{"id":1453842,"date":"2024-01-19T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/?p=126987"},"modified":"2024-01-19T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T12:30:00","slug":"the-decades-long-fight-in-a-community-treated-as-a-dumping-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/01\/19\/the-decades-long-fight-in-a-community-treated-as-a-dumping-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"The decades-long fight in a community treated as a dumping ground"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image\" alt=\"A sign for General Petroleum Ave., angled oddly, is in the foreground of a photo of the sun rising above small homes.\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C100&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw \/ 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw \/ 12)), 100vw\" \/><\/figure><span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">9<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>\n<p>Protecting people\u2019s health from environmental hazards, Maricela Mares-Alatorre and her family found out the hard way, is a never-ending fight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was in high school in the late 1980s when her parents, both farmworkers, organized to help prevent the construction of a toxic waste incinerator in the landfill near Kettleman City, a tiny agricultural community in California\u2019s Central Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mares-Alatorre joined her parents on the weekends and during summer breaks from college, then became one of the leaders of the group they helped launch \u2014 El Pueblo Para el Aire y Agua Limpia\/People for Clean Air and Water \u2014 when she returned to Kettleman City to raise her family. She never imagined how long the struggle would last after their initial victory in 1993, when they learned the incinerator would not be built.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group newspack-pattern subscribe__style-6 is-style-border compress-newsletter has-dark-gray-color has-text-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(180deg,rgb(238,242,244) 0%,rgb(166,207,248) 100%)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-dark-gray-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\"><strong>Never miss an investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-dark-gray-color has-text-color\">Subscribe to our free, weekly Watchdog newsletter to get the latest inequality news from Public Integrity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe \"\n\t\tdata-success-message=\"Thank you for signing up!\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t<form id=\"newspack-subscribe-1\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" id=\"newspack_newsletters_subscribe\" name=\"newspack_newsletters_subscribe\" value=\"0908059b9c\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wp_http_referer\" value=\"\/feed\/\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"lists[]\" value=\"ffd1d0160d\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-email-input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<label for=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe-block-input-19701-email\">Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input\n\t\t\t\t\t\tid=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe-block-input-19701-email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttype=\"email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tname=\"npe\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tautocomplete=\"email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tplaceholder=\"Email Address\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvalue=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"nphp\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"off\" placeholder=\"Email Address\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"submit-button\"type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\" style=\"\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/form>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__response\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__icon\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__message\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-dark-gray-color has-text-color has-small-font-size\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\">Use the unsubscribe link in the emails to opt out at any time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI thought it was over, right?\u201d Mares-Alatorre said. \u201cMy parents defeated the incinerator \u2014 what more could go wrong?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot, it turns out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a familiar story for communities across the country: The struggle to create a healthy environment for the residents of Kettleman City has never ended because the battle was never about just one environmental hazard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kettleman City is known for its almond harvests. But it faces an array of environmental threats. It sits at the crossroads of a heavily trafficked major highway and has also contended with toxic pesticide use, air pollution and water contamination \u2014 in 2010, residents learned their drinking water was spiked with arsenic and benzene. It also faces possible <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/environment\/2010\/09\/kettleman-city-toxic\/\">pollution<\/a> from oil and gas drilling. The community ranks among the most pollution-burdened ZIP codes in California, according to the state\u2019s CalEnviroScreen mapping tool.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Community groups like El Pueblo say the cumulative effects of multiple polluting sources, including the landfill \u2014 one of two operating hazardous waste landfills in the state and the only landfill that accepts waste with levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (<a href=\"https:\/\/newhampshirebulletin.com\/2023\/05\/22\/a-forever-chemical-youve-heard-little-about-banned-since-1979-pcbs-are-everywhere-in-nh\/\">PCBs<\/a>) at or above 50 parts per million \u2014 have turned their backyard into a dumping ground.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy is our area fit for everybody else\u2019s trash?