A new study from Texas A&M University researchers has found that West Dallas, Texas, residents are being exposed to extremely high levels of air pollution and have been for years, KERA News reported.
What's happening?
According to the study, West Dallas residents are exposed to particulate matter at a rate "as great as eleven times the average for Dallas County."
The company that is reportedly primarily responsible for the pollution is the GAF Materials Corporation (slogan: "We protect what matters most"), one of the leading manufacturers of roofing and waterproofing materials in North America, which has its GAF shingle factory nearby.
Why is air pollution concerning?
This is far from the first time that people living near industrial plants and factories have reported adverse health effects due to air pollution.
In West Dallas, residents who have felt their concerns have been ignored by city officials were eager to make their voices heard. Almost 40% of the residents in the study area participated in the Texas A&M survey.
Of those, "60% said that air quality is poor or very poor in our area. 84% said air pollution 'makes me and my family sick,'" said Janie Cisneros, the leader of Singleton United/Unidos, a resident empowerment group that opposes the factory.
Of respondents, 61% said they "avoid experiencing outdoors and open their windows" for fear of air pollution.
In the United States, corporations have a long history of placing polluting factories, plants, and roadways next to communities that consist primarily of people of color, condemning them to bear the brunt of the adverse health effects — a practice known as environmental racism.
What's being done about the GAF shingle factory?
GAF has said that it plans to leave West Dallas in 2029 — but for the people who live there, enduring another five years of air pollution is not an acceptable outcome. Singleton United/Unidos is calling for elected officials to step in and shut the factory down.
"The longer it stays in our community, the sicker that we are going to become," said Cisneros. "These numbers are not going to get any healthier as long as GAF is operating."
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