The community of Channelview, Texas is struggling with the encroachment of the petrochemical industry and the environmental and safety hazards it poses.
Channelview is unincorporated in east Harris County with a population of about 40,000. It was considered a slice of heaven by the residents who enjoyed the boating and fishing the San Jacinto River offered.
But there was a boon and expansion of the petrochemical industry which not only was crowding out the residential community but also subjecting the hold outs to dangerous chemicals along with the threats of explosions.
Despite these challenges, the residents try to maintain a sense of community and support each other.
Carolyn Stone and Greg Moss have both seen their paradise lost and their quiet lives upended by a series of devastating — and personal — industrial accidents.
What worried people most was the flotilla of barges invading Channelview. By the spring of 2007, more than 50 barges were parked along the mile and a half stretch of river that borders Carolyn's neighborhood. Others were clustered near the Interstate 10 bridge that separates North and South Channelview.
The barges were parked along the river, but they were not inert. They could be dangerous because barges store and transport highly combustible chemicals. They are also a hazard to the air quality because they release or vent chemical vapors into the air.
“You don't know what's on them things. And these barges, they got the same chemicals they got in them damn refineries. It could be full of something that's explosive, and if they have an accident, it blows up. There's houses right there. There's people right there,” Greg Moss said.
Moss decided it was time for him to take action. He wasn’t going to stay silent about what is happening to Channelview any longer.
Texas Public Radio’s Texas Matters is bringing you part three of Fumed, an investigative podcast series about Channelview. The series is from our partners at Public Health Watch – a nonprofit newsroom, is called Fumed.
It tells the story of two stubborn Harris County residents who challenged the powerful companies that they say are taking over their once peaceful neighborhood.
For the full episodes of Fumed click over to Apple, Spotify, YouTube or the Fumed dedicated website. Listen along as Public Health Watch unpacks the stories of people who live in the shadows of America’s chemical plants and oil refineries.
