The purpose of the Compressor is to boost pressure and to send the natural gas northward. As part of the plant's operation, heat is generated during the gas compression process, and the heat is removed with cooling water . The water, in turn, is cooled by the passage through cooling towers .
Gas compression generates heat.
That means the gas and the compressors have to be cooled with circulating water which, in turn, passes through cooling towers. That corrosion inhibitor was chrome 6. After the water dried, soil-containing chrome 6 was free to blow in the wind where it could be inhaled by living things.