User:Huertasj/sandbox

Article Evaluation I have chose to take notes on and evaluate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. One thing that distracted me from the article was how they did not cover all of the states responses, only 9 of the 50; this raises the question as to why they chose these specific states. everything in the article seems to be relevant, as DACA has many direct and indirect consequences, socially, economically and politically. The reaction section of the article seems to be geared more towards democrats and people who denounce the DACA decision. The article begins by stating that most reactions among republicans are mixed, but the article only gives reasons as to why some republicans did not support the bill. They failed to state why those republicans who did support the bill, did so. This read as a bias to me, the article does not give adequate reasoning behind both sides of the story. The side of the democrats seems to be over-represented, although I do not take issue with this, it could be more objective and tell both rationales for democrat and republicans.

Citations The citation links work, there does not seem to be any broken links, and the sources that are presented support the claims made in the article. Most of the sources used are from The Vox, CNN, government websites, The Washington Post" and American Immigration Council. While there is a good amount of research from objective websites the article seems to be leaning towards more democratic viewpoints. The viewpoints of republicans are underrepresented in this article when reading the sections like responses from states. There is no information, as far as I can see that is missing or that needs to be added, it is up-to-date and provides plenty information on DACA as well the direct and indirect affects is has socially, economically and otherwise.

Talk Pages It seems there is a long-standing war on terminology, and whether people should use "illegal vs undocumented", one side of the argument is that the connotations of the word "illegal" implies a state of being where a persons being is so foreign to the dominant culture that it is other worldly. Whereas "undocumented" simply implies individuals are not documented to a specific government. It lessens the sense of "other" for people, as opposed to "illegal" which heightens the sense of "other". This article is part of 5 other Wiki projects, which are rated "Start-class", however the Wiki article itself is rated of very high-importance and does not allow for changes unless debated upon in the talk page.

Discussion I think the way Wiki discusses topics on DACA or related to, is obviously different from the way our class discusses it, because of the level of expertise. There is a broader range of ideas and perspectives on Wiki pages. It seems as though the debate is more polarized, and each comment is on either sides of the right-wrong spectrum. They express this very strongly as well. My overall impression of the article was that it was very much leaning towards my political views, democratic, it cited a lot of liberal media sources. But it also had a lot of great facts and statistics that explained how DACA affects the U.S. economy.

References

The American DREAM

Environmental Racism San Antonio, Texas Kelly Airforce Base

Kelly Air Force Base (KAFB) is one of the Air Force's major aircraft maintenance facilities and takes up 4000 acres of land, surrounded by residential neighborhoods of primarily Hispanic populations. KAFB maintains various parts of aircraft such as jet engines, and accessory components and even nuclear materials, research shows that the base can generate as much as 282,000 tons of hazardous waste each year. Residents of the nearby communities have complained many times of unusual illnesses their children have experienced. One resident complained her children's legs and arms were bowing, and doctors were unable to determine the cause of it and were sent to a specialist, who assigned them to sleep with casts on their arms and legs to correct the damage, this lasted two years. Other cases are showing up now in the surrounding residential areas of KAFB in later generations, some children are born missing kidneys, ribs and even experience kidney failure and hair loss. Other residents are suffering from illnesses as well, a 1997 survey done in the residential neighborhoods close to KAFB showed 91% of adults and 79% of children are suffering from conditions ranging from the nose, ear, throat and central nervous system disorders. KAFB has had major negative impacts on the health of nearby residents because of the toxic waste dumping, scientists released information in 1983 revealing that toxic waste had been dumped into an uncovered-pit from 1960-1973. The waste in the pit contained various chemicals, such as PCB's DDT's, this created a problem for residents because it created a mass of toxic waste that contaminated the groundwater. A worker from KAFB claims that the Air Force was aware of the chemicals being thrown into the soil and did so intentionally. The chemicals have since gone into the groundwater under the nearby residential areas, at least three miles out. This is especially worrisome because a shallow aquifer runs beneath more than 20,000 homes and was once the main source of drinking water is now primarily used for watering lawns. However, even this is not safe, because they still have direct contact with the contaminated water through recreational activities. Recently there has even been growing concern about the contaminants migrating deeper into the Edwards Aquifer, which is the drinking water source for the City of San Antonio.

