From a Press Release
Kettleman City residents and their environmental justice allies applaud the Department of Toxic Substances Control for taking enforcement action today (Nov. 15, 2012) against Chemical Waste Management for failing to report 72 toxic spills that took place over five years at the controversial Kettleman Hills hazardous waste landfill between 2008 and 2012.
The announcement of years of violations by chronic polluter Chemical Waste Management comes just a few days after another young Kettleman City child died of leukemia, adding to the growing count of infants and adults who have died or suffered serious health impacts in this heavily polluted Central Valley town.
“It’s great to know that laws that are meant to protect the public are actually being enforced,” said Maricela Mares Alatorre, Kettleman City resident and spokeswoman for People for Clean Air and Water of Kettleman City. “For too long they have been given free rein with the result that our health has always been put aside. This is even more important now as Kettleman City gets ready to bury yet another child, a two-year-old who passed away from leukemia.”
“It is time for the proposed permits to expand this terribly run toxic waste dump be denied,” said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice. “If a Kettleman City resident broke toxic waste laws as many times as Chem Waste has, they would be thrown in jail for life.”
“In light of these new violations, the state cannot, in good conscience, allow Chem Waste to expand,” said Ingrid Brostrom, senior attorney with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. “Chem Waste’s concealment of evidence from the state and inability to conform to California’s hazardous waste laws should demonstrate that this company cannot be trusted to protect the public’s health.
(Editor’s note: From a press release from El Pueblo Para el Aire y Agua Limpio/People for Clean Air and Water of Kettleman City, the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, and Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice.
