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Article: As refinery accidents increase, minorities feel they face time bombs.(The Dallas Morning News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- October 17, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RODEO, Calif. _ Whenever Graciela Cruz heard the shrill sound of the alarm from the refinery next door to the Bayo Vista public housing project, her stomach clenched.
"We are one accident away from a disaster," said Cruz, her nostrils flaring at the acrid smell emanating from the refinery. "As it is, there is a constant fear and tension here knowing _ as a mother _ that this place is slowly killing my children.
"How could the government put us here knowing there's a giant refinery next door?"
Cruz, 49, spent eight years at the Bayo Vista project in Rodeo, a predominantly white, unincorporated town of fewer than 8,000 residents in Contra Costa ...