Webinar: Neglected and Exposed

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Editor’s Note: This reporting project was created through the Altavoz Lab Environmental Fellowship in partnership with Environmental Health Sciences and received additional funding from the Pulitzer Center. It was co-published by The Texas Tribune, Environmental Health News, and palabra.

Residents in Cloverleaf and Galena Park, two communities in the Houston metro area, describe the air as smelling like rotten eggs, nail polish, and burning tires. The “poison-like smell” wafts from 200 nearby petrochemical processing facilities along the Houston Ship Channel.Their smokestacks spew particulate matter, benzene, and other cancer-causing pollutants. Respiratory and skin irritation are common among the majority-Latino residents, as is childhood asthma, which occurs at rates 1.9% higher than the state average.

Air quality monitors installed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) measure the six pollutants required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The apparatus does not, however, monitor for every cancer-causing pollutant, nor is the web-based dashboard accessible as it outputs raw measurement data in English alone. Critically, the TCEQ air monitoring system fails when Houston residents need it most, like after chemical fires, explosions, or other toxic releases.

Organizations like Air Alliance Houston and Environmental Community Advocates of Galena Park (ECAGP) have stepped in with their own air monitoring systems where TCEQ’s fall short. Hear from journalists Alejandra Martinez, Wendy Selene Pérez, and Juan Flores, representing ECAGP, about the investigation, Neglected and Exposed, and about possible ways to strengthen air quality measurement and awareness in Houston. Valeria Fernández, the founder of Altavoz Lab and the managing editor of palabra., will moderate.

Spanish and English will be available via simultaneous interpretation.

Panelists:

• Wendy Selene Pérez is a freelance journalist with a two-decade career spanning various media outlets in Mexico, Argentina, and the United States. Her work focuses on social justice, victims of violence, government accountability, transparency, and immigration. 
• Alejandra Martinez joined The Texas Tribune in the fall of 2022 as an environmental reporter. She’s covered the impacts of petrochemical facilities on Black and brown communities, including investigating a chemical fire at an industrial facility.
• Valeria Fernández is the founder of Altavoz Lab and the managing editor of palabra. She is an independent investigative journalist focused on amplifying voices of immigrant communities. Previously, she has worked at PRX The World, CNN Spanish, Radio Bilingüe, and the Associated Press.
• Juan Flores is Vice President of ECAGP, which organizes and educates the community of Galena Park about local environmental conditions.