\u201d said Mares-Alatorre, noting how the nearby community of Avenal, where Kettleman City\u2019s students attend high school, has another landfill where Los Angeles sends its municipal waste. \u201cThe thing is that you\u2019re bringing all this trash to a disadvantaged community that has way less resources to deal with the ramifications than a bigger, more economically sound place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hoping for action, El Pueblo and another environmental organization, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, filed <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/environmental-discrimination-epa-complaint-title-vi-civil-rights\/\">what\u2019s known as a Title VI complaint<\/a> with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2015.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This administrative complaint process is based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin by recipients of federal funds, such as state and local governments. In this case, the Title VI complaint sought to address the long-standing concerns that Kettleman City residents have had about the harms that come from living near the commercial hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Title VI complaint challenged the state\u2019s approval of a permit to expand this landfill. The community groups also targeted decisions during the permitting process that they say effectively prevented some residents from participating. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2022-08\/09R-15-R9%20Complaint%20NR.pdf\">complaint<\/a> cited the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/la-me-mothers31-2010mar31-story.html\">police dogs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/Kettleman-CRA-English-Final_ada.pdf\">police<\/a> intimidation during permit hearings organized by local officials.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The local permitting process was also marred by a refusal to translate key permitting documents as well as rules that didn\u2019t give Spanish speakers equal time to talk during the hearings compared to English speakers, the complaint alleged, saying that state agencies ultimately relied on documents \u201cthat were adopted through the systematic use of racially discriminatory methods.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Groups hoping for environmental-justice help through Title VI are often disappointed. The EPA has a long history of doing little about such complaints, the <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/environmental-racism-persists-and-the-epa-is-one-reason-why\/\">Center for Public Integrity found in a 2015 investigation<\/a>, and Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/environmental-justice-epa-civil-rights-story\/\">efforts to change course have waned amid opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the Kettleman City petition ended up on a different track. The complainants and the state agencies involved in the landfill permitting agreed to try an approach known as an alternative dispute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ogc\/frequently-asked-questions-about-use-alternative-dispute-resolution-resolving-title-vi#:~:text=For%20Title%20VI%20cases%2C%20the,selecting%20a%20mediator%20or%20facilitator.\">resolution<\/a>, where they would directly negotiate an agreement to resolve the matter. This approach isn\u2019t common, but a 2023 Public Integrity review of EPA Title VI cases found that such resolutions have resulted in more robust settlement agreements compared to those handled directly by the EPA.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kettleman City parties negotiated for seven months. The 2016 settlement agreement with California\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control \u2014 DTSC for short \u2014 was both profound and historic, said Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice\u2019s executive director, Bradley Angel.&nbsp; The state agencies also <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/2016\/08\/10\/landmark-agreement-reached-to-benefit-environmental-justice-communities-and-resolve-a-civil-rights-complaint-on-hazardous-waste-permitting-decision\/\">hailed<\/a> the agreement as one of the first examples of a voluntary resolution jointly developed by state agencies and community groups under Title VI.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDTSC and CalEPA had to acknowledge that civil rights actually had to be considered in their permit decisions, which is obvious because it\u2019s the law, but they had ignored that forever,\u201d said Angel, whose nonprofit was created by working-class residents in Kettleman City and San Francisco to help communities impacted by pollution, health hazards and environmental racism.&nbsp; \u201cIt was also very significant because while there were Kettleman City-specific provisions, there were also key provisions that applied statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judged against the low bar of Title VI action on pollution, the agreement was a success. It required, for instance, that the state expedite a plan to get Kettleman City residents clean water. That happened two years after the agreement was signed, Angel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, in another change called for by the agreement, DTSC implemented new <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/get-involved\/civil-rights-language-access\/\">civil rights and language access policies<\/a>. These include translating crucial documents, ensuring public meetings are scheduled at optimal times and locations for public participation, and providing interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the complainants had hoped the agreement would trigger broader change. There, the results have fallen short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were really looking to challenge and really bring about a change in government policies and practices around hazardous waste facility siting, permitting and the related issues of racism regarding hazardous waste facilities that are almost entirely located in communities like Kettleman City,\u201d Angel said.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-an-idyllic-farming-community-facing-toxic-threats\">An idyllic farming community facing toxic threats  <\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Mares-Alatorre was born in Los Angeles, but when she was 5 her parents decided to move back to the Central Valley, where the couple had met. They thought Kettleman City would be a healthier place for their family, away from urban smog and crime.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many ways, this <a href=\"https:\/\/data.census.gov\/profile\/Kettleman_City_CDP,_California?g=160XX00US0638394\">tiny, unincorporated community<\/a> was what they envisioned: a tight-knit place where they would drive down the street and wave to neighbors they knew, and where the biggest event in town was the annual eighth-grade carnival.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When her parents bought their home in Kettleman City, the landfill, located about three-and-a-half miles southwest of the community, was not yet a state-authorized hazardous waste facility. But that changed soon after. Waste Management Inc. bought the landfill in 1979, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-07\/documents\/cat000646117-khf-ej-analysis-2020-07-29.pdf\">allowed<\/a> the facility to manage and dispose of hazardous waste at that time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mares-Alatorre said that happened without input from the Kettleman City residents, who are largely Latino, Spanish-speaking and working class. Many are farmworkers, like her parents.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe community was never told what was up there,\u201d she said. \u201cWe never found out until Bradley Angel knocked on my parents\u2019 door and said, \u2018Did you know that you live next to the largest toxic waste dump in the western United States?\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>In their later Title VI complaint, the community groups outlined the longstanding health troubles the tiny community has experienced, including respiratory issues and an unexplained and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/environment\/2010\/09\/kettleman-city-toxic-birth-defect-cluster\/\">sudden uptick in birth defects<\/a> that was documented starting in the fall of 2007. This included babies born with cleft palates, as well as heart and brain defects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One recent health <a href=\"https:\/\/factor.niehs.nih.gov\/2021\/12\/community-impact\/community-engaged-research\">study<\/a> found high levels of particle pollution and carbon in Kettleman City\u2019s air, which researchers noted were an indicator of diesel pollution. The study also found benzene derivatives in the air, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/sierra\/green-life\/nearly-100-community-water-systems-california-contain-illegal-levels-arsenic\">arsenic<\/a> levels in residential wells that exceeded federal limits. Water contaminated by arsenic is a public health threat because long-term exposure can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/arsenic#:~:text=Long-term%20exposure%20to%20arsenic,increased%20deaths%20in%20young%20adults.\">cause<\/a> cancer and skin lesions, and is associated with heart disease and diabetes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than three decades ago when Angel first got involved in a battle to prevent the construction of the incinerator proposed at that landfill, he realized the power of having a seat at the table. He saw the alternative dispute resolution process for the later Title VI complaint as a way to ensure that the community\u2019s broader goals were met.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The resulting settlement required DTSC to adopt a strong language-access policy and a new civil rights policy, both of which the agency has done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But to this day, a major sticking point for the community groups has been California\u2019s failure to adopt regulatory criteria to consider cumulative impacts and other socioeconomic indicators in permitting and regulatory decisions, called for both by the agreement and a state law passed in 2015 via Senate Bill <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/sb-673-permit-criteria-community-protection\/\">673<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was a key concession in the Title VI agreement for the two environmental organizations because both of the state&#8217;s hazardous waste landfills are in low-income, Latino farmworker communities in the Central Valley. Many other pollution-burdened places could also benefit from permitting that takes that prior impact into serious account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of early January, seven-and-a-half years after the agreement was announced, DTSC was still working on two of seven items for its \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/sb-673-permit-criteria-community-protection\/\">Vulnerable Communities and Cumulative Impacts Permitting Criteria<\/a>.\u201d Angel said the delay puts communities in harm\u2019s way.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you really consider cumulative impacts in your permit decisions \u2026 they\u2019re going to have a hard time justifying continuing to permit these facilities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Chemical Waste Management Inc., which operates the landfill and is a subsidiary of Waste Management, is allowed to operate on a permit that technically <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/Kettleman-CRA-English-Final_ada.pdf\">expired<\/a> more than a decade ago, Mares-Alatorre said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no huge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2006-feb-04-me-erin4-story.html\">Erin Brockovich<\/a> kind of victory here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly just the fact that we watchdog them or else they would get away with even more.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2013, when the facility submitted an application to the state to renew its expiring hazardous waste facility permit, the Kettleman Hills facility has operated on what the state calls a \u201ccontinued permit.\u201d This means that the facility must remain in compliance with the terms of that pre-existing permit as well as current regulations, a DTSC spokesperson told Public Integrity. The agency said it expects to release a draft this month of its decision on the permit renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DTSC hired a law firm to detail its civil-rights obligations related to the<a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/Kettleman-CRA-English-Final_ada.pdf\"> permit, and the agency said it is <\/a>following the <a href=\"https:\/\/dtsc.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/Kettleman-CRA-English-Final_ada.pdf\">recommendations.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Waste Management did not respond to requests for comment. But <a href=\"https:\/\/kettlemanhillslandfill.wm.com\/environment\/facts-to-know\/health.jsp\">on its website<\/a>, it says its facility \u201cis not adversely impacting air quality for the residents of Kettleman City\u201d and notes that a 2010 state study could not find a connection between the site and the birth defects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In mid-November, Greenaction and El Pueblo met with officials from DTSC and CalEPA to press the state about the delay in establishing the permitting and lack of other action on hazardous waste. Angel said they left the meeting dissatisfied.