THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Those may not be the only criteria for industrial plant placement in Texas, but they are given extra weight by the real Texans who don't want those damn plants in their neighborhoods.

White residents make up a majority of Texas City’s population, according to recent census data, followed by Latinos. Plants flank much of the port of Texas City, including Trylas’ century-old black community, which was settled just after the Civil War by newly freed former slaves and cowboys. A more affluent, majority-white part of the city is home to a flurry of mini-malls, franchises and chain stores, including Starbucks.

Should Fund Connell USA Energy and Chemical Investment Corp. — a Delaware-incorporated enterprise of Chinese politician-entrepreneurs Song Zhiping and Zhang Jun — decide not to build the plant in Texas City, according to local media reports, it has eyed an alternative location in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, another predominantly black community, which after the Civil War was one of the largest African-American communities in the United States.

It remains unclear why Song and Zhang considered Donaldsonville, but according to The Galveston County Daily News, the office of then-Gov. Rick Perry directed the Chinese bid to Don Gartman, then the president of the Galveston County Economic Alliance (GCEA), which oversees Texas City development. The GCEA, Texas governor’s office and Perry’s representatives and affiliated organizations did not respond to a request for interview at time of publication.

“In many cases, it’s the foreign companies targeting the black communities here,” said Robert Bullard, the dean of the Texas Southern University School of Public Affairs, who in environmentalist circles is known as the father of environmental justice for his research on and advocacy against environmental racism.

“Now with globalization, you’re getting the companies coming from places with very poor track records on environmentalism … locating in the poorest communities and acting with impunity,” he added.

Not only are black communities being targeted for enterprises that Bullard called “poisonous,” but also the benefits to those communities remain unclear.

“We should be rich,” said Michelle Trotter, 49, another resident of Texas City’s black neighborhood, which is dotted with boarded-up homes abandoned after hurricanes. “The money from the plants isn’t coming to us. We don’t have the right leadership or lawyers.” She said her community has yet to see any trickle-down effect from the number of petrochemical plants just blocks from their homes.

“This community can’t even afford to bury our loved ones,” Trylas said.

Hell, its Texas. There are more than enough buzzards around to take care of the dead ones.