0:46 Texas is very big on business you know
0:49 refineries are businesses and it's hard
0:51 to trust anybody it really is
0:52 you can walk out here at certain times
0:54 you can just smell the chemicals in the air
0:55 air
0:58 back in 1981 there it was a summer me
0:59 and my sibling got up in the morning and
1:01 we went outside and there was all this
1:04 white stuff all over the cars and I got
1:06 out like look it's snow you know and me
1:07 and my brother were out there playing in
1:10 it and my mom comes out like mijo I
1:11 don't think you should be playing in
1:13 that because it's August that ain't no
1:16 snow we don't know what it is
1:18 back then you can see the pollution more
1:21 you can see them now now the technology
1:24 has gotten so much better that you don't
1:25 see it but just because you don't see it
1:27 don't mean it's not there now the
1:34 I like living here it's safe it's slow
1:36 on crime we know each other small community
1:38 community
1:40 we're trying our best to make some
1:42 changes and trying to educate people on
1:44 what it is because that's the problem is
1:56 reports come up to me all the time
1:58 they're like hey can you give me
1:59 somebody to come talk to us about what
2:01 they're experiencing but people don't
2:03 want to talk people are scared to speak
2:05 because they have a family member who
2:07 works at a Refinery that they speak that
2:14 good the people who have jobs it's good
2:16 that there's prosperity in the area
2:17 and a lot of people depend on that here
2:20 and we know that
2:22 Refinery workers and companies that
2:24 don't have to live there they're only
2:26 there for a certain amount of time
2:28 smells like money to them but for us we
2:30 live near this this is not no money for
2:32 us this is our health and we're and
2:34 we're scared about our long-term
2:35 prognosis of how long we're going to
2:37 live because
2:45 that day was so scary
2:49 it was so dark and it smelled so bad
2:52 and I couldn't go outside but even
2:53 though the door was closed and everything
2:54 everything
2:57 I had watery eyes runny nose burning in
2:59 the back of my throat
3:01 the asthma had kicked in real bad that I
3:15 [Music]
3:18 that time I got really sick like they
3:20 did like a lot of pain I woke up in the
3:21 middle of the night and it came to tell
3:23 my stepdad that I was in pain and like
3:25 like I barely made it to their room I
3:28 was they couldn't walk
3:33 s there were like three different
3:36 agencies who were reporting back to us
3:39 the EPA had a plane that was flying over
3:41 saying oh this is not hazardous
3:43 we had the county that was map
3:46 monitoring now everything is great
3:48 then we had the state of Texas and
3:49 they're like you know residents you guys
3:55 it could have already had things in
3:58 place but they didn't the point is to
4:00 already have everything in place so that
4:02 we get the data that we need to find out
4:04 what's actually in the air when
4:12 there are two pollutants that are a big
4:15 concern in Houston in terms of cancer
4:16 one of the pollutants has been seen and
4:19 the other one is one three Betadine
4:22 Benzene is everywhere in the United
4:24 States because it's emitted from cars
4:28 it's in gasoline so it's common we have
4:29 higher levels than other places because
4:31 it's also emitted from industry like
4:34 these chemical plants and refineries
4:36 Benzene is what we call a class a
4:38 carcinogen which means we know for
4:40 certain that it's linked to cancer in
4:46 one through butadiene is a specific
4:49 pollutant that comes from rubber
4:50 manufacturing and things like that we
4:53 have that here in Houston it's also a
4:55 class a carcinogen and it also causes Leukemia
4:58 Leukemia
5:00 we really don't know what happens when a
5:02 person breathes both of them together
5:05 whether their risk is additive whether
5:07 it's multiplicative you know how they
5:13 even I mean over the years we can sit
5:15 here all we want and say this is bad we
5:17 smell it God's got to do something but
5:18 they always come back they will proof
5:20 you got
5:22 starting to smell real battering I actually
5:23 actually
5:25 right now we can call tishu right now
5:27 let me give myself one I'll call him
5:28 right hey I smell something right now
5:30 come and check it out they don't come
5:31 right away they'll come like four or
5:33 five hours later maybe they'll come the
5:35 next day by the time they get here it's
5:37 gone so it's like what proof do you got
5:43 I'm working as a community air
