U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee wants environmental justice funds in the Inflation Reduction...
Concrete plant neighboring a retention pond on Homestead Road in the northeast area of Houston, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, in Houston.U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee wants environmental justice funds in the Inflation Reduction Act to flow into northeast Houston as freely as the concrete batch facilities that have come to plague the predominantly Black area.
Legislation passed Friday includes $60 billion for environmental justice programs that can help communities such as Trinity and Houston Gardens fight polluters and reduce emissions, the congresswoman said during a Sunday event at Trinity Gardens Church of Christ attended by around 25 community advocates and concerned residents. Issues such as the illegal dumping of industrial trash, cancer clusters stemming from creosote used by rail companies and air and water contamination from a growing number of industrial sites make the city’s northeast corner “a fitting example” of communities the legislation aims to help, Jackson Lee said.People are dying': A mom grieves the loss of son to cancer by the polluted Fifth Ward rail yard The bill also earmarks $3 billion for community centers that can “address disproportionate environmental and public health harms related to pollution.” Northeast Houston should have one such center, she said, describing the area as the new “concrete batch Mecca.” The bill offers a hand to advocates in communities across Texas, where restraints on polluters are lax. Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was investigating state environmental regulators accused of violating residents’ civil rights when Texas updated its standard permit for concrete batch plants. The plants have become infamous in the community for billowing dust clouds and concrete-laced water seeping into neighboring properties. There are three schools within a half-mile of the plants, said Keith Downey, super neighborhood president representing Kashmere Gardens. Jackson Lee told advocates the new federal funds can offer relief for a community fighting these fights largely by themselves. “We want the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to answer the question, why they changed the rules on weakening the provisions or the requirements for concrete batch facilities,” she said. “We want the Texas Department of Health to start doing more testing, more soil testing, more air testing and begin to look at the intrusions on the community and have a way of shutting them down.” After meeting with community leaders and residents, they led Rep. Jackson Lee around the corner to Texas Concrete Ready Mix, pointing to a retention pond across the street where they said concrete seeped through drainage pipes. Residents of Trinity and Houston Gardens are disproportionately exposed to dangerous pollution from rail and truck yards, landfills, concrete batch plants and metal recycling facilities, advocates have argued. State researchers identified cancer clusters in neighborhoods near the Englewood Rail Yard owned by Union Pacific, around 5 miles away. Rail crisscrosses the area. Jackson Lee said advocates representing various neighborhoods in northeast Houston may need to come together and form a nonprofit in order to apply for the funds, which they could use to push back against bad actors.amanda.drane@chron.com
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