Locals protest toxic site, call on Gov. Brown for help in cleaning it up
Brawley community members rallied outside the Police Department. They protested a public meeting held there by the Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Brawley resident and rally organizer Eric Reyes said, “[We’re] making our voice known, protesting the progress – or lack of progress – we see by the Department of Toxic Substance Control on the old PureGro site and how it should be handled.”
He said residents want Chevron, owner of PureGro, to clean up the site.
“Removal of all contaminated soil from the old PureGro site so that it can no longer impact anybody in our community,” Reyes said..
He said the contaminated site is making people in the area sick.
“The community has made its demand clear and DTSC is dancing is tap-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,” Reyes said.
Comite Civico Director Jose Luis Olmedo said, “It’s been over half a century that that facility PureGro was there and we don’t know to what extent the contamination has drifted into the community.”
They’re calling on Governor Jerry Brown for help.
“We need you to step in and hold DTSC accountable. They have a history of failing the community,” Olmedo said.
He also said the Police Department is no place for a public meeting.
“The fact that they’re meeting here is just further evidence that they don’t listen,” Olmedo said.
Brawley City Council Member Sam Couchman said the meeting with DTSC was productive.
“They discussed the clean-up. But, they also discussed some maintenance that will be occurring next week out of the site as routine two-year maintenance on the site to put down some dust control to avoid going into the residences that reside near that facility,” Couchman said.
He respects people’s right to rally but said some accusations made against DTSC were uncalled for.
“When you start accusing people of different things, I think it sometimes eliminates the possibility of people working together real closely,” Couchman said.
He said DTSC would let the public know when Chevron would start the clean-up work, but added he didn’t know when that would happen.