5:46 monitoring program manager now is we're
5:48 working on installing local Air
5:50 monitoring networks in these local communities
5:51 communities
5:53 with these air monitoring networks we're
5:54 going to put up then we're going to have
5:56 proof because these things record what's
5:57 going on [Music]
6:04 if we don't defend ourselves in the
6:06 state ain't watching for us the federal
6:08 government ain't watching for us what we
6:09 got to do for our own foreign
6:14 this is called a purple air monitor this
6:16 one's real good at measuring particles
6:19 in the air smoke dusting
6:21 so we installed purple monitor here on
6:23 15th Street
6:25 as long as it's connected to the power
6:27 connected to the Wi-Fi the monitor will
6:28 continue to report [Music]
6:31 [Music]
6:32 you can see there's some in the middle
6:34 of downtown their quality is green that
6:36 means it's good if it's yellow it's
6:38 getting bad if it's red it's bad air
6:40 quality in that area so we're hoping to
6:42 get as many of these up here in the Park
6:44 area so we can have a nice footprint of
6:46 what's going on in this in this area [Music]
6:56 I've been doing chemical plant cases so
6:59 long that when ITC happened it was I
7:01 think the fifth case I've been working
7:08 I represent over 4 500 plaintiffs
7:12 and there's I believe over 10 000 people
7:16 that have been represented by lawyers
7:18 the only way that I can have a case is
7:22 in an acute injury state with medical
7:25 records within the first few week or two
7:28 and that's it because after that within
7:30 48 to 72 hours the chemical is out of
7:32 your system even if you did breathe it
7:35 in and that clears you from any future
7:38 issues or injuries although you'll never
7:40 know you'll never know but
7:42 scientifically which is what the law
7:44 requires me to have I don't have that proof
7:48 okay
7:50 so we're about to get on 225 and just
7:57 but that passed away a couple years ago
7:59 but he used to work in refineries he had
8:01 a heart attack and he died at Chevron
8:02 where he worked at
8:04 but before he died he was
8:05 looking for lawyers because he was
8:07 exposed to Asbestos and exposed to a lot
8:10 of stuff and because his health started
8:11 changing on him but he had a heart
8:16 so these neighborhoods in particular have
8:17 have
8:21 six times the rate of ambulance treated
8:23 asthma attacks as the rest of Houston
8:27 and they have two times the rate of
8:28 cardiac arrest
8:32 so we know that pollution is a trigger
8:37 look at that company over there that's
8:39 that's one of the worst offenders
8:45 right now they're trying to get a permit
8:47 right now so they can emit more hydrogen
8:48 go right here in the air was they
8:50 already do enough but they want to do
8:53 more we find out about it and now myself
8:54 and I put the Pasadena residence we're
8:56 trying to contest that hearing because
9:05 I live in Galena Park and I worry a lot
9:07 about this company because the winds
9:08 usually are blowing in from the
9:10 southeast from the Gulf so they blow in
9:11 Galena Park is right there in this direction
9:22 how long has been swallowed this for it
9:24 started after the rain stopped around 5
9:30 but it's gotten stronger as the night
9:32 has gone by
9:35 that's it right there
9:37 oh my God
9:40 it smells right here yeah it's coming
9:42 from there bro it smells right there
9:44 you're about to get an even bigger Smith
10:04 breaking news tonight from Laporte a
10:06 chemical leak at the liondale basil
10:08 plant leaves two dead and hospitalizes
10:11 over 30 after the release of some 100
10:13 000 pounds of an acetic acid mixture
10:17 Houston lawyer Benny Augusto Jr explains
10:20 it'll burn you or kill you because when
10:22 it goes into your lungs it burns your
10:24 lungs on the inside you can't breathe
10:28 and unfortunately uh there's no CPR
10:30 that'll save you this is what the acidic
10:32 acid released in Tuesday night's deadly
10:34 leak at the lion Del basil plant in
10:36 Laporte does to the body according to
10:39 attorney Benny Agosto Jr I can't recall
10:41 of seeing a hundred thousand pounds of
10:44 acetic acid coming out into a unit where
10:45 they're working the leak will be closely
10:47 investigated by the chemical safety
10:49 board and OSHA according to Augusta
10:52 Junior I've seen small releases that
10:54 some pipe just leaks a little bit Burns
10:56 a little bit somewhere nothing like this
10:58 nothing like this this has been
11:07 some states have zoning
