NAACP Says "No" To More Trash at Dallas Landfill

 DALLAS —No in my backyard.

The city of Dallas wants to add trash to the McCommas landfill in southern Dallas. The NAACP says no. They are joining the fight to stop the city from putting even more North Texas trash into the landfill.

Currently, garbage from single-family homes goes into the landfill; the city of Dallas wants to add all the trash from apartments and businesses.

That proposal has the civil rights organization asking the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Texas to review the plan. The NAACP says it is fighting for environmental justice.

In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency last week, the chapter's president, Juanita Wallace, explained the NAACP's opposition to what the city used to call "flow control," but more recently has taken to calling "resource control."

The plan "would divert the disposal of a million tons per year of commercial waste from landfills in north Dallas County to Southern Dallas in a predominantly low income and minority impacted area," the letter said.

Wallace said increased truck traffic near the landfill would increase emissions and exacerbate respiratory problems that poor children already suffer in disproportionate numbers.

At an NAACP news conference on the issue this morning, Wallace introduced Port Arthur environmental activist Hilton Kelley.

"I've taken an extensive look into communities like south Dallas, and what we've found is that where you have a large number of people of color or low income, this is where you find a lot of the dump sites across this nation," Kelley said.

 NAACP LETTER -to-Epa-on-Flow-Control

Kelly added, "We know that the volume of trucks coming through the community will increase, and we know that the diesel emissions will possibly increase as well. That will have a serious impact on the kids in those communities who already disproportionately suffering with respiratory problems."

The city estimates the changes at the McCommas landfill would bring in up to $15 million in additional annual revenue.