Forum Post: Pollution is a Violent Crime!

Can those hurt by it's violence be made whole?

"The corporation doesn't have to pay compensation for pollution it caused in Texas. But pollution is a violent crime—and should be prosecuted as such."

Perhaps Texas isn't the best place for such ground breaking, precedent setting court battles?

"A shameful court decision in Texas shows why we need to see pollution for what it is: violence, usually against poor and vulnerable people.

The situation is Erin Brockovich stuff. A Citgo refinery bordering Corpus Christi’s poor, largely minority Hillcrest neighborhood was illegally allowing benzene and other pollutants to escape its tanks. A jury found it guilty, not just civilly, but criminally. This unusually severe judgment was the first criminal conviction of a refinery operation under the Clean Air Act. With the support of the Justice Department, the victims sought what victims of ordinary crime expect when possible: restitution from the wrongdoer to make them whole. "

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/08/environmental-racism-is-real-and-this-judgment-proves-it.html