Environmental racism is endangering the health and safety
of people who live and work in Orlando’s predominantly black Tangelo Park
community.
Lawyers representing people who live and work in Tangelo
Park accused the Lockheed Martin company of poisoning the soil and groundwater
in Tangelo Park. Lockheed Martin’s main Orlando plant on Sand Lake Road is
adjacent to Tangelo Park.
Lockheed Martin, formerly known as Martin Marietta, has
been manufacturing aircraft, aerospace and defense products at that sprawling
Sand Lake Road plant for decades. Lockheed Martin is one of Orlando’s major
employers.
Powerhouse Orlando law firm Morgan & Morgan accused Lockheed
of mishandling dangerous toxic chemicals used it its products and those
substances have caused a range of severe sicknesses in people living and
working in the area.
It’s noteworthy that some people working at NBC’s Golf
Channel broadcast network, based in Tangelo Park, have also complained about
illnesses that are believed linked to chemicals used by Lockheed.
Throughout the nation millions of black people live in
communities that have been polluted with toxic waste and that has resulted in a
variety of deaths, cancers and other sicknesses. Frequently this happens because many black
communities lack the political juice to keep companies with dangerous products
out of their neighborhood. This is problem, known as environmental racism, has
been widely reported in the news media and is the subject of a report you can
read by clicking
here.
There are two federally designated Super Fund sites
downtown in Orlando historically black Parramore community. Super Fund sites
are the location of the most toxic and dangerous locations in the country. It
usually requires tens of millions of dollars to remove pollutants from those
sites.
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