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