Linda Robles has become a leading national voice regarding toxic contamination in Latino barrios.
In Linda’s words
August 21, 2022
Linda Robles is an advocate for clean air and water in South Tucson, Arizona
Linda Robles is a phenomenal, passionate organizer for clean air and water in the Tucson, Arizona’s south-side barrio where she lives. In 2007, she lost her child to a rare disease she believes was caused by exposures to numerous toxic chemicals, including trichloroethylene, chromium hexavalent, 1,4 - dioxane, and PFAS in the drinking water.
Linda has become one of the leading national voices regarding PFAS exposures in Latino barrios. She has worked as a community liaison with the National Academies of the Sciences, and she continues to organize with several national groups like the National PFAS Contamination Coalition. that work to raise awareness of environmental racism. Linda is in the process of initiating a community-led PFAS health study that will assess PFAS concentrations in human blood.
In Linda’s words:
From 1975 through 1982 my older children were born with different birth defects due to groundwater pollution in the Tucson south side where I grew up. In 2001, I purchased my first dream home located about 3 miles away from the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund site and just a little further from the Davis-Monthan AFB.
Linda and Tianna in 2004.
In 2003, my little girl Tianna started getting sick with kidney failure. Later she was diagnosed with lupus and nephrotic syndrome. In 2007, 19-year-old Tianna died of a rare cancer related auto immune disease known as Lupus and kidney failure. I believe her death was caused by community-wide exposure to toxic chemicals like PFAS and historical environmental injustices occurring in my community for decades.
In 2008 my youngest child Clara became very ill and was later diagnosed with the same illness. In 2009, my son Jojo also became very ill and was experiencing unusual rashes in his entire body. He was later diagnosed with male Lupus. In 2017 my little niece Princess Mia died of a rare childhood brain cancer known as DIPG.
In 2019 my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer and is undergoing cancer treatment. Because he doesn't have health insurance, he has to pay out of pocket expenses for his treatment and health monitoring. Many people in my community were also getting sick with the same illnesses.
In 2017, Tucson Water Officials admitted that they had been sending untreated water laced with PFAS to over 600,000 customers. Last year Tucson Water announced that they had to shut down the Tucson Airport Remediation Project (TARP) Wastewater Treatment Plant and numerous production wells. Afterward, state investigations found PFAS concentrations of 70,000 ppt in the Tucson south and Tucson central areas. Since then, the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has authorized the city of Tucson to put the plant back in operation.
The plan is going to permit Tucson Water Officials to discharge (dump/dispose) of large quantities of PFAS from the TARP Plant into the Santa Cruz River Outfall, in addition to the TCE and Hex 6-Chromium and 1,4-dioane and other commercial wastes.
At the present time no attention has been given to the people who live, work, play and pray in PFAS hot spot neighborhoods located near the Morris Air National Guard Base at Tucson International Airport or Davis-Monthan Air Force base just a few miles to the northeast.
These areas are predominantly Hispanic minority low income populated barrios. No attention has been placed on the people who drink, bathe and cook using the toxic water. Some people got sick right away, some not until later, others are in the process of getting sick.
This contamination and the resulting illnesses were not an act of God but, instead resulted from careless and criminal hazardous waste disposal practices, lax government oversight, weak regulations, poor enforcement and callous indifference to human suffering. All of this is the result of a distinctive brand of rabid American environmental racism. We are an environmental justice (EJ) community. We are victims of indifference.
Our activism has faced many uphill EJ battles with state and local government agencies to address PFAS contamination. We must provide our region with PFAS medical monitoring programs, especially in disadvantaged, and underserved communities disproportionately impacted by PFAS and other toxins. Deeply embedded environmental racism causes many in authority to ignore us, but we are still here and we are not backing down.
