Jonathon Berman, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org
Houston, TX -- Today, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner named former Shell chairman and president Marvin Odum as the chief recovery officer to oversee the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
In response, Sierra Club Organizer Bryan Parras released the following statement:
“The people in the hardest hit communities in Houston and around the Gulf Coast deserve an equitable and just recovery that leaves no one behind, but naming the former chairman of one of the leading pollution causing companies to oversee operations raises serious questions about whether that will ever happen. Shell Oil is responsible for so much of the toxic infrastructure in our communities that has made families sick -- with or without the storm -- so it’s baffling to see this appointment made. Texas community voices deserve to be heard first, not corporate polluters.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.