Dallas Takes the First and Necessary Step Toward Closing Two Polluting Factories
My public statement at the latest city council meeting
On Wednesday, April 22 — Earth Day—the City of Dallas moved one step closer to shutting down the toxic asphalt shingle plants of GAF in West Dallas and TAMKO in Joppa. I first wrote about these Toxic Twins when I joined the campaign last July, so I won’t delve into it again. Check it out here:
Politicians Care Mostly About One Thing
Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the Policy Committee for Downwinders at Risk, an environmental justice organization in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex aimed at “taking effective action on behalf of those being harmed by air pollution.” They were founded in 1994, with their first major issue being a cement plant in Midlothian that held the …
With this latest vote, the City of Dallas will set aside $200,000 from an emergency contingency fund to hire a consultant who will research the cost of potentially shutting down these outdated facilities operating under nonconforming use.
I grabbed a friend — who grew up in North Oak Cliff and knew about the RSR lead smelter plant in West Dallas from a bygone era — and attended the council meeting. We both made public statements.
The scene inside the chamber was a little surreal. It was completely packed, which differs from the vast majority of other council meetings. TAMKO had bused dozens of their employees, all dressed in black polo shirts, presumably to intimidate the activists and residents of West Dallas and Joppa. But what I found a bit odd was that only two or three TAMKO representatives — all from upper management — spoke. None of the rank-and-file employees approached the microphone. I guess I assumed that the company would allow its labor force speak for itself.
As for GAF, they had no official representation. They’ve been mostly quiet during this campaign, preferring instead to maneuver behind the scenes.
But our side definitely showed out. All in all, 45 speakers made their voices heard on this critical environmental justice issue.
By far, the best speakers were the amazing students at White Rock Montessori. Their teacher is Ms. Gamber, who grew up on the Oak Cliff border with West Dallas and had taken her students to the area next to GAF to experience breathing the air. The students — 12 in total — attended virtually with Ms. Gamber and read their prepared remarks one by one. I couldn’t help but wish that more schools would give kids hands-on civics lessons like this. I’m not going to get on that soapbox today.
We stayed from 9 AM to 3:30 PM, when Council finally voted Yes on Agenda Item 39.
And we keep pushing forward.
Here is my statement: