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NEWS & LETTERS, JUNE 2003
U.S. refuses to answer for Dunn Field toxics
Memphis,Tenn.--The continuing fight of the residents who
live by the Defense Depot here, a Superfund pollution site, is coming to an end
and the 99% Black community is losing. The latest battle was a meeting for
public comments last month that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called to disseminate information about
how one of the Depot's most polluted sites, Dunn Field, supposedly would be
cleaned. Conducted in a way that is guaranteed to disempower the
community, these meetings are alienating in the extreme. The information is
disseminated in a way that is difficult for a poor and poorly educated community
to use. In this case highly technical information was sent out in CD-ROM format
a week before the meeting. At the meeting, the material is presented by an
engineer, using an overhead projector, following a script to the letter. None of
the technical terms are broken down. STEAMROLLER MEETINGS After the expert's presentation, only clarifying
questions about it will be entertained. If you're lucky, the expert may answer a
question, but only if it addresses exactly what he presented and does not
venture into any other aspects of the Depot Superfund site cleanup. After the allotted time, the community is finally
allowed to make comments, but are limited to five minutes at a time. But none of
the comments, or questions, will be addressed at the public comment meeting.
There will be no real discussion or dialogue. Rather, the comments will be recorded and then, several
weeks later, there will be a "Responsiveness Summary," a report that
supposedly addresses these questions and comments. That report might say that
the comments or questions don't make sense, or answer them in a way that is
impossible for anyone but a scientist to understand. The whole process is
designed to stop real dialogue, and to protect DLA and EPA officials from coming
face to face with the people whose lives and health are impacted by the
decisions they make behind closed doors. At the meeting, Marquita Bradshaw, founder of Youth
Terminating Pollution, tried to address the process itself: "Not everyone
in my community even has a computer, and it took the DLA and EPA years to gather
this information, to do the science, but they only give us a week to go over
it," she said. Ms. Bradshaw and others pressed for a longer comment period
in order for the community to be able to study the material. One of the criteria set by law for a cleanup plan is
"community acceptance," which is to be "evaluated" after the
plan is decided--meaning that it will be forced down the community's throat. How
can there be "community acceptance" when the community will not be
able to understand this mountain of technical documentation by June 6, the end
of the comment period? How can there be "community acceptance" when
the community has not been involved in the process? There were only a handful of
community residents there, outnumbered by the bureaucrats and government
contractors making money off the cleanup. The government's lies, ridicule and
stonewalling long ago managed to drive the community away from public meetings,
and since the community has learned through harsh experience not to trust them,
any claim of "acceptance" is a total fraud. NEIGHBORHOODS POLLUTED The Depot is a classic case of environmental racism,
with the white power structure and its Black shills covering up their
half-century-long poisoning of the overwhelmingly Black community and former
workers there, who suffer tremendous health problems and deaths. Astonishingly, 50 acres of Dunn Field--three
quarters--are to be "cleaned" simply by declaring that nothing needs
to be done to them, because they are supposedly below regulatory "levels of
concern." Yet, as Depot neighbor Stanley Tyler pointed out at the hearing,
the plans are based on the false assumption that they know what chemicals are in
the ground and water, and where: "It was a dump. And with a dump you never
know what was put, how much, and when. We just can't say with certainty what's
there and how much is there and when it was put there." Peggy Brooks, who lives directly across from Dunn Field,
tried to humanize the proceedings: "I'm concerned, now that all the studies
have been finished, will there be any danger of chemicals coming out into the
air and harming the health of the people who live in the community? Maybe
ordinary citizens don't understand all that you are talking about. For those of
us who reside across the street from Dunn Field, is there a possibility that our
homes could be bought and we could be relocated? My house has lost value. I
couldn't get a fraction of what I paid for it. Is there some kind of financial
consideration for those who live by Dunn Field who, unknowingly, bought homes? "Had we known, we would not have done that. Many of
the residents are elderly, retired, homes paid for, living on Social Security
and Medicare. They're not able to relocate themselves. I'm trying to put a human
face on this and a heart and soul too. I really believe that we should be
considered." --Environmental Justice activists |
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