"Climate change is surfacing industries’ toxic legacy in marginalized communities."
"For decades in Houston, where resident Bryan “Lucas” Parras grew up near the city’s shipping channel, neighborhoods have faced the cumulative impacts of toxic emissions. The area is crammed with industrial facilities, chemical plants and oil refineries. Pollution has become such an ingrained part of life, Parras said, that residents on the city’s East End automatically adjust to the health threats: limiting time outdoors, filtering their water and making sure to carry their inhalers in case of asthma attacks.
“A lot of the pollution in Houston has just become normalized because there’s so much and because so little has been done,” said Parras, 45, and a co-founder of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. The group, known as t.e.j.a.s., for years has advocated on behalf of impacted neighborhoods by providing residents with tools to protect themselves and the environment.
Some of Houston’s pollution is hidden in its soil. Failing to account for toxic contaminants that have settled in the ground in Houston and cities across the United States is likely to have serious consequences as weather becomes more extreme due to climate change. A recent study by researchers from New York University, Rice University and Brown University found that urban communities with a higher likelihood of flood risks face additional potential dangers from soil contaminated by decades of past industrial activities."
Yvette Cabrera reports for the Center for Public Integrity July 22, 2022.
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