Press for the 'This Land' Project


About This Environmental Justice Project

The goal of this project is to increase awareness of the current environmental and social injustices occurring in the United States. Through music and grassroots storytelling, the histories and struggles of communities and individuals who are living directly under such unjust conditions will be shared with various constituencies of the public who may have little or no knowledge of, or is not in direct relationship to, these conditions. To do this, I'm working on making an audio recording with folk song-stories I've composed and first-person narratives from the participants. Later this year, there will aslo be some sort of regional performance tour including information sessions, as well as this blog and/or a website to document the project and provide supplemental information and links.

By raising consciousness of these environmental justice issues within a larger portion of the population, the chance for social change through action is increased. The use of music as a tool for conveying ideas of protest and change, both transferring and transforming culture, can be seen in all of the major movements of American history; including the Civil Rights movement, the Anti-War movement, the Populist Farmer’s movement, the rise of the American Unions, the American Student movement, and the Feminist movement. This project aims to utilize the proven successes of social justice through grassroots organizing and musical activism towards our future social and environmental equality.

Brief Overview of Issues I'm Writing Songs to Represent:


This song will be composed to highlight the success of the Love Canal Homeowner’s Association (LCHA) in ensuring the federal relocation of over 900 families as a result of toxic chemical contaminant exposure. The Love Canal disaster is one of the more widely known relocation cases and was the reason the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, better known as the Superfund Act, was created. Lois Gibbs, the leading advocate for the LCHA has spent the subsequent three decades lobbying for the same environmental human rights for communities all over the U.S. and the world. She has created the Center for Health, the Environment & Justice to further her crusade. 

https://www.msu.edu/course/isb/202/snapshot.afs/ebertmay/images/Love_Canal_protest.jpg
In 1979, the EPA said Love Canal exhibited a "disturbingly high rate of miscarriages...Love Canal can now be added to a growing list of environmental disasters involving toxics, ranging from industrial workers stricken by nervous disorders and cancers to the discovery of toxic materials in the milk of nursing mothers." The EPA announced the result of blood tests that showed high white blood cell counts, a precursor to leukemia, and chromosome damage in Love Canal residents. (EPA). On, May 21, 1980, President Carter declared a state of emergency at Love Canal and the EPA agreed to temporarily evacuate 700 families. Eventually, the government permanently relocated more than 800 families and reimbursed them for their houses. 

According to a subsequent study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 421 chemical contaminants were found in the air, water and soil around Love Canal (University of Buffalo). In 1983, over 1300 residents of the Canal area received a settlement for almost $20 Million dollars from Occidental Petroleum, the parent company of Hooker Chemical. A $1 Million public health trust fund was also set up (CHEJ). In 1995 the EPA sued Occidental Petroleum. They agreed to pay $129 Million in restitution for federal cleanup, and $98 Million to cover state clean-up costs. Although some cleanup has been done on the site, it is by no means fully remediated. A trench has been dug around the canal, and it has been capped with clay. Discharge sewers to the Niagara River have been sealed off. A chain link fence has been placed around the 99th Street School site. Hundreds of homes have been leveled by the state. Homeowners are entitled to stay in their homes until their death, but the houses are to be deeded back to the state upon their death. Houses that the state deems safe for occupancy can be bought for below-market value if the new owner signs away their right to sue and receives full disclosure of the site contamination. Those homes can then be re-sold, providing the owners give the new tenants full disclosure. In the 1990’s, part of Love Canal was renamed Black Creek Village by the Love Canal Revitalization Committee and nine homes on the site were available for sale.


