containers were deteriorating.
"We want it gone,” town manager Rebecca Bentley said. “It's a solid waste and we're not equipped to handle a solid waste, so we would like it gone."
Investigators determined there were a handful of containers that do have hazardous waste and those will be removed from the property. It is the thousands of others, however, that have firefighters taking precautions if they're ever called to fight a fire on the property.
"Ninety percent sure what the product is – 10 percent not sure -- and that's what kills firefighters,” Hudson Fire Chief Tommy Courtner said. “So if there is a fire, we will go in and do containment."
The containers, which were owned by Dafco, were originally moved out of the Hickory area in 2014.
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