{"id":755755,"date":"2022-07-22T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=579818"},"modified":"2022-07-22T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T10:30:00","slug":"experts-to-congress-restore-epa-enforcement-staffing-and-funding-for-environmental-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/07\/22\/experts-to-congress-restore-epa-enforcement-staffing-and-funding-for-environmental-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts to Congress: Restore EPA enforcement staffing and funding for environmental justice"},"content":{"rendered":"
For the past three years, the Valero Houston Refinery<\/a> hasn\u2019t gone a single quarter without committing a significant violation of the Clean Air Act. Year after year, as toxic air pollution has wafted through Manchester \u2014 a predominantly Hispanic, low-income neighborhood across the street \u2014 the facility has racked up a long list of violation notices<\/a> from state regulators, but that\u2019s done little to actually stop the onslaught.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always voice concerns about non-enforcement,\u201d said Juan Parras, executive director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services<\/a>, who has advocated for Manchester and other communities along the Houston Ship Channel for more than 20 years. \u201cEven when there is enforcement, the penalty is so ridiculously low that it doesn\u2019t pressure the industry to clean up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n To Parras, this is unconscionable. \u201cWe ought to be showing communities that are impacted like we are \u2014 throughout the nation \u2014 that the law is going to back them up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n