The Citizens Against Toxic Exposure (CATE) is a community action group located in Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1992, their primary focus is to ensure the safety and public health of residents living near the Escambia Treating Company waste site, commonly referred to as “Mt. Dioxin.” Escambia operated on the site from 1943-1982 in the business of chemically treating wood for construction and utility use. Toxic wastes from this treatment, most notably dioxins, furans, creosote, arsenic, dieldrin, napthalene, and benzene were disposed of in unlined landfills and ponds, and in unlabeled drums. Flooding and erosion caused contaminants to rise above ground and into surrounding area and water. The site was originally classified by the EPA in 1991 and designated an “emergency removal” action site. This differs from Superfund designation in that it gives the EPA a chance to quickly remediate a situation without citizen input and participation and is not concerned with any matters of public health. The EPA removed some soil from the site, yet left the majority unearthed in a mound on site. “Mt. Dioxin” is this mound of over 250,000 cubic yard of contaminated soil that was not transported away, simply covered with a 5-year plastic liner and left in this industrial and residential center of greater Pensacola.
“Mt. Dioxin” (available at: http://onlineethics.org/cms/17464.aspx)
The Escambia Treating site is situated on top of the groundwater aquifer for the county’s drinking water. A plume of underground contamination is seeping into the aquifer and also discharging into the nearby recreational fishing waters of Bayou Texar. In 1996, the EPA yielded to CATE’s pressure and reclassified the site as a Superfund. In the past decade 408 families have been successfully relocated, making this the third largest relocation site in our country’s history. CATE is still advocating for thorough cleanup of the area and containment of Mt. Dioxin. The organization seeks health care for all in the area, especially those that have health conditions as a result of the contamination. CATE has made it an issue to protect the larger Pensacola community- not just CATE members.

Dioxins and furans are some of the most toxic chemicals known to man, dioxin being a known carcinogen in both animals and humans (http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/). Dioxins and furans are a byproduct of several industrial processes involving chlorine, including waste incineration, chemical manufacturing and paper bleaching. Dioxins and furans were byproducts from the manufacture of chlorine-based products by Dow Chemical. Past waste disposal practices, fugitive emissions and incineration at Dow have resulted in on and off site dioxin and furan contamination (EPA Region 5).

In 2007, the Dow Midland Plant’s dioxin contamination levels in the Saginaw River and Tittabawassee River Basin were the highest in recorded history (EPA). A sediment sampling at Wickes Park, a centrally located point on the Saginaw River, half-a-mile down stream from the Tittabawassee River, revealed dioxin levels in excess of 1.6 parts per million. The EPA’s action level to trigger soil cleanup is 1,000 parts per trillion: these levels are more than 1,000 times higher. State guidelines also require corrective action for dioxin in commercial and industrial area above 1,000ppt, with the residential contact limit set at 90ppt.
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/64/114864-004-EFAA91B0.jpg
Dow Chemical is a major partner and corporate citizen in adjacent Midland County, Saginaw County, Saginaw City, and the State of Michigan. Yet the company is dodging their responsibility to right the wrongs of their past. Dow admits it discharged dioxins into the river and air from its Midland plant for many years though it says it stopped the practice decades ago. Dow also acknowledged it polluted the Tittabawassee floodplain with dioxins for many years. The dioxin has been traced to Dow waste discharges into the river between 1915 and 1937 (TRWNews.net). Dow has acknowledged its responsibility for the contamination, but has done nothing to assess and or ensure the health of the residents.

A lawsuit has been filed since 2002, and as a class-action suit in 2005, whereby more than 126 residents are suing Dow for compensation since their property value has gone down. Because of contamination they are unable to sell their homes and move away. It is estimated that there are as many as 2,000 residents who live in the River floodplain who may also be eligible for compensation from this lawsuit (TRWNews.net). Citizens were also suing for the company to set up a medical trust fund to ensure adequate testing and health-care treatments for affected residents. Unfortunately in 2005, the Michigan State Supreme Court denied this portion of the lawsuit by a ruling of 5 to 2. Here are a few excerpted quotes from the outvoted two judges’ dissent opinion in support of the citizens’ medical fund:
“This is fabrication at its most unforgivable–refusing to acknowledge that providing these plaintiffs with the opportunity to merely seek an equitable remedy is well within the bounds of judicial discretion and will not devastate the economy or cause sick children to die. …

