Saya Kehilangan Teman Saya karena Kanker. Pengurangan Regulasi oleh EPA Membuat Lebih Banyak Kerugian Tak Terhindarkan

(SeaPRwire) –   Saya bertemu sahabat terbaik saya, , di kampus: mahasiswa pre-med yang cantik dan penuh kasih sayang yang tumbuh besar di Houston dekat dengan empat fasilitas manufaktur kimia. Dia menjadi bridesmaid saya, dan saya menjadi bridesmaidnya. Ibu Ursula meninggal saat dia masih kecil, dan ayahnya pindah ke Port Arthur di mana rumah mereka menghadap fasilitas penyimpanan minyak bumi dan berada dekat dengan lima pabrik kimia, beberapa hanya satu mil jauhnya.

Ursula meninggal karena kanker saat anak-anaknya masih di taman kanak-kanak. Kita tidak akan pernah tahu apakah kematiannya hanya “nasib buruk” murni, atau apakah itu ada hubungannya dengan tumbuh besar di tengah fasilitas manufaktur plastik.

Yang kita tahu pasti adalah bahwa bahan kimia beracun yang dilepaskan oleh fasilitas tersebut dapat merusak tubuh manusia.

Dengan latar belakang itu, saya melihat Administrator Badan Perlindungan Lingkungan (EPA) Lee Zeldin bekerja dengan giat untuk menghancurkan perlindungan yang melindungi orang dari paparan bahan kimia beracun. He’s the from on airborne , , dan karsinogen lainnya, dan has to gut the rules protecting communities from chemical disasters, giving giant corporate polluters a free pass to release toxic chemicals and climate-heating gases. This is happening alongside efforts to , yang memberikan bantuan kepada masyarakat yang menghadapi keadaan darurat bencana, and to zero-out the budget for the , an independent federal agency that of chemical disasters and makes recommendations to prevent them from reoccurring.

Zeldin juga mengusulkan to the , a 2009 scientific determination that the emission of is harming public health and welfare. Stripping the EPA of the legal basis for controlling climate pollution would put floods, fires, and hurricanes on steroids at the same time that Zeldin dismantles protections against chemical disasters. This is an explosive combination in communities like Ursula’s that are burdened with petrochemical infrastructure, and along the thousands of miles of chemical transportation routes. Chemical disasters last for years or decades, and can end in cancers and other serious illnesses.

These moves would usher in a future of chemical , , and other chemical disasters. begin before extreme weather even arrives. When storms are on the horizon, massive amounts of flammable and explosive fossil gases . In the case of Hurricane Harvey, for example, petrochemical companies smothered Texas communities with of benzene, sulfur dioxide, and other harmful pollutants. It takes only tiny amounts of these super-toxic chemicals to trigger life-altering and sometimes life-ending conditions.

The one chemical spill, fire, or explosion every three days, but Zeldin’s attacks almost guarantee an increase. Extreme weather can damage petrochemical equipment and storage vessels, and topple chemical storage tanks, as occurred in . Some chemical disasters result from power outages, for example at the in Crosby, Texas, where more than three feet of flood waters damaged the refrigeration systems keeping toxic chemicals from decomposing and igniting. My friend Alex Gordon describes playing in the floodwaters with her little brother during the storm. Later, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and she’s left wondering if their toxic waterpark-in-the-streets had something to do with his getting sick.

Every part of the petrochemical supply chain puts communities at risk, including the nation’s millions of miles of . In Satartia, Miss., a used in oil drilling ruptured from heavy rains and floods, for hours. The carbon dioxide displaced oxygen in the air, so car engines stopped running and people could not escape. Dozens . Acute CO₂ emissions cause heart malfunction and .

Extreme flooding can also submerge Superfund toxic waste dumps. The clay, earth, concrete or sand coverings are no match for the increasingly powerful weather events. At the , for example, the protective concrete cap was smashed by 16 feet of flood waters, sending astronomical amounts of dioxins into the river. live within three miles of a Superfund site.

Rencana Zeldin adalah hadiah untuk perusahaan bahan bakar fosil dan petrokimia. Bagi kita yang lain, mereka adalah serangan yang berbahaya dan bermusuhan terhadap anak-anak kita, keluarga kita, dan sahabat terbaik kita.