We recently came across this great infographic featuring Mr Yuk, a public service meme from our youth intended to warn kids about household dangers. Here though it is being employed to talk about toxins in our air, water and environment that we do not get tagged with danger symbols.
We thought it was a great compliment to remind readers to check out the complete weeks worth of coverage from NPR and The Center for Public Integrity that launched on Tuesday and looks at several critical failings of the Texas Commission for
Environmental Quality and the EPA over the last decade.
Many of the national stories are collected on NPR’s website, but several local and Texas specific investigations done by KUHF and KUT in Austin are particularly worth pointing out if you missed them on the earlier.
- Mapping ‘Poisoned Places’ in Texas (11/7)
- Texas’ Lax Pollution Enforcement Leads Harris County to Take Action (11/8)
- Texas Stands Out on Polluter List (11/9)
- On Refinery Row, a Life of Fires, Smoke and Sickness (11/10)
As a whole the series is a serious condemnation of the state agency responsible for protecting our environmental well-being. Clearly action must be taken by state lawmakers in the immediate future or they will risk compromising public health programs they are already clamoring about how they can continue to support.