“If defendant cannot produce its product without behaving responsibly, then it has no business operating within our state. …

“Today, our Court has shirked its duty to protect plaintiffs and the people of our state, thereby leaving defendant’s practices and interests unassailed. …

As such, I must respectfully dissent.
Michael F. Cavanaugh
Marilyn Kelly”
(available at TRWNews.net)

Dow is still appealing the MI Supreme courts decision to allow the class action suit. The floodplain citizens, along with the County Department of Community Health and NGO’s The Lone Tree Council and the Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, continue fighting for citizen rights.

Mountain top removal, or surface mining, is a method of coal extraction that has become much more prevalent in the past two decades. By using massive amounts of explosives, layers of vegetation, soil and rock are blasted off of the mountain until the stratified coal seams are exposed. Huge dragline excavators remove the coal to be processed and fill the mountain rubble and soil into the nearby hollers (or hollows). Coal Sludge, essentially the toxic processing wastes from mining is stored in open-air earthen dams, sometimes in extremely close proximity to communities (see Marsh Fork Elementary below). While it may be true that mountain top removal (MTR) reduces some of the immediate work hazards inherent in traditional underground coal mining, the negative impacts of this practice are numerable and irreversible, posing a great threat to both the landscape and the health and welfare of the surrounding communities.

Along with Wyoming, the Appalachian states of West Virginia and Kentucky account for roughly 60% of the coal production in the United States and use 50% of the country’s 3.16 Million tons of explosives to do so by MTR (USGS). Explosive blasts are permitted to occur 24 hours a day up to 300 feet from homes (ILoveMountains.org). Since MTR destroys all vegetation on the mountain, mountain tops are first clear cut for timber. After the coal is extracted, the “fill,” as the destroyed mountain rubble is now called, is deposited into the valleys and streams of the surrounding landscape. Over 1,200 miles of Appalachian rivers have already been buried or polluted by MTR fill. As of 2003, Over 800 square miles of mountain forest have been destroyed (Appvoices.org).

Economically, MTR is more efficient than underground mining; fewer workers can extract more coal. Today 15,000 workers can extract more coal than 150,000 could only half-a-century ago (NMA.org). Coal production is higher than ever, meaning record profits for mining companies. From 1987 to 1997, mining jobs decreased 29% while coal extraction increased 32% (Appvoices.org). Yet, the areas that are being destroyed reap little benefit from their spoils. In McDowell County, Kentucky, where the most coal in the state is produced, 37% of the people still live below the poverty line. Counties that have coal mining are no better off economically than those where no mining occurs (Appvoices.org).
Larry Gibson behind his cabin at Hell's Gate MTR site, Kayford Mountain, WV
Environmentally, MTR is a nightmare. According to the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment:
The impact of mountaintop removal on nearby communities is devastating. Dynamite blasts needed to splinter rock strata are so strong they crack the foundations and walls of houses. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others. In many coalfield communities, the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.
Mountain blasting expels coal dust and fly rock into the air and onto surrounding private property. These sulfuric compounds are health hazards and corrosive to building and plumbing materials. The EPA’s Environmental Impact Study of 2003 found streams near MTR valley fills contained decreased biodiversity and high levels of minerals and heavy metals. In 2001 the EPA urged the Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider a MTR permit they issued arguing “the discharges present an imminent danger of irreparable harm to wildlife and recreational areas” (Commonwealth v. Rivenburgh).

