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Living with Pollution
By Lily Auliff When leaders from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences visited Houston, they saw more than the regular tourist attractions. Baylor College of Medicine, which hosted the group for a weekend of environmental health events in October, arranged a bus tour of 17 environmentally significant sites, including a variety of neighborhoods. Participants saw a glimpse of what it’s like to live in the shadow of pollution, and met a few of the people trying to make change. Southpark/MacGregor Terrace “These types of facilities, when they crush the concrete to recycle it, emit a lot of particulates, a lot of dust,” explains Neil Carman, Clean Air Program Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and toxic tour guide. “We really don’t know much about how this concrete crushing facility is affecting the health of the people,” begins Janice Harper, a researcher at the University of Houston who is studying how Southpark/MacGregor Terrace residents relate their respiratory problems to environmental toxins. “We do know that there are really high rates of respiratory illnesses, including asthma. But there are also a number of factories in the area that are releasing a number of known asthma triggers.” “One of the things that makes this so interesting is the fact that this is a real typical neighborhood,” explains Harper. “There’s nothing like an Erin Brockovich kind of thing going on where there is some nefarious industry. This is a very typical working class minority community in the Houston area.” For more information on the Southpark/MacGregor Terrace area, contact Janice Harper at 713-743-3790.
“This community is really enclosed by railroad tracks,” explains activist Juan Parras. “About 10 years ago, finally, the city of Houston built an exit that connects it to the Ship Channel Bridge. Otherwise the community would be enclosed literally by railroad tracks and chemical plants all around it with little access and few evacuation routes in case of an emergency.” “The refineries in the state of Texas are the number one source of air pollution complaints from citizens compared to all types of manufacturing facilities in the state,” notes Carman. “There are only a few dozen refineries in the state, so there is a disproportionate number of complaints that come from people living in these neighborhoods.” Carman also listed sulfur dioxide, a criteria pollutant that is released from Rhodia’s sulfuric acid plant, and hydrogen sulfide, a neurotoxin released from sewage treatment, as potential hazards in Manchester. For more information on the Manchester neighborhood, contact Juan Parras at 713-313-4270.
In 1996, one of the plants announced plans for expansion. Concerned about the health effects of increased air pollution, residents stepped forward, forming the Source Reduction Project, a community-plant partnership that has resulted in significant emissions reductions. “The biggest accomplishment is that industry became willing to sit at the table with its neighbors and work on source reduction projects,” explains LaNell Anderson, one of the leaders in the project. “We made specific requests, set specific goals, and they responded to those.” Although the air in Channelview is far from completely clean, progress has been made, says Anderson. “We, as a citizens’ group, were able to accomplish something that none of the agencies have been able to do,” she adds. For more information about the Source Reduction Project, contact LaNell Anderson at 281-360-0360. Fifth Ward The Many Diversified Interests (MDI) Superfund Site, one of five Superfund sites in the Fifth Ward, covers 36 acres adjacent to Bruce Elementary. A foundry and a spent catalyst recycling plant once operated there. Although the buildings and chemical drums that occupied the space have been removed, elevated levels of lead and other toxins remain in the soil. Although the first round of clean-up was completed several years ago, residents are antsy to finish the job and put the land to good use. Local Charlotte Camacho is concerned that the land could end up like the two Superfund sites in Barrett Station. Those sites have been cleaned of toxins, but have become unattractive vacant lots and occasional dumping grounds, according to Camacho. “When they clean this up, let’s do something with it. Let’s put something useful on it,” she advocates. Mothers for Clean Air, a local organization of which Camacho is a member , recently received a technical assistance grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help educate the community about options for clean-up. And community leaders are working with the city of Houston to decide how to use the site after it is clean. Their current plan calls for mixed-use development, featuring housing and small businesses that would bring needed jobs and services into the neighborhood. For more information on the MDI site, contact Charlotte Camacho at 713-378-9289. The Real Story “Every household out here has a person with asthma and another with bronchitis,” says Cordova. “The rest of the family has skin rashes that keep you up through the night itching and scratching.” Some have blamed the extensive health problems on the fact that Galena Park is a poor, minority neighborhood. But, Cordova says their doctors disagree. “It’s the pollution,” she says. “It’s something in the air.” Sick days and emergency room visits are not Cordova’s only frustrations. She and her neighbors have been trying to fight polluters, but feel they only get sent in bureaucratic circles. “Finally, when we think we’ve gotten somewhere, someone buys out a company and we start from scratch,” she explains. “But pollution doesn’t end.” |
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The Southpark/MacGregor Terrace area, just north of south Loop 610 at Calais, is one of Houston’s classic unzoned mixes of industry and neighborhood. At center stage is a concrete crushing plant.
Manchester
Channelview
Lupe Cordova and her family have lived in Galena Park, which is surrounded by a horseshoe of polluters, for almost 17 years. Her 16-year-old daughter suffers from asthma; her son has chronic bronchitis.