Residents of Houston’s Toxic East End Speak Out

Call Out Keystone XL Pipeline Profiteers as Perpetuators of Environmental Racism

The Valero refinery overlooks Manchester;s only park. Photo by Laura Borealis

Residents of Houston’s toxic East End have been organizing their communities to resist further industrial development, specifically the Keystone XL and the tar sands it will carry to be processed in refineries there. For the record, tar sands are NOT oil! Tar sands are a thick mixture of sand, water, clay, bitumen and crude oil which must be mixed with volatile diluents to get them to move through pipelines. Yudith Nieto, was born in Mexico and raised in Manchester, one of the most polluted neighborhoods on Turtle Island. Yudith has been speaking out and standing up for her community who are saying “NO!” to toxic tar sands.

“I am committed to amplifying the voices of communities of color that are systematically silenced, like mine, that are being disproportionately affected by environmentally destructive industries, and experiencing racism, and classism. I am speaking out because I believe it will help me to advocate for my community and further my ability to help make their voices a part of this movement as well as empower people to build a community of resistance to confront these injustices.”  -Yudith Nieto

Manchester is populated almost completely by Latin@s, and surrounded on all sides by industry.  A massive Valero refinery looms over the community’s only park and its smokestacks poison the people who live there 24 hours a day 365 days a year.  Manchester is plagued by a long list of diseases and ailments including asthma, respiratory disease and inflammation, infertility, birth defects, and a myriad of deadly cancers.  The National Disease Clusters Alliance reports (pg. 2) that children living within two miles of the Houston Ship Channel have a 56% higher likelihood of developing leukemia than those who live more than ten miles away.

Not only are EPA and TCEQ (Texas Commission for Environmental Quality) regulations not good enough, but for the most part, petrochemical industries in Houston go almost completely unchecked. The government leaves people without protection, and thus, vulnerable to corporate interests whose only concern is the growth of capital by means of the exploitation of those most traditionally marginalized and at risk in capitalist society. Manchester is a textbook case of environmental racism- the intentional targeting of minority communities by industries who seek to benefit from their suffering and lack of political voice. Many people living in Manchester are also undocumented, making it dangerous for them to speak out against human rights abuses.

Blas Espinosa also lives in Houston’s toxic East End, and like Yudith, he has been involved in community organizing efforts there with the Tar Sands Blockade and other groups like the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Service. 

“All people, suppliers and consumers, who endorse or feed the genocide, ethnocide, and ecocide perpetuated by the petrochemical industry must be held accountable. We must come together like what is happening here, in Manchester, and many other communities, and continue to organize for the security of our most essential, vital and finite natural resources: air, water, and land, for the sake of present and future generations. Promoting mutual aid as a way life gives us an alternative to a flawed, destructive system, pushing us forward to social, economic, and environmental harmony, security, justice, and peace.”        -Blas Espinosa

Both Yudith and Blas were interviewed earlier this week by the Huffington Post in an article entitled, Keystone XL Risks Harm To Houston Community: ‘This Is Obviously Environmental Racism’. To learn more about the community of resistance being cultivated in Manchester download this info packet created by anarchist community organizers and Tar Sands Blockaders, Something Is Brewing In Manchester.

NO TAR SANDS! NO COMPROMISE!