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CHE INSTITUTE: Before the term environmental justice was popularized in the 1990’s El Puente had been deeply immersed in the struggle for a cleaner environment and a decrease in the amount of hazards and toxins facing the predominately low income Latino neighborhood of Southside Brooklyn. Back in 1987, the Toxic Avengers of El Puente recognized the threat that the Radiac posed to the surrounding community and informed their neighbors about the contents of Radiac and how disastrous an accident could be. What is Radiac?
Radiac operates two contiguous storage and transfer stations – one for hazardous waste and one for radioactive waste. These 2 stores together hold enough harmful material to potentially kill millions of people. Radiac’s block and its immediate neighborhood were mostly industrial when the facility first opened in the 1970s but since then have become primarily residential. Not only are there occupied apartments with small children immediately next door to Radiac -- there is now a public school with 1,200 students just a block away. In the hazardous waste facility, Radiac stores large quantities of flammable liquids, oxidizers, poisons, and other chemicals. In the contiguous radioactive waste facility, Radiac stores a wide variety of isotopes, and is even allowed to store plutonium. The two facilities have accumulated a long history of violations of the environmental, radiological, and health and safety regulations. According to Radiac’s own fire consultant, the fire suppression system is woefully inadequate to prevent a minor fire from becoming a conflagration of catastrophic proportions. It should go without saying that such a facility poses an unacceptable opportunity to terrorists and an unacceptable temptation to local vandals, especially in view of the inadequate security precautions, and poses a greater threat to an accident at the facility resulting in a deadly fire of toxic smoke. Radiac was last subjected to a serious regulatory review in 1988. Its
permit was renewed then based largely on the industrial character of the neighborhood. The
permit expired in 1992, but it has remained in effect because Radiac applied for renewal
before the expiration, and in the more than a decade since then DEC has not acted. In recent years, the efforts of the Toxic Avengers and environmental activists in the El Puente have joined several other neighborhood groups like NAG and Williamsburg Watch, parents, and concerned neighbors of all ethnicities to collectively fight to rid Kent Ave. of Radiac once and for all. This is a practice that El Puente has successfully employed in the banishment of a 12 story garbage incinerator the city has planned for Williamsburg. We are hopeful this year will provide the last chapter in the 20 year struggle to close Radiac down and protect our families against this uninvited and unwanted disaster waiting to happen. Stay tuned for the upcoming NYSDEC hearing that will decide the fate
our future well being...
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