Tons of PCBs May Come Calling at a Down-at-the-Heels Texas City

[douglas9]

Source: New York Times

PORT ARTHUR, Tex. — This downtrodden chemical town on the Gulf of Mexico has no shortage of nicknames: Cancer Alley, the Armpit of Texas, Ring of Fire.

Built on a gush of oil wealth, Port Arthur eventually wooed chemical and waste plants as well. But since the 1970s, this city, which is majority African-American, has complained that it has become a dumping ground for the nation’s toxic waste.

Now, if a French-owned waste management company has its way, the Port Arthur area will be the final destination for 40 million pounds of toxins from Mexico.

“Bring it all to southeast Texas,” Hilton Kelley, a community activist, said wryly. “Who’s next? Germany? Finland? England? Aren’t our oil refineries and chemical plants enough? We have a right to a clean environment, and the nation sees us as expendable in the name of big business.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/us/19PCB.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

[Ian David]

1. Show me the latest political polling results for Port Arthur, TX and I'll tell you if I'm concerned.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Jefferson County votes for the Democratic candidate consistently.

They supported Kerry in in 2004. Supported Obama in the primary and will no doubt support him in the GE. They support Democrats on local, state and national levels.

[Ian David]

9. That explains why Republican companies dump their waste there. And let me guess...

... these are poor, minority people who can't afford expensive lawyers to protect them?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. The county is about 60% white and 40% minority

Port Arthur has a much larger percentage of minorities though.

Races in Port Arthur:

* Black (43.7%)
* White Non-Hispanic (31.8%)
* Hispanic (17.5%)
* Other race (8.9%)
* Vietnamese (4.8%)
* Two or more races (2.1%)
* American Indian (0.8%)
* Asian Indian (0.5%)


They're mostly construction workers then refinery hands if they're male. And work in the nursing then the educational field if they're women.

The median household income is around $27,000 to $28,000.

They're the average underpaid working class people. Not people who could afford expensive lawyers.

[Cal Carpenter]

8. Are you for real?

That's a pretty sick thing to say...

:wtf:

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Cynical, yes, but not sick

[Cal Carpenter]

16. I know 'cynical' real well

I'm sticking with 'sick' to describe that comment.

[tavalon]

18. It did need a sarcasm smiley, for sure

but I do believe that was meant to reflect the repug POV for ironies sake.

[QC]

21. Unfortunately, he's perfectly serious. n/t

[Dark]

22. Idk. I'd have a hard time pitying people who continually vote to bring this on themselves.

n/t

[Cal Carpenter]

24. It's not about your emotional reaction

of 'pitying' someone.

It's about human rights and environmental justice and corporate accountability. Human rights and justice are universal concepts. You don't get to pick and choose who gets them. If you do think picking and choosing things like this is okay then you don't really believe in the concepts of human rights or environmentalism at all, do you?

And you don't even have to click on the link to see that this town has a high black population.

I'm sorry, I think I may be on the wrong discussion forum. This is absolutely appalling to me.

on edit: to clarify, when I say 'this is absolutely appalling to me' I am referring to the posts here. This poisoned town in Texas is appalling too, but less surprising since it happens all the time, especially in poor black communities.

[pattmarty]

2. ".....this city, which is majority African-American" I think that says it all.

[Javaman]

3. Port Arthur is the Newark NJ of Texas.

it's one scary ass chemical zone.

[Submariner]

4. I parked my rental car at a refinery

I was working at in Port Arthur, and the afternoon thunderstorm cleaned the air and deposited tiny black cinders on the light grey car and burned into the paint job making little reddish/black spots all over the car. For yucks I tried a compound cleaner I borrowed from a guy, and the cinder burns would not come out of the paint.

I can only imagine what that poor air quality is doing to the lungs of the people that have to live and work there.

[ensho]

5. kick

nt

[MasonJar]

6. Why would anyone continue to live in such an environment and

why has the government done nothing? They need a major visit from Erin Brokovich. (sp?)

[pattmarty]

10. Well both of your "questions" are easy to answer.

First our conservative, take care of yourself government HELPING anything that it not corporate connected? Well I think that 1st one answered itself. Now the second question, why would anyone live in such an environment? Another easy answer, because they're poor AND BLACK, where the fuck are they gonna go?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. Since you brought up Erin Brockovich, I ask: Why did the people of Hinkley live there?

While not identical, there are similarities in the two situations.

[sakura]

13. Janis' home town.

Funny how art is often born from adversity. Curt Cobain grew up in Aberdeen, WA, another run-down "armpit" kind of town.

[acmavm]

15. I wondered if anyone was gonna mention poor Janis. I was thinking if no

one else did, I would. She had nothing nice to say about the place.

[sakura]

17. Yes, I've been there. It's sad.

I've spent lots of time in Aberdeen's schools, as well. When I visited the middle school Curt Cobain attended, the school's principal said to me, "After visiting this neighborhood, now you know why Curt turned out the way he did." Aberdeen is seriously depressed, with large pockets of multigenerational poverty and parents working multiple dead-end jobs just to make ends meet.

[KamaAina]

19. Environmental racism is endemic throughout the Gulf Coast

elsewhere, too, of course (see under Anniston, Ala.) but nowhere else is it as pervasive. We were just starting to make it an issue back in the early '90s, after it finally dawned on people that these kinds of facilities were always, but always, built where black people, not white people, lived. :grr:

[izquierdista]

20. Cleaning up

This was posted a couple weeks ago in the Environmental forum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY

I agree with all the sentiments that have been posted on this thread, but progress is when positive solutions are tried, tested, and implemented. Like the possible ones in the link above.

[douglas9]

23. Veolia wants to import banned chemical

Public hearing on Veolia's plan to import PCBs from Mexico

Veolia wants an exemption to a federal ban on the importation of PCBs, once a chemical insulator used in electrical devices. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are suspected as a cancer cause. EPA banned their manufacture in 1977.

Veolia already transports between 20 million and 30 million pounds of PCBs to its Port Arthur industrial incinerator each year from locations across the United States, said Dan Duncan, Veolia's environmental, health and safety manager.

Veolia wants to bring in about 20,000 tons - about 40 million pounds - from Mexico, or more than double the amount it now incinerates, Duncan said.

http://www.zwire.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2287&dept_id=512504&newsid=19782070