In Baytown, a 30 percent chance of ... oil?

Just when you're starting to think living next door to a refinery isn't so bad, the refinery releases some kind of fog that leaves caramel-colored oily residue all over houses, cars and anything left outdoors. It happened to some Baytown residents this week when some gas oil — a heavy, waxy substance similar to crude oil — leaked from a storage tank Monday and a cloud of oil-containing steam drifted over to the Archia Courts public housing complex.

Though an army of environmental experts descened on Archia Courts and found that the air wasn't polluted and the oily fog wouldn't harm people who inhaled it, residents were concerned:

The rumors swirling around Archia Courts on Tuesday sounded more dire: The workers, someone said, were removing contaminated gravel from underneath the swing set. Children shouldn't play outside. The oil released had benzene in it, which causes cancer.

Residents said Tuesday that they had had enough and wanted the company to purchase the land, much like it has bought out many of the other residences on the east side of the plant. "I would like to get out of here today if I could," [resident Judy] Mixon said.

The Baytown Housing Authority, which owns Archia Courts, said it's working on a deal to sell the property but are still trying to figure out where to move the residents if a sale takes place. Bill Eiland, director of the housing authority, said ExxonMobil has acted responsibly about the leak, sending teams to clean up the area, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Exxon didn't inform the agency about the incident until Tuesday evening, well into the cleanup.