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo here we are, all these years later: There are no solutions,\u201d Angel said. \u201cThere\u2019s no hazardous waste reduction plan. There is no attempt to find other possible, more appropriate disposal sites. There is no serious research and development on safe treatment technologies. They still rely on dumping and burning.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department of Toxic Substances Control says that it\u2019s working to address cumulative impacts from polluting facilities as part of the permitting process because this is \u201ccritical to address environmental injustices and protect communities suffering from disproportionate pollution burdens.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of this work, the agency said it\u2019s developing clearer and stronger criteria for evaluating community vulnerabilities in the permitting process. DTSC also has two community-based pilot projects, one of which is near the Kettleman City waste facility, to examine how existing regulatory tools can address cumulative impacts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The agency plans to hold a public workshop this year when it releases the new criteria developed as part of the SB 673 requirements.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDTSC is committed to ensuring civil rights compliance and recognizes the importance of this, particularly given the presence of permitted hazardous waste sites in disproportionately burdened communities,\u201d the agency said in a statement to Public Integrity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The community groups say they plan to file another Title VI complaint to hold the state accountable to its earlier commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Angel notes that the state\u2019s agencies are more diverse since he first began advocating on behalf of Kettleman City decades ago, with environmental justice programs and departments that didn\u2019t exist earlier.&nbsp; But new opportunities to directly negotiate with state officials too often don\u2019t translate to progress on the ground, he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have a seat at the table \u2014 I mean, we\u2019re in a meeting with a dozen top officials \u2014 but the decisions generally remain the same with a few exceptions,\u201d Angel said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He doesn\u2019t expect the U.S. EPA to pull its funding from DTSC, the ultimate punishment for Title VI violations. But the residents will nonetheless force the discussion, he said. They will prepare permit challenges, line up legal support and educate the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it works, the resolution agreement process can act as a critical accountability tool for vulnerable communities. It wasn\u2019t until the 2016 settlement that Kettleman City residents got action on the water contamination they\u2019d learned about in 2010 from environmental reviews conducted after Waste Management proposed to expand the landfill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mares-Alatorre said she received a call from the state the day after the Title VI agreement was signed to begin the process to find an alternative water source. Now the community gets its water from the California Aqueduct, water that runs past the town and that previously Kettleman City couldn\u2019t access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s a huge victory,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, the struggle for a cleaner environment has gone on for so long that today, her son, a community organizer and policy analyst for Greenaction in Kettleman City, is the third generation in her family to press for change there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mares-Alatorre no longer lives in Kettleman City. She moved two years ago to nearby Hanford. But she continues as a member of El Pueblo and participates in the Title VI complaint discussions with the state.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She sees it as her responsibility to continue to speak up, pointing out the disconnect between state tools such as CalEnviroScreen that show which communities are environmentally vulnerable and the lack of action to prevent more pollution getting permitted there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, she said, what\u2019s needed is a collective approach to reduce the state\u2019s waste. It\u2019s not enough for environmentalists to create green walking paths and use cloth shopping bags while their city\u2019s hazardous waste is sent to Kettleman City, she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey think that they\u2019re doing great because their trash is out of sight, out of mind,\u201d Mares-Alatorre said. \u201cUntil everyone starts feeling that responsibility and reducing the amount of waste that is generated, I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s going to be any change.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/the-decades-long-fight-in-a-community-treated-as-a-dumping-ground\/\">The decades-long fight in a community treated as a dumping ground<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/the-decades-long-fight-in-a-community-treated-as-a-dumping-ground\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-566071121-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image\" alt=\"A sign for General Petroleum Ave., angled oddly, is in the foreground of a photo of the sun rising above small homes.\"><\/figure>\n<p>Protecting people\u2019s health from environmental hazards, Maricela Mares-Alatorre and her family found out the hard way, is a never-ending fight.\u00a0 She was in high school in the late 1980s when her parents, both farmworkers, organized to help prevent the construction of a toxic waste incinerator in the landfill near Kettleman City, a tiny agricultural community [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/environment\/pollution\/environmental-justice-denied\/the-decades-long-fight-in-a-community-treated-as-a-dumping-ground\/\">The decades-long fight in a community treated as a dumping ground<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,70735,3500],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1453842"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1524221,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453842\/revisions\/1524221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1453842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1453842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1453842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}