Was Guerrero a victim of Mission Superfund site, ask local residents

[douglas9]

MISSION, April 28 - Mission residents say they are surprised that in all the tributes to Lena Guerrero no one has speculated that her early death may be connected to the fact that she grew up living near the highly contaminated Hayes Sammons chemical plant.


Guerrero, the first Latina and first female to be appointed to the Texas Railroad Commission and only the second Latina elected to the Texas House of Representatives, passed away in her sleep in April 24 at the age of 50. She had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer over eight years ago.


Guerrero was born in 1957 and raised in Mission Acres, close to the Hayes Sammons chemical plant. She moved to Austin in 1976 to attend the University of Texas.


“As far as we are concerned, it is no coincidence that Lena Guerrero has died at an early age of cancer,” said Ester Salinas, who, as leader of the Mission Environmental Group, has documented the illnesses of families living near the Superfund site.

http://www.riograndeguardian.com/RGGnews_story.asp?story_no=26#

[sonias]

1. That's a very good point

And that location is still contaminated and it should be an EPA superfund cleanup site. But the Feds won't fund it and the bush administration makes sure EPA protects companies not communities. So they just fence it in and tell the community everything is fine. Fine of course is like it was just fine to breath the air around the World Trade Center right after 9/11. :mad:

After the report was published, EPA fenced off the site and removed thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil. In February, EPA demolished the mixing plant.

"They moved the dirt, which cost millions of dollars, to remove the evidence. What the government needs to be doing is providing the biomarkers and the body burden studies to prove the link between the poisonous pesticides and the illnesses," Salinas said. "There are so many people that are sick right now."

Helena Chemical Mission, TX - EPA Region VI


Sonia

[pagandem4justice]

2. Work a block away from there...

My school is just on the other side of the tracks from the old plant site, and many of my kiddoes played there surreptitiously until the EPA started having meetings about it again 2 years ago. Last year, they finally cordoned it off and removed the old cement liner and tanks. In April, the building was finally demolished. They had a meeting at my campus three weeks ago, saying that now they're done (supposedly). Most of the residents still don't trust that it's safe...apparently there are still some contaminants underground.

What's the worst part? Now the city of Mission is considering making the site into a PARK!

Best site for info about the H-S mess, from documentation and photos of victims (strong stomach only on those), to the recent meetings (video of that is from my school, Marcell Elementary):

http://mission-texas.com/ (La Platica)