Thermal Justice Tour Shines Light On Environmental Pollution

Community activists in Southern California’s Coachella Valley conducted an “environmental justice” tour for state lawmakers and regulatory officials in this region southeast of Los Angeles to show policymakers persistent hazards such as abandoned dumps and shoddy migrant housing.

The tour on Friday preceded a state legislative field hearing in Thermal on environmental safety and toxins.

State Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski and state environmental regulators toured five sites, including an abandoned dump, a soil recycling facility blamed for noxious fumes, and trailer parks where migrant workers live with arsenic-tainted water and spotty electricity.

The tour comes after federal regulators temporarily shut down soil recycler Western Environmental, Inc. over the smell from its site.

It’s part of a new strategy by activists to draw attention to environmental conditions in the eastern valley.