Community rallies against toxic site in neighborhood
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Brawley community members rallied outside the police department Thursday. They protested a public meeting held there by the Department of Toxic Substances Control and city officials. Rally organizers said DTSC is not moving fast enough on forcing the company CHEVRON to clean up the closed fertilizer plant they own in the city. They said the area where the plant sits is contaminated and making neighbors sick. They want DTSC to force CHEVRON to remove several feet deep of contaminated soil and replace it with new soil. They also said the police department is not the right place for a public meeting.
City officials said they chose to meet there because their regular public meeting place at Del Rio Library has air-conditioning problems.
Brawley resident and rally organizer Eric Reyes said, “The community has made its demand clear and DTSC is dancing, as you would say, around our demands. We want a comprehensive community health assessment made by professionals so we know the impacts of the past and into the future.”
Chevron plans to do maintenance work on the site next week to prevent some of the top soil blowing away into the neighborhoods around it.
Watch our newscast for more details.
