A lose-lose sitch?

Because the EPA tentatively approved the dumping of 40 million pounds of toxins from Mexico, a public hearing was held today in Porth Arthur, Texas by the agency. Still no word on the outcome of the hearing, but the Gulf Coast is getting fucked again (or so it seems).

From the New York Times:

“Despite a federal ban on importing PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, the company, Veolia Environmental Services, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency for an exemption to move the chemicals by truck from Mexico and to burn them at its incinerator just outside Port Arthur. The incinerator has been disposing of the United States’ PCB waste since 1992.”

How does the EPA get off even tentatively approving something like this?

The people of Port Arthur aren’t welcoming 40 million pounds of toxic shit into their backyards (obviously). Since the 1970s, pollution in the area has earned the town nicknames like Cancer Alley and the Armpit of Texas. This is sad. The Times uses poverty, race and geography to explain the abuse of Port Arthur.

Still, the situation isn’t so simple. The toxins are being held in temporary facilities in Mexico, and that is likely to do more damage to the gulf than the incineration. Dear lord.

Oh, just FYI: “Port Arthur, with a population of about 58,000 people, face a legitimate risk of exposure to PCBs, which have been linked to cancer, brain and liver damage, skin rashes and harmful effects to the reproductive system.”

It’s also interesting that the mayor of Port Arthur refuses to get involved in the dialog because the incinerator is outside of city limits and he claims this to be a federal matter. I wonder how he sleeps at night

Newsweek had a good article about Texas’s F’ed up environmental policies, too.