Mercury injected underground 'forever': a teardown of VLS Texas Molecular's disposal claim

Elemental mercury is a liquid metal that evaporates at room temperature and damages the nervous system. Since the Mercury Export Ban Act (signed 2008, effective 2013) stopped exports, U.S. industries and agencies have had no disposal route — only indefinite, costly storage. VLS Environmental Solutions says it has now closed that gap.

1. Acceptance at the RCRA-permitted treatment, storage and disposal facility in Deer Park, Texas, operating since 1981.
2. Conversion by patent-pending technology into a "stable mercury solution". No reagents or product chemistry are disclosed.
3. Injection via a Class I hazardous waste deep well into porous rock far below drinking-water aquifers.
4. Certificate stating the material is "permanently removed from the biosphere".

Other figures: 175+ million gallons of annual capacity across all waste types; 67+ million gallons of "mercury-contaminated waste" disposed since 2021; permits from TCEQ and EPA.

This is a genuine regulatory gap, and a compliant domestic route beats warehouses full of flasks. Class I injection is established technology for hazardous waste, and a No Migration Petition requires serious geological modelling.

• What is injected? Mercury sulfide (HgS) is the most stable form. Is that the product? The company does not say.
• Well integrity. Casings and cement degrade; induced seismicity can open pathways.
• Location. A single site on the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast.
• Volumes. The 67 million gallons likely include other wastes; elemental mercury tonnage is not stated.
• Single point of failure. If Deer Park closes, the U.S. is back to zero options.
• Monitoring. No independent environmental monitoring data is published to support "no-discharge".

Better than storage, probably. "Permanent" is a model output, not an observation. Publishing the stabilised chemistry and ongoing monitoring data would turn a marketing claim into an evidence-based one.