Texas Air Wars

From the air, Gibraltar Chemical Resources, Inc. resembles a ballfield clearing in the yellow pine forests of east Texas, scraped down to red dirt and crowded with steel sheds and smooth white cannister tanks. It lies in rural Winona, where many people raise cows or rose bushes for a living. Started in 1982, Gibraltar now handles 25 million gallons of hazardous waste a year from such sources as Fortune 500 electronics companies, small paint shops and U.S. military bases. It recycles solvents, mixe other chemicals as fuel for cement kilns, and pumps fluid wastes almost a mile down and injection well. Government agencies approve of Gibraltar’s work, but some townspeople accuse the company of chemical warfare.