There have been initiatives to clean up the KAFB area, in 1994 the EPA had issued KAFB as high priority and designated Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commision (TNRCC) to the cleanup of the base as a top priority in the state. However, because TNRCC was lacking the resources to undertake the cleanup process, it contracted KAFB to pay TNRCC to monitor its own cleanup. KAFB denied taking any responsibility of the off-site contamination and suggested the neighborhoods could rely on earth's natural processes to handle the contamination, which could take up to 30 years if the base stopped using the pit. Much talk around the EPA closing the base forced discussions about the future of the base and included many different grassroots organizations that allowed for people in the neighborhood to be involved in decisionmaking. These grassroots organizations have filed charges against the EPA, TNRCC and the City of San Antonio that states they discriminate against the Latino community living near the base by ignoring their environmental protection and public health needs. These charges are still pending and the Latino community to this day still use contaminated water, some new residents are unaware and move in because of the cheap housing costs. While old residents are still fighting for their right to clean water and suffering the consequences every day.

A report prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services reveals that while there is no contamination leaking into Edwards aquifer, there are many leakage points within old wells that exist around Kelly Air Force Base and the residential areas. The report explains the two main geological zones, the shallow aquifer as described in the following from an excerpt of the report:

“The top of the shallow aquifer is found 3- to 37-feet below ground surface (bgs) across Kelly AFB, with depths ranging from 0 to 20 feet. The shallow aquifer generally exists as an unconfined water table aquifer, meaning that water can flow freely from the ground surface into the shallow aquifer. Below the shallow aquifer, seven different layers of clay and rock prevent the shallow aquifer water from going deeper into the ground.“ (Atsdr.Cdc.Gov, 2017)

The report describes in the following the Edwards aquifer, which is used as the main source of drinking water for the residents of the City of San Antonio:

“The second main water-bearing zone below Kelly AFB is the Edwards Aquifer. Below Kelly AFB, the Edwards Aquifer is approximately 1,500 feet bgs and slopes to the surface northwest of San Antonio in an area known as the Balcones fault zone. Water enters (recharges) the Edwards Aquifer in the Balcones fault zone via runoff from rain and from the bottom of rivers (CH2M Hill 1996). Under natural conditions, the Edwards Aquifer is not connected to the shallow aquifer below Kelly AFB. Hence, surface water does not naturally flow into the Edwards Aquifer below Kelly AFB.” (Atsdr.Cdc.Gov, 2017)

Now while according to this report there is no contamination in Edwards Aquifer which serves the greater San Antonio area, there is contamination in the wells located around the base, as well as in residential areas. And although residents are not supposed to use these wells, reports from neighborhood residents state that some do. What the report does show is that runoff from chemicals that have been dumped are affecting water and the soil. Which is dangerous because are being exposed to it, if it reaches their house or if they happen to use old wells around the area. Other reports still show that contamination is happening due to the high amount of cancer and other health issues in the area. The area where the base has been throwing chemicals has since been shut down and designated to clean up. However, progress is slow and no justice has been done for residents. who till this day are suffering from health issues.

Citations

Atsdr.Cdc.Gov, 2017, https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/KellyAFB-PC102804/KellyAFB_Onbase_Drinking_Water.pdf.

Base Closure In Texas | US EPA". 2015. US EPA. Accessed December 4 2017. https://www.epa.gov/tx/base-closure-texas.

Healthandenvironment.Org, 2017, https://www.healthandenvironment.org/docs/Kelly_AFB_Final.pdf.

Kelly Air Force Base: San Antonio's Dumping Ground ". 2017. Txpeer.Org. Accessed November 16 2017. http://www.txpeer.org/toxictour/kelly.html.

Silenced Voices From The Toxic Triangle". 2009. San Antonio Current. Accessed November 16 2017. https://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/silenced-voices-from-the-toxic-triangle/Content?oid=2377190.

Toxic Triangle Testing Drags On". 2017. Organicconsumers.Org. Accessed November 16 2017. https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/toxic-triangle-testing-drags.