As mentioned above, coal mining companies “store” the toxic liquid wastes from processing and washing the coal, also called sludge or slurry, in open earthen damned impoundments near the processing plants. These plants and impoundments are dangerously close to communities. The impoundments range in size, but are generally massive- containing millions or billions of gallons of toxic sludge. They are unlined, often leaking into the ground and surface water, and are prone to failure. In 1972 an impoundment flood at Buffalo Creek, West Virginia took the lives of 125 people, 1,100 were injured and 4,000 left homeless. In 2000, an impoundment failure near Inez, Kentucky spilled over 300 million gallons of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River, polluting hundreds of miles of waterways including the Ohio River. The failure contaminated the water supply for 27,000 people, killing all aquatic life in two creeks, essentially leaving 20 miles of stream dead (Appalshop.org). Although these leaks and failures are in clear violation of the Clean Water Act, the Office of Surface Mining still permits coal companies to impound this toxic waste in such a faulty manner.
The situation of the sludge impoundment above Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia is a slowly unfolding tragedy. Less than 400 yards above the school sits a massive, leaking pool containing 2.8 billion gallons of coal sludge (Coal River Mountain Watch). 250 yards away from the school sits a coal processing plant that uses powerful chemical scrubbers to clean the coal. Only 225 feet from the school sits a coal silo where trains load out processed coal. Rail cars come as close as 150 feet to the school grounds. Furthermore, there is a 1,500 foot strip mine beginning operation above the impoundment (Sludge Safety Project)!
http://www.penniesofpromise.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/labelled_mfe.jpg
In 2005 West Virginia State Governor Manchin refused to conduct a health safety test of the school. On May 31, 2005, 16 people were arrested at Governor Manchin's office for protesting the Governor's refusal to fund the relocation of the school. In 2006, the citizens funded an independent study to test for coal dust in the school. Dr. Scott Simonton, PE, PhD and Dr. Dewey Sanderson, Professor of Geology at Marshall University, found the presence of coal dust in seven of seven dust samples taken within the school in the gymnasium, hallways, and two classrooms of the school.
"In short, dust has been and is generated at the Goals Coal facility as a result of material handling activities and this dust migrates to the school property and into the school, where it is respired. This dust has known health hazards, especially in the inhalation exposure route. I believe that the inhalation of this dust must be avoided and prevented. I believe that the occupants of Marsh Fork Elementary School are at risk from exposure to the dust emitted from the Goals Coal facility (Simonton)."

At present, Ed Wiley and some local citizens have started the Pennies of Promise campaign to raise awareness of the situation at Marsh Fork Elementary and raise money to move the school to a safer location.

Chester, Pennsylvania is a textbook example of environmental injustice: the unequal distribution of waste management facilities in an economically disadvantaged community made up predominantly of people of color. Of the 43,000 residents living in Chester, 65% are African-American. 95% of Chester’s African-American residents live in neighborhoods closest to the toxic facilities. The poverty rate in Chester lies at 25%, which is three times the national average (Ewall). In Delaware County, where Chester is situated, there is an air polluting facility every 4 miles: 11 times more air pollutant facilities in than anywhere else in Pennsylvania. The county also boasts a superfund site every six miles: more than seven times the state average (Scorecard.org). In Delaware County, there is a 33% greater cancer risk than in other Pennsylvania counties, as well as a 3 to 1 distribution of toxic chemical release to people of color vs. white and approximately a 6 to 1 ratio of air polluting facilities to people of color vs. white (Scorcard.org).


There are over 1 dozen major polluting facilities on the Delaware River in or near
Chester. Chester itself has the highest percentage of low-weight births in the state, and 60% higher mortality and lung cancer rates that are 60% higher than the rest of Delaware County. It also has the highest children’s’ blood-lead levels in the state, with 60% of the children over the safe limit (ejnet.org). Chester is home to the seventh largest waste incinerator in the nation, and Chester’s West-End residents live literally across the street from the toxic company grounds. In the past two decades there has been exposure to radioactive materials, unsanitary medical waste, air pollution, and soil pollution in Chester, with little explanation or remediation offered. In response to the corrupt and unresponsive government in place, the citizens organized themselves and continue to demand reform.

The Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL or "circle") and the Swarthmore College student activist group Campus Coalition Concerning Chester (or C-4) are responsible for unifying the citizens of Chester, exposing and raising awareness of the City’s toxic incineration issues, and bringing media attention to force the issue on city government under the scrutiny of the larger public. Led by Zulene Mayfield, the residents of Chester and their allies stood up to crooked city officials and powerful legal defense corporations and demanded an end to waste treatment proliferation in their neighborhoods (Laid To Waste). Residents physically blocked trucks coming in and out of incineration facilities, marched to state legislature, demanded accountability and cleanup and have forced the government to listen and take action as a result. Chester residents set a precedent in the U.S. by suing the State on the grounds of Environmental Racism (part of the case has been declared moot, part of the case still pending). Currently, the Mayor of Chester has gotten on board, ordering a moratorium on new waste facilities in Chester, refusing to allow the country’s largest tire-to-petroleum recovery center (read: tire incinerator) to set up in the city.

Sheila Holt-Orsted and her family are victims of blatant environmental racism.  The Holt's had been drinking well water contaminated by the nearby county landfill for over a decade without any warning or action on behalf of the county government to ensure their safety.  During the years the well was tested, it had shown levels of contamination up to 29 times the safe limits for Trichloroethylene (TCE), a known carcinogen. Yet the Holt's were never advised to stop drinking their well water, or put on municipal water.

Sheila's father, gospel singer Harry "Highway" Holt,  died of prostate cancer last summer. Sheila has been fighting breast cancer since 2002 and has had a mastectomy and several surgeries as a result. Her mother and sister have also had cervical polyps. Her aunt next door, and three of her cousins have had cancer. Her other aunt across the street has had chemotherapy for a bone disease, and uncle died of Hodgkin's disease.  It is hard to imagine these severe health issues are merely a coincidence.  Ms. Holt-Orsted asserts that the government did not disclose the water quality information to her family because of their race (npr.org). In her research she found letters and documents indicating that Tennessee environmental and water officials had concerns about the possibility of TCE appearing in the Holt's well water as early as 1988. The Holts' well was left untested for nine years while TCE problems in the wells of white families were tended to with haste, the records showed.  In 1991, an EPA official wrote, "Use of your well water should not result in any adverse health effects.”

http://www.onearth.org/article/a-communitys-health-in-black-and-white

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some post-interview thoughts

10/25 & 10/26 Meetings with Jen Osha, Larry Gibson & Heather Lukacs

I definitely felt out of my environment. West Virginia seemed more rural than any of the town I grew up in or near. Small homes and trailer parks. Signs in support of coal. Beautiful natural features juxtaposed with gnarly looking man made structures, old silo to train systems.
I saw the largest coal processing plant I’ve ever laid my eyes on. It kept stretching as far as I could see as I drove past. At least one mile of pipes, burners, tanks and smokestacks- unbelievable.
Talking with Jen made me quickly realize just how out of place I felt. It is going to be a tough task to try and write songs about a place that I will only have a very surface knowledge of. How will these attempts at songwriting sound to folks who live here?
When I visited Larry I didn’t think my car would actually make it up the rubble mountainside. His cabin seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere to me. About ten miles off of the end of a small paved road. I was grateful for Larry’s time and for his sharing some life stories with me. I had no idea about the culture of violence that plagues this land. Larry said there have been hundreds of attempts on his life; pro-coal supporters have burned down his cabin. Practically all of the original cabins up near his home have been burned down. A short time ago, someone shot his dog to death the day after an anti-MTR documentary, with Larry in it, showed in town.
The site behind Larry’s house was devastating. “Hell’s Gate” MTR site, 900 acres of mountain, leveled in only four years. The site was clear cut, blown-up, bulldozed, and valley’s filled in. There was no trace of green plants or animals. Dead Land. The humongous equipment looked miniscule against the enormous backdrop. Larry informed me that the coal company had just gotten a permit for the adjacent 6,000 acre Coal Mountain. The mountain would be the perfect location for a renewable wind farm, but will most likely be blasted away. I visited on Sunday, the one day where there are no blasts. Larry said that typically there are a dozen a day. Three million pounds of explosives a day.

