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May 2, 2000
- AIR BASE
CONTAMINATES POOR SAN ANTONIO NEIGHBORHOOD
Texas Regulators
Ignore "Top Priority" Toxic Site -- Environmental Racism Charged
Austin...Nearly fifteen years of dumping hazardous chemicals at San
Antonio's Kelly Air Force Base has taken its toll on the health of
residents by poisoning the watertable and now threatens the entire
city's supply of drinking water, according to documents released today
by Texas Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Texas
PEER). Plumes of toxic contamination run beneath more than 20,000
homes in the poorer Hispanic precincts surrounding the airbase.
Contrary to directives from U.S. EPA identifying the base as the state's
"top priority" toxic site, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation
Commission (TNRCC), the state's pollution control agency, has yet
to take enforcement action or begin a clean-up at Kelly. The state
of Texas strongly opposes designating the base a federal Superfund
site despite —
* a health survey in the poor, Hispanic neighborhood of North Kelly
Gardens shows 91% of adults and 79% of children are suffering from
multiple illnesses;
* growing concerns that the toxic plumes are migrating towards the
Edwards Aquifer, the source of drinking water for the City of San
Antonio; and
* the fact that the Air Force is denying any financial responsibility
for off-site contamination and, unless the Air Force is held liable
through the Superfund process, local taxpayers may have to shoulder
the high costs of massive remediation.
Local citizen groups have filed a civil rights complaint against TRNCC
accusing it of "environmental racism" not only for its failure to
clean up the area but also because the state is not warning potential
home buyers of the contaminated soil and water. Citizens also charge
that they have been excluded from decision- making about the future
of the base which is scheduled to close in 2001.
"Kelly is typical of the TNRCC's ‘Don't Worry, Be Happy' approach
to toxic contamination of poor communities," commented Texas PEER
Coordinator Erin Rogers. "The Air Force can skip town secure in the
knowledge that, after years of dithering, Texas is not going to start
enforcing pollution laws today."
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TX PEER
· P.O. Box 1522; Austin TX ·
78767-1522
Tel: (512)
441-4941 · txpeer@PEER.org
