Suzie Canales
5757 S. Staples #3105
Corpus Christi, TX 78413
June 21, 2002
To: Committee of
Environment and Public Works (S. 606)
From: Citizens
for Environmental Justice (CFEJ)
Dear Committee
of EPW,
My name is Suzie
Canales with Citizens for Environmental Justice (CFEJ) based in Corpus Christi,
Texas.
We are a
bipartisan watchdog group residing in a county that is mostly Hispanic and
low-income. We live in an industrial City with numerous refineries. Over the last
50 years, Nueces County operated over 40 pre-regulation landfills.
For decades our
county has been environmentally over-burdened. We have documentation of high
cancer rates as well as high birth defects, yet Local, State and Federal
Agencies have dismissed our environmental health concerns conducting studies
that were inadequate, misleading and arbitrary.
Government
agencies, in this case the EPA, must be held accountable. The only way to
ensure that grassroots citizens groups get a fair and impartial review of our
disputes with the EPA is to support S. 606. It is imperative that the National Ombudsman
has the additional authority S. 606 proposes in order to conduct inquiries into
disputes such as ours. This will ensure that the EPA, the agency charged with
protecting the environment be held accountable to the people who turn to them
with environmental concerns. If there is no effective accountability system in
place, I can assure you it is not the EPA who will suffer, it is the people
affected.
It is imperative
that Robert Martin be reinstated with all the authority proposed in S.606. In
our corner of the world, this would insure that our community would at last get
a fair investigation that we deserve.
Therefore, we
respectfully request that the Committee of Environment and Public Works,
support S. 606.
Sincerely Yours,
Suzie Canales
CFEJ