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Texas
Parents and concerned community members in the Cedar Park section of Austin have organized and formed the Clean Schools Initiative (CSI) to prevent a new elementary school from being built at the site of an old chemical plant. Substances detected in preliminary tests at the former Sasol Chemical Plant include benzene, VOCs, and many others. The group is meeting with Weston Solutions, the contractor, the school board and the superintendent to stop efforts to renovate the old buildings and proposed play areas and ball fields until the environmental impact and risks present at this site have been fully defined and evaluated. CSI has garnered media attention and is focused on making this a community-driven campaign. Their website and petition are online at www.cleanschoolsinitiative.org. CHEJ is providing organizing and technical assistance to these motivated parents.
The Bells group Citizens Organizing for Resources and the Environment is beginning work to oppose plans to build a pulverized coal plant in the nearby town of Savoy. This proposal is one of at least 16 similar projects statewide that are being fast-tracked through the permit process to meet growing energy demand in the state. Residents are concerned about mercury emissions, health issues, water contamination, as well as the proposed 450-foot smokestack that would be seen for miles. Residents asked their city councilors to join the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition, a coalition of government officials founded by the mayor of Dallas to oppose building these coal-fired power plants.
Citizens for Environmental Justice (CEJ) with support from the Global Community Monitor collected wipe samples from their neighborhood and found toxic chemicals that resulted from a major release of chemicals at the CITGO Refining and Chemical Co. facility in Corpus Christi. Numerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), many of which are carcinogenic, were found in two samples, one taken from the hood of an automobile. “While CITGO was passing out car wash tickets, they should have passed out gloves and masks too, said Suzie Canales of CEJ. An investigation of the accident concluded that CITGO could have avoided the accidental release with a better design for what turned out to be an overloaded inadequate pipe. CITGO will likely face fines from the state. (Summer 2008)
Citizens for Environmental Justice (CFEJ) began a new campaign with the release of their report, “Corpus Christi, Texas: Criminal Injustice in an All American City.” The report documents environmental racism and pollution cover-up in Corpus Christi and the campaign targets CITGO and its CEO Felix Rodriguez. CITGO and its environmental manager were served a 10-count criminal indictment in October alleging that the Corpus East Refinery released tons of cancer–causing benzene in 2001 and 2002 and that company officials knowingly underreported these emissions, which were well above what was allowed by law. Using a new website, CFEJ is encouraging people to call and send letters to CITGO and Rodriguez, demanding that CITGO be accountable for the years of adverse impact its refineries have had on the health and property of the community.
CHEJ is providing organizing help to emerging leaders of Citizens Against Asarco in El Paso. The group held a meeting in January to educate and increase capacity to put pressure on the Texas CEQ to deny a permit for re-opening Asarco's smelting operations. CHEJ is providing organizing advice as well as sharing contacts of other groups that may be able to help them. (Spring 2008)
Requests filed by the Get the Lead Out Coalition and the Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group uncovered an EPA document which reveals copper giant Asarco and their subsidiary Encycle illegally burned hazardous waste in their El Paso and Corpus Christi smelters for years. In an internal agency memo from 1998, EPA said that Asarco and Encycle had a permit to extract metals from hazardous waste products, but used that as a cover to burn the waste until the late 1990’s, saving the high cost of proper disposal. Among the wastes incinerated were more than 300 tons of nonmetallic residues from the former Army chemical warfare depot at Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside Denver. These documents support claims made for years, and denied by Asarco, that the emissions from the smelter were causing many illnesses in the community. The community groups are using this new information to expand their organizing efforts to shut the smelter down.
Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Ordinance (FWCANDO) formed in response to natural gas drilling activities encroaching on their neighborhood. They believe gas drilling and related activities are a threat to people, property and wildlife and have generated a list of demands including an immediate moratorium on gas drilling in Fort Worth until a new ordinance can be written that includes input from the citizenry, an evaluation of the effects of gas drilling on property values and marketability, and an independent study of gas drilling's effect on air pollution in Fort Worth. A leader in the group contacted CHEJ looking for help in finding a lawyer to take on the oil and gas company. CHEJ staff discussed various organizing strategies with the leader including whether a legal strategy was their best option. The leader spoke about people being offered $15,000 and more to sell mineral rights in residential neighborhoods and cases where others are building expensive homes on sites and then being told that the mineral rights have already been sold. CHEJ is encouraging FWCANDO to involve as many people as possible in their efforts to take on the oil and gas companies. (Summer 2008)
Local organizers in Guy have been involved in a long battle with the Texas Railroad Commission over using an orphan well for dumping municipal waste by injection. A 90-day extension for public comment was granted. Area residents are gathering petition signatures asking that the applicant’s permit request be denied. Conversations are being pursued with leaders of the neighboring county commissions who oppose the permit request and efforts are under way to increase public participation at an upcoming hearing in Austin. (Winter 2008)
Residents in Rio Grande City celebrated when a permit to build an asphalt plant next to an elementary school was withdrawn. The residents in this community successfully reached out to the parents whose children attended the school by involving the parents in designing, signing and collecting petitions. They also obtained sworn statements from school officials expressing concern about the safety of the students. This information was sent to state officials as the group made their fight very public. CHEJ helped develop this winning strategy by encouraging the group to join forces with the elementary school parents and school personnel. Congratulations! (Fall 2008)
Congratulations to residents of rural Kaufman, about 30 miles from Dallas, who successfully organized and convinced the Board of Adjustments (similar to County Commissioners) to shut down the Dallas Crown Slaughter House. The Board declared the plant a public nuisance and ordered it to close its doors by September 30, 2006. The community has complained of foul odors and air emissions for years. Robert Eldridge, who lives next to the facility and who led the fight against it said he was pleased by the decision.
Community In-Power Development Association led a protest against the shipment of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater from the production of the nerve agent VX to an incinerator in their predominantly African-American community in Port Arthur. Previous attempts to dispose of this toxic material were abandoned in Ohio and New Jersey after citizens and officials objected. The Army also abandoned an agreement with local neighbors in Newport, IN, where the waste is being stored, to treat the material on-site rather than dump it in someone else’s backyard. Numerous organizations are considering legal action to stop the Army’s planned shipments.
In a precedent-setting settlement to help reinvigorate Port Arthur’s West Side, the Community In-Power and Development Association (CIDA) has agreed to a good neighbor agreement with the Shell/Motiva Oil Refinery. After months of negotiations, CIDA agreed to withdraw their opposition to a state permit Motiva needed to begin a $3-4 billion expansion to double the plant’s production. In return, Motiva agreed to spend over $3.5 million to fund a variety of health and air quality projects. “The whole focus is on the community and refinery living together,” said Jim Blackburn, a lawyer representing the association. The agreement, which will fund portable air monitors, hazard warning radios, odor detection equipment and other public needs, does not forbid the group from protesting against Motiva.
Residents in Rio Grande City are trying to prevent an asphalt plant from being built next to their elementary school. Organizers are working to broaden their base of support by holding meetings with a logical ally – the superintendent of the school that would be affected if the proposed plant is built. Through this relationship, local organizers are better able to get the word out to the parents of the children at the nearby school to encourage them to speak out at hearings on the permitting process. CHEJ is continuing to provide organizing assistance to this community.
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