Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Houston, TX -- Affected community members testified last night at a public hearing on TPC Group’s proposed expansion of its polluting butadiene plant in the Houston Ship Channel.
TPC Group has a history of illegal chemical releases and industrial fires, including a massive explosion and fire that burned for over a month at the company’s Port Neches plant. The company has proposed to expand its operations in Houston, seeking a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to emit even more harmful air pollution into already overburdened communities.
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club is one of several entities seeking to formally oppose the permit and expansion through a Contested Case Hearing. If Sierra Club is named as a party, those administrative hearings would occur later this year. A copy of the Sierra Club’s request, as filed by the Environmental Integrity Project, can be found here.
Sierra Club Gulf Coast Organizer Bryan Parras released the following statement:
“I have lived within 2.5 miles of the TPC plant and lived with their smokestacks billowing toxic black smoke over our neighborhoods, schools, and parks for the majority of my life. We have not suffered the impacts from a disastrous explosion like the one that took place at TPC's plant in Port Neches yet, but it is only a matter of time before we too will be faced with a chemical disaster. In the meantime, we have to live with the immediate health impacts caused by 1-3 butadiene, a known carcinogen. TPC has been a bad neighbor and shown little regard for its neighbors, residents, and children who reside next to this polluting facility, and they have contributed to the poor public health outcomes that so many of us suffer from. TCEQ should not grant TPC any permits for expansion or increased air emissions at our community's expense."
Photos and video of the existing TPC Houston plant are available here.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, 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.