The beautiful city of Dallas, TX recently got a big pat on the back from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While that should be a good thing, the reason for the pat is that the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) is creating housing for poor people on a site that was formerly contaminated with lead.
While many will say that the word “formerly” is key here, it’s not. Would you move your family to an area that was “formerly” full of lead? What if you didn’t have a choice because you were poor? Either way, I personally would not roll the dice on that one.
Unfortunately for many families, they will not have that choice. As Amy Martyn of the Dallas Observer wrote in November:
“The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that the Dallas Housing Authority is being recognized for “excellence in site reuse in West Dallas.” The site in question is a 13.6-square-mile swath that used to be a designated superfund site, thanks to a heavy dose of lead contamination.”
A superfund site is basically a site that is designated to be cleansed of hazardous substances, as well as broadly defined “pollutants or contaminants.” So no, I still wouldn’t want to live there.
In Martyn’s article, she also covers the history of West Dallas and their problems with lead. She covers the lead recycling of the 1930’s to the 1995 discrimination lawsuit against the DHA. This lawsuit claimed that the DHA and the federal government concentrated affordable housing in poor areas, right were the lead contamination was.
With honors being given for these types of things, the EPA should not forget about the incident in Flint, Michigan. With the lead levels in children doubling in a year because of the contaminated water, they are a shoe-in for an award.
