User:Cbartondock/sandbox

History of the Kettleman Facility and of Environmental Controversy in the Region
=1975-1990= In June of 1975 Kings County, CA issued a permit to McKay Trucking for the disposal of oil field wastes in the Kettleman Hills area. Subsequently, in 1979, the land was bought by Chemical Waste Management, Inc. -a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. In 1982, Chemical Waste Management, Inc. received a permit for the processing of PCBs (known carcinogens), and soon after a Class I waste disposal permit that allowed for the processing of nearly any type of hazardous waste. At the time, the establishment of this facility and its repurposing to a full Class I hazardous waste disposal site went unnoticed by the residents of Kettleman City -4 miles away from the facility. Community opposition to the facility emerged in the early 1980s, around the time that local newspapers began publishing articles about multi-million dollar fines levied against Chemical Waste Management, Inc. for the violation of environmental laws. Because of it's low average socioeconomic standing and 95% Latino population, Kettleman City and the nearby waste disposal site soon attracted the attention of the fledgling environmental justice movement. Advocates argued that Chemical Waste Magement, Inc. and the local government were practicing environmental racism -pointing out that the nearest communities to all three major waste disposal sites in California are poor and almost entirely non-white. Environmental Justice groups also cited the 1984 Cerrell Report by the California Waste Management Board that suggested placing waste disposal sites and incinerators primarily in the communities that would be least able to resist. In 1988, a phone call from Greenpeace organizer Bradley Angel revealed to the Kettleman community that Chemical Waste Management, Inc. was planning to add a toxic waste incinerator to the disposal facility. Several residents attended a preliminary hearing for the incinerator and were apalled that such an obvious health risk would be placed so close to their town. This trial marked the beginning of a community-led grass roots environmental justice movement in Kettleman, as well as the beginning of the ongoing conflict between the people of Kettleman City and Chemical Waste Management, Inc. In 1989, more than 200 residents from Kettleman showed up to testify at the Kings County Planning Commission hearing on the incinerator project. When the incinerator project was nonetheless approved,the residents of Kettleman city filed a lawsuit against Chemical Waste Management, Inc. -alleging that their environmental impacts report did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. A trial court ruled that Chemical Waste Management, Inc. had not sufficiently analyzed the environmental and health impacts of the incinerator, and furthermore had failed to provide a full Spanish version of their impacts report and so had deprived the Kettleman community of participation. The company appealed the court's decision, but dropped the plans for the incinerator before an appeal decision had been reached. =1990-2009= With the proposed waste incinerator out of the picture, the waste disposal site continued to operate and indeed reached its economic peak of operation during the early 1990s. Although the people of Kettleman City continued to be wary of Chemical Waste management, there were no major environmental justice battles in Kettleman during these years (apart from the continued criticism of activists that the locating of hazardous waste exhibits structural racism). The 1990s also saw the Kettleman facility facing regular scrutiny and fines from the EPA and the TSCA enforcement committee. Indeed, the EPA reports that the facility committed environmental violations every year between 1990 and 1995, as well as in 1998. In 2004, a TSCA compliance inspection of the Kettleman Facility reached the conclusion that there had been no monitoring of certain PCB's since 1995, and that the failure to dispose of PCBs within the legal timelimit had gone unreported on two occasions. Finally, that same report concluded that in 2002-2003 there were 16 spills of hazardous waste, and 6 instances of waste being stored in unsealed containers. The facility also underwent numerous permit expansions under Class I and Class III waste disposal during the mid to late 2000s, many of which were accompanied by public hearings that were well attended by Kettleman City community leaders.

=2009-2014= 2009 marked the resurgence of the environmental justice movement in Kettleman City, as well as the renewal of the conflict between the people of Kettleman City and Chemical Waste Management, Inc: Environmental justice advocacy group Greenaction released a statement implying a possible correlation between a recent high number of birth defects in the region (14 cases in 2007-2008, 5 of which were cleft lip and/or palate) and the presence of the waste disposal facility. The residents of Kettleman City were understandably alarmed, and once again a community-led movement voiced opposition to Chemical Waste Management, Inc.'s facility. Kings County's Public Health Officer was skeptical: "I understand why people are concerned about it, but if I had to bet the farm on it, I think that this is just a statistical anomaly," but the state nevertheless promised to conduct a wide ranging investigation into the high number of birth defects in the region as well as into the water quality and the frequency of asthma and cancer in the region. Not long after the birth defects controversy began, Chemical Waste Management, Inc. applied for a permit to expand the facility, and were met with heavy resistance from the Kettleman community during the 60 day comment period. The Cal EPA granted them the permit to expand, pending the findings of the birth defects investigation, on December 21, 2009.

The initial findings of the Cal EPA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) were released in community meetings in early 2010: "Birth defect rate inconclusive due to small sample size; no significant sources of environmental exposures found within Kettleman City. Pesticides in homes warrants further examination." On January 20, soon after the initial findings had been released, Greenaction filed a lawsuit against Kings County's Board of Supervisors. Greenaction alleged that in light of the inconclusive and possibly flawed birth defect report, the granting of an expansion permit to Chemical Waste Management, Inc. violated the CEQA and state civil rights laws. Within a week of the lawsuit, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered the Cal EPA and the CDPH to launch a full scale investigation into the correlation between the disposal facility and the health defects experienced by the residents. The full 160 page report was released in November 2010, and found that none of the possible exposures to hazardous materials could be correlated to an increase in birth defects. The report's recommendations were to continue to pursue a safer source of drinking water for Kettleman City, as well as to continue investigation into the effects of the trace presence of contaminants. A further update was released in 2011 stating that the level of birth defects in Kettleman city had dropped back down to well below their 2008 levels.

Parallel to the birth defects controversy, Chemical Waste Management, Inc. was fined $402,000 on November 29, 2011 for violating the TSCA. The investigation concluded that they had been using improper disposal techniques for carcinogenic PCB, as well as for land disposing tons of hazardous material without treatment. Chemical was further ordered to set aside $600,000 for the purpose of physical and operational improvements to the facility. References: