SALINAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — Boarded up windows are a fixture in Salinas, an industrial city on the southeast coast of Puerto Rico that is considered one of the most polluted regions in the United States.
For years, toxic ash and noxious chemicals from coal and thermal power plants have engulfed this community, and residents have complained of health problems ranging from cancer to Alzheimer’s.
Then, last year, a bomb: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials reported from Salinas that the city also has one of the highest concentrations of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas, in a U.S. jurisdiction.
“We are in many struggles,” said José Santiago, a 74-year-old retiree.
Emboldened by the attention the federal government has placed on Salinas, Santiago and others are demanding a major cleanup and sanctions for those who pollute the region.
“Until I die, I’m going to keep fighting,” said Elsa Modesto, a 77-year-old retiree who hasn’t missed a single EPA meeting since last year’s announcement. “I want to know what is in the environment.”
At 4.2 million pounds, Puerto Rico ranks 22nd out of 56 US states and territories based on total managed waste released per square mile. Six of the top 10 municipalities in that category are in the southern region of Puerto Rico, with Salinas in sixth place, according to the EPA.
Salinas also has one of the highest cancer incidence rates on the island, with 140 cases reported in 2019, according to the most recent official figures. Salinas has a higher rate than the neighboring town of Guayama, where cases of cancer and other illnesses have risen since the coal-fired Corporación AES power plant began operating there in 2002, said Dr. Gerson Jiménez, director of the Mennonite Hospital that has requested the closure of the plant.
The level of contamination has led the EPA for the first time to analyze the air and groundwater in the southeastern region of Puerto Rico. Agency head Michael Regan has said low-income communities and communities of color have suffered unfairly for decades.
Salinas is a city of nearly 26,000 residents, 28% of whom identify as African-American; and more than half of its population is poor, according to census data.
The city sits between the coal-fired power plant, two of the island’s largest thermoelectric plants and other factories, including one that produces thermosetting compounds, a material used in household appliances. That company, IDI Caribe Inc., is the facility emitting the most emissions in Salinas, according to the EPA.
In general, styrene and ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas, are the two main chemicals released into the air and water in Salinas, authorities say. Salinas and Guayama also have sulfur dioxide levels that exceed the new standards.
In addition, a study by the College of Chemists of Puerto Rico published at the end of 2021 found the presence of heavy metals linked to carbon in Salinas’ drinking water. The quantities found did not exceed the regulatory limits.
