Santa Teresa Industrial Park reopens, hazardous material still a mystery

The Santa Teresa Industrial Park near the U.S Mexico border reopened Wednesday following a mandatory evacuation due to a hazardous material spill.

Around 200 people were sickened Tuesday by an unknown substance reporting difficulty breathing, light-headedness, nausea and dizziness.  

A 1-mile area surrounding the Dona Ana County Industrial Park and Mexico border crossing at Santa Teresa was evacuated for a few hours and the county airport was closed. Evacuees were taken to Santa Teresa High School.

An Albuquerque-based civil support team from the New Mexico National Guard headed to Santa Teresa to try to identify the hazardous materials and their source. The investigation initially centered at the FoamEx plant on the industrial park campus but was later expanded to other areas in the park.

Vice president of the Border Industrial Association, Jerry Pacheco, says FoamEx Innovations owns a building about 298,000 square feet in the industrial park that makes polyurethane foam products. Pacheco also says there are a variety of different kinds of companies in the three industrial parks in the Santa Teresa area, around fifty in all.

Dona Ana County emergency officials say the cluster of factories and warehouses in Santa Teresa was reopened at 6 a.m. this morning after testing for hazardous materials was negative. The Dona Ana County Airport also reopened.

Investigations to identify the substance continue.

For Newsbreak New Mexico, I’m Vanessa Dabovich. 

Santa Teresa Industrial Park reopens, hazardous material still a mystery