12/4 Meeting with Frances Whittington

I met Frances for the first time at a Delco Alliance for Environmental Justice meeting at Swarthmore College. We had talked on the phone several times prior to the meeting about the project, and she seemed enthusiastic about participating. We met on December 4th at Widener College in Chester and discussed the state of Chester, the work of Delco Alliance and her background and affiliation with the city and the organization.
Frances has spent the last 17 years of her life in Chester, and has no plans to move. Her mom lived in Chester almost all of her life. Frances moved to Chester in the 12th grade. Last year she ran for city government and through her campaign work, met with Mike Ewall of Action PA/Energy Justice who was instrumental in the student activist group C-4 during Chester citizen’s organizing in the late 90’s. Through conversations with Mike, and taking Action PA’s toxic tour of Chester, She and colleague Carole Burnett founded the DELCO alliance to try and deal with some of Chester’s pollution issues. The group is comprised of ½ students and ½ adults interested in everything from conserving parks and creeks to prohibiting new polluting industries in the city.
Frances suggested I visit the Soccer Stadium site; this is one of two key issues for Delco Alliance right now. A stadium for a Philadelphia soccer franchise is being erected in Chester with taxpayer dollars ($77 million in total, 40 from the state, 30 from Delaware county). There have been several articles in Philly papers heralding this project. There is little discussion however that the stadium is being built on a Brownfield, and there have been no announced plans for remediation of the site. More transparency is needed.
In an editorial in the Philadelphia Enquirer, writer Karen Heller called the project “public welfare for rich people.” Heller told that folks would be able to access the stadium off the major highways, never setting foot or spending any money in the city of Chester. Chester won’t get any substantial amount of long-term or sustainable jobs from the project, and the area will still be lacking a much needed grocery store that could have been built instead.
Frances asserts that job training is need in Chester. 2/3 of the population is under 30, and only 10% holds a bachelor’s degree or above. Education is a goal of the alliance. Citizens should at the very least know what they are breathing in and drinking.
Fluoridation is the other issue Delco Alliance is working on. There is new legislation being proposed which would almost double the amount of people whose drinking water receives state mandated fluoridation. There is no credible scientific evidence that fluoridation helps our teeth, furthermore new scientific evidence shows fluoride in our water systems has many negative impacts on our environment AND our teeth (http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/reasons.html).
We talked about the disproportional number of pollution facilities in Chester and Delaware county versus other cities and counties in Pennsylvania. Frances thinks it is part of a “path of least resistance” mentality. The city government is such a state of disconnect with its citizens to allow this kind of activity to take place. That is why she ran for city government, to try and change this culture. Although she didn’t win, Frances may run again in 2011. From our conversations, I really hope she does!

