HOUSTON — Six more people have been exposed to mercury and Houston's Health Department says they are continuing to monitor four locations in west Houston.
KHOU 11 News is learning more about GeoChem Laboratories, where the mercury was stolen off I-10 and Brittmoore last Friday.
"When we first moved in they were operating and they were busy with projects all over the world," said William Guarniere, President of Cactus Environmental Systems.
Guarniere says he helped businesses up and down this street set up security cameras to fight this very problem. He's known the owner for more than two decades and runs the business two doors down.
“Geoff is really a genius," he said.
Geoffrey Bayliss is who GeoChem is registered to and according to state records it’s been around since 1971. However, KHOU obtained the last paperwork on file with the state from 2010.
No one answered at Bayliss’s home.
“He’s an old oil and gas guy, but he’s a great guy," said Aidan Arney, his neighbor.
Arney told us he knew the lab was no longer up and running.
“The land off Brittmoore, they closed it years ago," he said.
But somehow police say Christopher Melder, 19, managed to break-in and steal 11 pounds of mercury in containers like these and tried to sell them.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says “GeoChem had not provided the TCEQ with notification of waste generation as required.”
“When Geoffrey’s wife became ill, he became ill – he became less participating – that may be part of what caused him not to be here as often," said Guarniere.
A spokesman for TCEQ told us the City of Houston is handling things from here.
Local officials tell KHOU it will be up to the owner to clean up any remaining mercury, although there is a for sale sign on the property.
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