This letter by Carrie Robertson Meyer, “Trust issues based on industry performance,” highlights industry struggles to keep promises.
The Austrian company, Voestalpine, came to town a few years ago and proactively reached out to the environmental community to ensure everyone how clean and responsible they were going to be. They even flew officials over to Austria to tour their other plant. Once they started operating, it looks like they cut corners by not properly housing the raw material (20 unauthorized, uncovered piles of iron ore). That stuff blew into the nearby neighborhood and impacted people’s lives. So the main thing they promised (environmental responsibly) turns out not to be true.
Last month, M&G was in the news for going bankrupt. This is the company that promised to build their own desalination plant (didn’t do that) and bring hundreds of high-paying jobs. Now they’re not paying their workers.
Neither of these companies did what they promised in order to get their foot in the door to your community.
What does this bode about ExxonMobil SABIC, which plans to build the world’s largest steam cracker plant less than two miles from Gregory-Portland High School? Are we supposed to believe their promises, too, and trust that our school children and our community right next door will be safe?
Carrie Robertson Meyer, Corpus Christi