PASCAGOULA, Miss. - A group of Pascagoula residents living next door to one of the coast’s largest industrial complexes is uniting over its fight for a cleaner environment.
Two environmental researchers from Colorado and New Hampshire visited with the Cherokee Concerned Citizens July 21 on a mission to help.
Barbara Weckesser is a Cherokee Drive resident, founder of the Concerned Citizens group and an advocate for a better quality of life, has been pushing for it for over 10 years.
“We’ve never been against industry" but know the "major impacts it has had on our health,” she said.
“I don’t have time to wait,” Weckesser said. “My health is getting worse ... My neighbor’s health is getting worse.”
Since December, Thriving Earth research scientists Catherine Duderstadt from the University of New Hampshire and Caroline Frischmon from the University of Colorado-Boulder have met with the Concerned Citizens virtually every other week.
For months, they reviewed Weckesser’s surveys and data from MDEQ and EPA.
“It’s really difficult to prove the presence of a problem because it’s invisible and easy to dismiss,” Frischmon said. “Some of the most striking data ... is the health surveys.”
In February, MDEQ responded to the area and reported an all-clear.
Thriving Earth’s next step is to collect its own data.
The non-profit’s data findings will give Weckesser and other citizens a new tool in their ongoing - and now legal - battle.
The Cherokee Concerned Citizens filed a federal lawsuit against the EPA regarding the potential for additional concerning pollutants. That is still ongoing.
MDEQ has been awarded two grants for an upcoming air quality monitoring project and got funding for one.
MDEQ’s next step is to reach out to its project partners to begin developing and implementing the community engagement plan. (WLOX 07/21/23) UPDATE: Researchers visit Pascagoula neighborhood to help track nearby industry pollution (wlox.com)
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