In Corpus Christi, A Demolition Will Take Down More than a Building

Tammy Mealer lives in Dona Park, a neighborhood located next to a string of Corpus Christi refineries and other industrial facilities. "I spend most of my day keeping an eye on the place, and making sure kids don't go play over there."

For folks who live near refineries, there are battles on all fronts. There's existing heavy metal contamination in their backyards. There's the risk of leaks of hydrofluoric acid, a toxic poison (when safer alternatives are available). And there's the fact that despite a pattern of endangerment, environmental agencies continue to do the community wrong. This time, by ignoring the community's concerns and moving forward with the demolition of a facility laced with toxic heavy metals.

For years, the Encycle facility operated illegally, accumulating a record of dangerous practices. Permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to be a recycling and reclamation facility for heavy metals, Encycle instead processed chemicals like cyanide and accepted, incinerated and stored chemical warfare agents in 22 rail cars for months.  For years, mishandled wastewater leaked lead, cadmium, and arsenic into the area and the neighborhoods nearby.

This facility is so toxic that for years it has stood abandoned. But now, heavy industrial planners are looking into the real estate with interest, and in order to make way for them, the Encycle facility has to come down. The facility is scheduled for demolition immediately, despite the fact that the Dona Park community is concerned that the demolition will disturb the highly toxic chemicals in the buildings, the soil, and in the smoke stack.

The TCEQ’s plan involves putting up a ten-foot high tarp around the plant, to prevent debris from the demolition flying into the nearby neighborhoods. Yet, as one resident pointed out at a community meeting, “the building is three to four stories tall…how is a ten-foot tarp supposed to protect us?

Take action, and sign the petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency to stop this environmental injustice.

Photo credit: All photos taken by Dona Park resident Tammy Mealer