Odor in neighborhood raising concern for Tyler residents

Tyler, Tx (KETK) — --- Gina Adams says, "On Friday at noon we started smelling this horrible odor."
Adams lives in Tyler off of CR 2265 and Highway 31 and she says a horrible smell has been plaguing her neighborhood.

Adams says, "When you breath it in you can feel your throat burning and it smells almost like a burning tar mixed with sulfur, it smells just like a very strong chemical, it's horrible."

Adams was having trouble finding answers about what this odor could be she says, " We've contacted 911, they've sent out the fire department, and they basically told us they couldn't do anything."

So she contacted KETK.

We called the environmental crimes constable in Smith County, and he confirmed there has been some illegal dumping going on at Basic Energy Services, an oil well down the road from Adam's house.

Adam's says she has also witnessed some suspicious trucks dumping something in the middle of the night she says, " I've seen them do it, the trucks will park up in here and they will stick hoses underneath here, and dumping illegally at night."

She doesn't know what they were dumping but, Adams believes it was a deadly chemical, called hydrogen sulfide.

The constable turned over the investigation to the Texas Railroad Commission to do an investigation. So KETK called them, and sent emails. They never called us back, but they send us this statement:

“Our Kilgore district office sent out an inspector to the commercial disposal well facility, basic energy services, on Tuesday, Jan. 22. This inspector found no violations of railroad commission rules. additionally, the RRC inspector checked the hydrogen sulfide levels and found no detectable levels.”

But the question remains, what is that smell? Whatever it is has people in the area concerned.
Adams says, "I don't feel like drinking the water, because of what's going on over there.”

KETK also asked Basic Energy Services if they knew the source of the problem, they declined to answer but did say they were “cleaning up” the facility just as a precaution.