[CPEO-MEF] DETENTION CENTERS: "Texas Migrant Detention Centers Probed for Toxic Waste Threats"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
Earthjustice
August 8, 2018

Texas Migrant Detention Centers Probed for Toxic Waste Threats 
Bases slated to house families have a history of radioactive and chemical contamination  

WASHINGTON - Health, labor and environmental organizations represented by Earthjustice are asking the government via expedited records request to reveal where exactly it plans to detain migrant families slated to be housed in Texas military bases known to have toxic hazards. Filed today, the Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) comes as the Trump Administration is rushing to build migrant detention centers in Fort Bliss in El Paso, and Goodfellow Air Force Bases in San Angelo.

Besides separating children from parents, Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy created a need for additional capacity to house migrant families detained at the border. The military is providing the extra space. But Fort Bliss is riddled with toxic radiological contaminants and hazardous chemicals including heavy metals and volatile organic compounds from its munitions burial and burning, unexploded ordnance and landfills.

Fort Bliss, in particular, has Superfund sites, which are polluted locations requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contamination. At Goodfellow Air Force Base, the area where tents will be constructed is directly over a former firing range and adjacent to a closed but uncapped landfill. Exposure to toxic chemicals from these sites can cause cancer, neurological damage, developmental harm, and many other diseases. The bases could also have remnants of polyfluorinated compounds called PFAS

…

For the entire release, see
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2018/08/08/texas-migrant-detention-centers-probed-toxic-waste-threats

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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