Webinar On-Demand: ‘Neglected and Exposed’

Webinar: "Neglected and Exposed" in original audio. Video courtesy of the Pulitzer Center. United States, 2024.

Watch the webinar in English

Ver el seminario web en español

This is part of the webinar series Fuel, Foul Air, and Fallout: The Health Tolls of Energy and Defense in the United States.

Juan Flores, vice president of Environmental Community Advocates of Galena Park (ECAGP), grew up in Galena Park, a majority-Spanish-speaking suburb outside of central Houston.

“The one thing it’s always had in common,” he said, “is that it smells.”

Flores joined Pulitzer Center grantees Wendy Selene Pérez and Alejandra Martinez for a webinar discussion on August 20, 2024, about the journalists' Center-supported project Neglected and Exposed, produced in partnership with Altavoz Lab, Radio Bilingüe, and The Texas Tribune. Altavoz Lab founder Valeria Fernández moderated.

Galena Park and nearby Cloverleaf are about a mile from the Houston Ship Channel, which is lined with hundreds of petrochemical facilities. These facilities flare toxic chemicals and release particulate matter. Respiratory and skin irritation are common among residents. Asthma occurs at rates 0.8% higher than the state average in Cloverleaf, according to The Texas Tribune.

The reporting in Neglected and Exposed zeroed in on the Texas state air monitoring system. Although the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)'s air quality dashboard is public, it is difficult to interpret and is unavailable in Spanish.

“We started noticing that this information [on the TCEQ air quality dashboard] is really hard to understand,” Martinez explained, “even if we’re providing [community members] with this tool.” She and Selene Pérez shifted their reporting focus from just health impacts to state accountability. The pair also identified where community initiatives had begun to fill in where the state fell short.

TCEQ monitors are installed along the channel. They do not account for wind patterns, which can convey pollutants closer to residents, nor measure air quality directly in communities like Cloverleaf and Galena Park. Only some measure for each of the six principal pollutants required by the Environmental Protection Agency. The TCEQ air monitoring system also fails when residents need it most, like after chemical fires, explosions, or other toxic releases, according to The Texas Tribune.

Martinez and Selene Pérez had to earn the trust of residents. “We were very aware and very intentional about what we were hearing and what we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to give back,” said Martinez.

Once they did earn residents’ trust, Martinez and Selene Pérez were careful not to break it. 

“Volver a charlar con ellos,” said Selene Pérez. “Escuchar lo que dicen después de eso. Saber cómo recibieron la noticia. Lo leyeron en español” [“We came back to talk with them. We listened after this. We learned how they received our reporting. They read it in Spanish.”]

Martinez and Selene Pérez reached people in Cloverleaf and Galena Park via radio, English and Spanish-language articles, and informational flyers that could be stuck to their refrigerators. With quality information, residents might “feel like they can participate in democracy,” said Martinez.

Martinez and Selene Pérez noted that this is not “something that can be replicated [for every single story]. It requires a lot of partnerships and buy-in.”

But “that should not be a barrier,” said Martinez. “Altavoz Lab has these opportunities; the Pulitzer Center has these opportunities that you can get funding.”

“Dream big, be flexible, but keep your core vision centered,” she advised.

Selene Pérez said that she and Martinez had complementary strengths and experiences: freelance and institutional, Spanish and English. She advised would-be investigators to build “equipos híbridos” [hybrid teams].

Flores said he hopes to continue building a network of community air monitors. He also hopes that Selene Pérez and Martinez’s work will push TCEQ to improve the state air monitoring system: “Before it was our word against yours. Now it’s our scientific data against everybody else’s.”

Selene Pérez said she hopes to collect more “datos de salud. Faltamos tantas estatísticas, tantos datos.” [“Health data points. We’re missing so many statistics, data.”]

She explained, “Hay estudios en California, en otros países.” [“There are studies in California and in other countries.”] She hopes that additional research into cancer rates and emergency room visits will be conducted.

Accountability “is more of a state-level thing that we need to worry about,” said Flores. “A lot of these [petrochemical] companies would rather pay the fine than fix the problem.”

Recently, The Texas Tribune held three workshops at a Houston library. Residents, experts, and local officials attended. They discussed partnership possibilities and solutions.

The next Texas legislative session begins in January 2025. In Austin, the state's capital, Selene Pérez and Martinez will be “following up” on proposed solutions for state air quality monitoring.