Interview with Margaret Williams

Margaret Williams is an 84 year-old resident of Pensacola, Florida and a founding member of Citizens Against Toxic Exposure. Margaret was instrumental in organizing and leading the residents living in communities near the Escambia Treatment Company to demand government support and clean-up of an abandoned toxic dumping facility of the now bankrupt ETC. CATE was formed between 1991 and 1992; its primary objectives were to ensure community input was heard and considered in the clean-up process. CATE fought and continues to fight for the relocation of all residents critically affected by the contamination and excavation of contaminated soil, including the residents of the Clarinda Triangle community.
Margaret has since handed the administrative duties of CATE to her daughter, Executive Director Francine Ishmael. Margaret was one of the residents chosen for relocation, however the money she was paid out could not afford her a new residence. Furthermore, she was charged an income tax on the money she received. With no realistic compensation for her home, in addition to increasing ailments she attributes to fighting as hard as she did against the government negligence and living amongst the terrible conditions of the area, she now lives with her daughter. She feels blessed and fortunate to be able to do so; what would her other options have been?
The major focus of her work with CATE has been to insist that families of color receive the same relocation benefits and rights as white families have historically been given. The relocation in Pensacola is the third largest in our countries history, after LOVE canal and Times Beach, Missouri. It is the first major relocation of people of color, totaling approximately 400 families. At present there are several groups of residents organizing around the issues of sound clean-up, public health funding and relocation.
It was invaluable to hear Ms. Williams’ perspectives on growing up in the community before and after desegregation and how institutionalized racism is still the major factor in the perpetration of environmental injustices. I also had the opportunity to speak several times with another of CATE’s founding members, Frances Dunham, who worked closely with the organizations technical advisor over the years. Ms. Dunham was my first interviewee for the project; she provided me with a wealth of background information and research materials. Her relentless fight for justice for this community is admirable. Though she does not live closest to the contaminated site, she recognizes the far reaching implications of contamination and the importance of creating a larger community of solidarity in opposition of injustice.

Interview with Sheila Holt-Orsted

I met Sheila at the library near her home in Virginia. She is an amazing, honest, open person who has such a great presence about her. She lived in Dickson County, Tennessee for most of her life, but has since relocated with her husband and daughter. Sheila, her extended family, and other residents in her community in Dickson have been subjected to toxins in their well water, most notably the carcinogen Trichloroethylene (TCE). The Holt family farm was located only 54 feet from the Dickson County landfill, on Eno Road. Dickson County is 95% white; the community of families that live on Eno Road are black. What happened to Sheila and her family is clearly a case of environmental racism: while white families in the area had been promptly been warned of the dangers in the water and put on the city’s municipal system, Sheila and her family had not.
Government records show TCE was found in the Holt family water wells as early as 1988, with levels showing more than five times higher than the EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) when it was retested in 1990. TCE was again found in the well in 1991. At no point during this time were the Holt’s ever told that the water was dangerous nor were they switched to the city’s municipal system. No sampling was conducted from 1992-1999, though Tenn. Dept. of Environment officials agreed that the well should continue to be sampled. Two tests in 2000 showed TCE levels in the well 25 and 29 times higher than EPA’s MCL. It was in 2000, 12 years after TCE was first found in the well that the Holt’s were told that there water was unsafe to drink. (Bullard, ejrc.cae.edu) The Holt family was never supplied with definitive test results and information about the dangers of TCE from the authorities and had to conduct their own research to realize its toxic effects.
The holt family is riddled with health problems that they attribute to drinking the contaminated water for years. Last summer, Harry Holt died of cancer. Sheila’s aunt, uncle and cousins are all cancer victims as well. Sheila is also breast cancer survivor who has undergone multiple surgeries and chemotherapies for her cancer. In her past, she was a body builder and worked for the recreation department for the county. The cancer has not only affected her health, but also prematurely ended her careers in both her previous passions. She has risen to the occasion though, making herself a spokesperson for Environmental Justice movement and dedicating her life and energy towards educating other about the state of injustice in the U.S. and demanding legal action towards equal environmental rights. In her own words, “ I did not choose this movement, it chose me.”
Sheila is involved in several lawsuits, represented by the NAACP, NRDC and several law firms. Although her family is seeking fair compensation for the personal injustices against their family, she explained that more importantly they are bringing the city and county to trial so that this type of discrimination ends in our country. Sheila believes there should severe punishment for companies or government officials conspiring in such crimes. A fine or a warning does not deter a company from this type of activity. People who are profiting off of others, who are knowingly subjecting them to harmful toxins should be justly tried and locked up. To paraphrase Sheila, The Environmental Protection Agency should be just that, not an extension of these companies. Our taxpayer dollars spent on the EPA should go towards protection of the people.