 |
| ||
|
Bay Area Air District OK's More Cancer for Low-Income Community! San Francisco community groups, parents, students,teachers and Greenaction Say NO! Read the letters
from Chinese Progressive Association (PDF format)
|
Read the Letters! November 7,
2002 Re: Shell Gas Station Permit
Application #2136 Dear Mr. Norton: Greenaction is writing at the request of community members, parents and teachers regarding the proposed expansion of the Shell gas station located at 4298 Mission Street, San Francisco. First, it is clear that the Air District violated your own public participation and environmental justice guidelines by failing to provide multilingual notice about this project in the languages spoken by the majority of residents in the vicinity. Secondly, no public hearing or meeting was held by the Air District, despite the fact that the risk analysis done on the project acknowledges a very high cancer risk of 10 in a million to residents. It is unacceptable for a permit to pollute to be issued for a project with such a high cancer risk without a public meeting and public hearing, and without proper notice to the community. We are also troubled to learn that the Air District promised to meet with the community prior to a permit decision, but instead issued the permit on November 1, 2002 without ever meeting. Therefore, it is our belief that the Air District improperly and illegally issued a permit for this large expansion, in violation of your own policies and regulations and in violation of the civil rights of the low-income community of color that would be exposed to a significant cancer risk. In order to comply with your own policies and civil rights laws, and to avoid costly appeals and challenges, the Air District must immediately rescind the permit. You should reopen the public comment period, adequately notify the multilingual community, hold public meetings and hearings, and conduct a thorough environmental impact report prior to any new permit decision. If the Air District expects the public - including the environmental justice community - to believe your stated commitment to protecting health and complying with environmental justice, then we need to see concrete actions and not just empty promises. For health and environmental justice, Bradley Angel cc:
|