11:09 Texas and Houston doesn't have zoning
11:11 it's pretty inexpensive to live next
11:14 door to a chemical plants so people want
11:17 to live at an inexpensive place but then
11:19 you're exposed to the environment
11:22 hazards that are coming out of it and
11:24 this is not new especially not in the
11:26 Gulf Coast it's something that we've had
11:28 to deal with for many many years so
11:32 what's the remedy the remedy is Cash is
11:34 that is that yes the Texas Constitution
11:37 only allows us to during civil suits to
11:40 sue for money money damages we can't uh
11:44 put anybody in jail we can't uh enforce
11:47 anything else uh any other compliance to
11:56 I wouldn't want a Refinery or any
11:58 chemical plants within a 25 mile radius
12:01 of where people live or animals live and
12:03 but that's not the case so we're having
12:06 to force these refineries to be good
12:08 stewards or we're following lawsuits
12:10 against them
12:12 for those people living right at the
12:14 fence line This is today this is their
12:16 children this is their life and I think
12:17 we need to do whatever we can to get
12:19 them out of Harm's Way and make sure
12:22 that they have
12:29 [Music]
12:31 they found the tumor where she was still
12:33 in the womb so it was like a month out
12:36 before she was born they saw that she
12:38 had a growth coming right above her
12:42 they could tell that every time they
12:44 checked it it was getting bigger and
12:47 bigger so they had to induce her birth
12:49 almost a month beforehand because they
12:51 were scared that they left her in there
12:53 it might grow too big and really hurt her
12:57 as soon as she came out they had to do
12:59 surgery on her to try to get the growth
13:02 out after they did the surgery then she
13:04 had to go through chemo
13:07 and then we waited a little bit and it
13:08 came back
13:11 after it came back a second time did a
13:13 second surgery it was the most painful
13:14 thing I went through because she was in
13:17 so much pain afterwards but it seems
13:19 like they really got it the last time
13:21 she's been over four years now she's
13:23 been cancer-free
13:25 I can't say for sure that the pollution
13:27 had something to do with it but it is in
13:29 the back of my mind makes me wonder I
13:30 mean there's no way to really know to
13:32 trace it back where it came about and
13:34 how it got to it but it does get me
13:37 scared about living so close to
13:39 refineries about what it could affect
13:41 their long term ever
13:55 what tribes do you think the oil
13:59 companies the refineries have made in
14:13 well in BP Texas City exploded that
14:16 plant we have memos from the president
14:18 of the plant manager that says we're
14:20 making so much money we're printing
14:24 money that was the attitude that these
14:26 folks had and that is an attitude that
14:28 we see across
14:32 and so we see that for 50 60 70 years
14:33 some of these plants are that old
14:35 they've been making money every week
14:38 every month
14:40 when you are in Pasadena and Deer Park
14:43 the average person does not smell money
14:47 what we smell is the side effects of the
14:49 production whether it's Plastics or or
14:52 gas that's being worked up over there it
14:54 doesn't smell good but ultimately the
14:55 smell of money is not really running
14:58 through the community it's running up
15:01 the halls of the shiny Tower where the
15:04 decisions are made
15:06 it'd be nice to have a dialogue with the
15:08 companies and have them be more
15:11 accountable for when there is an issue I
15:13 mean right now some companies get fined
15:15 for what they do and get written up but
15:18 a lot of times cceq doesn't even collect
15:19 the fines so they're so low the
15:21 companies will gladly pay it they're
15:23 like here it's easier to pay it than it
15:49 [Music]
15:51 I mean it's not like they're going to
15:52 shut down and leave because they got
15:54 more money to outlast us
15:57 we're working on trying to monitor the
15:59 air to see what's going on and try to
16:01 cut back you know so the companies will
16:02 come back on their admissions try to
16:04 make it safer for the community and
16:06 trying to clean up the year to do the
16:08 best that we can
16:11 if I wanted to leave I guess I could
16:12 but I don't want to be like everybody
16:13 else that leaves and leaves it all
16:15 behind I want to be able to make a fight
16:17 and stand for our community because why
16:20 should we have to leave foreign
16:21 foreign [Music]
