This is the story of the predominately minority neighbors of Huntsman Corporation, the company that runs a massive industrial complex on the south side of town. There have been problems with the environment ever since, but there's no question in our mind there was a deliberate effort made by the owners of the plant to build in this neighborhood where there were poor people, people who were disenfranchised and did not have empowerment to protest the building. For Odessa residents living downwind of the Huntsman Polymers plant, the two weeks at the end of 1998 and into 1999 must have been very eerie and terrifying days. An estimated 11,000 pounds of butadiene and 1,400 pounds of benzene, along with over 36,000 pounds of ethylene and propylene were sent to the company's flare and into the atmosphere, along with numerous other chemicals. Nearby residents demanded that the plant fix the problems causing the hazardous releases.
Citizens are in debt with medical bills and end up on welfare because of health problems.
We don't want to see anyone lose their job. All we want is clean air. Companies are allowed to break their allowable emissions for obvious reasons. Any business that operates will eventually have problems. The Agreed Order would replace a formal Enforcement Action, and would not put a black mark on the company's compliance history.