In the Houston area, many of the Deer Park Lopez family’s neighbors work in factories or have relatives. They said they appreciate everything the company has done for the community, including donations to expand playgrounds and support for local schools.
Candace Dray, 43, has lived in the Deer Park area all her life. She remembers the days when her father used to play soccer outside with her neighbors. The night sky was illuminated by flares from plants. Her son Joshua Howard Jr., 6, is still playing in the front yard, jumping into a mud puddle with his boots on as flares burn on the other side of the highway. .
Dray jokingly sees the endless rows of factories across from his house that produce the chemicals needed to turn crude oil into gasoline, manufacture plastics and disinfect drinking water. said while “But these plants have to be somewhere. Someone has to do the job. We have to have these products.”
But the threat is sometimes overwhelming. A fire that broke out in March 2019 spread to nearly a dozen chemical tanks, forming a plume of smoke that left him in the area for three days and issued a formal shelter-in-place warning from local authorities. . hundreds of thousands gallon of hazardous waste Spilled on the ground and leaked into the water.
Recent EPA studywas the first of its kind and concluded that about 100,000 people (mainly in Texas and Louisiana) living within 6 miles of a policed chemical plant had an increased risk of cancer. .
in Houston, another study Formaldehyde is formed when various toxic chemicals from many sources mix into the air. The highest concentrations were detected on air monitors north of where the Lopez family lives. People who live nearby Increased risk of developing cancer If levels persist, according to the Houston Health Department.
another study According to the city’s health department and the University of Texas School of Public Health, data on actual cases of childhood lymphoma show that children living within two miles of the Houston Ship Channel have a 56 percent higher risk of acute lymphocytic leukemia. I’m here. It was at least 10 miles away.
