Dallas Environmental Injustice Archive
Dallas County's landscape of unmarked or untold environmental justice fights past and present.
The story of Dallas is the story of environmental racism.
1937 Home Owners Loan Corporation Map for Dallas
Dallas, like most major cities, developed and grew with racial segregation as a central land use policy, which guided where people lived and what was in their neighborhood. Redlining prevented Black and Brown neighborhoods from receiving the same investment and support from the government or banks that White neighborhood were afforded. This led to Black and Brown neighborhoods experiencing concentrations of poverty, and therefore exploitation of land for industrial or other undesirable land uses. It is not surprising that the areas that experienced redlining are also the areas where we see the majority of environmental justice issues today.
Despite Black, Brown and lower income neighborhoods being zoned to fail, residents have fought back time and time again against environmental injustices to defend their communities.
This mapping and storytelling tool was created to celebrate the environmental justice wins in Dallas and commemorate Earth Day 2021. We believe that the persistence and commitment that each fight takes to win is worth commemorating and celebrating as part of our Dallas heritage. We hope that you can engage with the history of environmental racism in Dallas, and plug in to fights happening today.
We are also excited to announce that this map is the first part of a year-long partnership to record and share oral histories from people who have been or are still impacted by environmental justice issues in Dallas. As part of our collaboration with the Clinton Global Initiative U, the next phase of this project will be the production of a podcast where these stories can be easily accessed and shared. Together, we can help rewrite the narrative of environmental racism in Dallas.
If we missed a fight, or you have a story to share, please reach out to downwindersatrisk@gmail.com or fill out this google form .
"My Neighborhood Is Killing Me" Podcast will be launching soon. Stay tuned for the first episode co-hosted by Paul Quinn College students.
Cement City (1925)
"Cement City was a small town in West Dallas created to support workers in the cement plants operating in the area. The town was situated on the Texas & Pacific Railroad line, just north of the La Reunion lands, about three miles west of the Dallas County Courthouse.
In the 1950s Lone Star greatly expanded operations and the company enjoyed a brief boon. By 1970 the limestone ran out and the plant closed. In 1979 Lone Star Properties, Inc., the real estate arm of Lone Star Industries, developed Lone Star Business Park at the site, with the one remaining smokestack from the cement plant as the business park's centerpiece." (Source: UT Archives )
The largely Mexican-American workforce, with few other housing options in a segregated Dallas, lived in the shadow of the cement plants in the company towns of Cemento Chico and Cemento Grande. Living near cement plants is correlated with increased risk of respiratory diseases . Now, the nearly 100-year-old history of these neighborhoods is being erased by new development along both I-30 and Singleton Blvd.
Cemento Grande and Cemento Chico
RSR Lead Smelter (1934)
"For nearly 50 years, the West Dallas area of Dallas, Texas, was home to a major lead smelter operated by the RSR Corporation. Facility operators processed spent car batteries and scrap lead. The company sent resulting waste materials, byproducts and batteries to nearby landfills where these wastes contaminated soils, sediment and groundwater. Wind also transported lead dust from the smelter into nearby parks, schools and neighborhoods. EPA placed the RSR Corporation site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List in 1995.
EPA assessed nearly 7,000 properties and cleaned up the yards of over 400 properties between 1991 and 1994. Much of the lead dust deposited from the RSR smokestack affected a nearby Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) public housing complex. With EPA oversight, DHA removed the soil contamination, demolished the sub-standard public housing that existed on the site and reconstructed more than 1,200 units of affordable housing for the West Dallas community." (Source: US EPA )
The cleanup and designation of West Dallas as a Superfund site happened because of organizing efforts lead by West Dallas Coalition for Environmental Justice. Learn more about their fight on this PBS short documentary .
RSR Lead Smelter
Flooding in South Dallas (1935)
"With sections of South Dallas inundated for the first time since the record 1908 flood, numerous bridges and highways and thousands of acres of lowlands hidden by its swirling, muddy currents, the roaring Trinity slowly was receding Monday night at Dallas after reaching a crest of 42.10 feet at 11 a.m. (DMN, May 21, 1935)"
"There was great rejoicing that the new-ish levees had held the waters and prevented the wide-scale flooding seen in 1922. But once you got to the Forest Avenue bridge (which ran below the Corinth St. viaduct and the Santa Fe railroad trestle), things got real bad real fast. In the photo above, the levee protection ends exactly at the railroad trestle — the Forest Avenue bridge is mostly underwater. The river above the trestle: a beautiful feat of engineering; below: water, water everywhere."
"Below the Forest Ave. bridge where the levee protection ended, flood conditions were far worse than those created by the 1922 inundation." (DMN, May 21, 1935)
(Source: Flashback Dallas)
Flooding in South Dallas
Dixie Metals Lead Smelter (1954)
"Peter Johnson, a community activist, said that Cadillac Heights was 'a community that was poisoned; the earth had been polluted. And it stunk. Most of those people were sick with cancer and kidney problems. The children had birth defects and some had lead poisoning. The city didn’t pay attention to their problems. Lead was a part of that community for a long time." (Source: D Magazine )
Located in Cadillac Heights in East Oak Cliff, this community hosted the lead smelter until the 1990s. Residents were relocated by the City of Dallas from the contaminated sites.
Read more here .
Dixie Metals Lead Smelter
Deepwood Dump (1980s-1990s)
In 1996, the Shady Grove community fought for the cleanup of an illegal dump that lasted over 10 years and caught fire in their neighborhood.
"The dump, which has existed for years in flagrant violation of city, state, and federal laws, made headlines earlier this year when it caught on fire and blanketed the surrounding community with noxious fumes for two months. City leaders reacted with predictable sound-bite outrage. "How could this have happened?" City Councilman Larry Duncan asked indignantly in the pages of The Dallas Morning News.
No one in the city, however, bothered to ask the fundamental question: how that massive dump came to be in the first place." (Source: Dallas Observer ).
Deepwood Dump
Lane Plating Superfund Site (2018)
This former electroplating factory caused toxic contamination in the soil and groundwater of Highland Hills from 1950. It was designated as a Federal Superfund Site in 2018.
The Lane Plating Citizens Advisory Group (CAG) is working to ensure their neighborhood is protected from further contamination and that cleanup is quick and comprehensive.
In January 2023, the EPA finally demolished the structure bringing the community one step closer to remediation of the site. The press release from the EPA can be read here.
“The Lane Plating Community Advisory Group will continue to amplify voices from Arden Terrence, who is demanding the safe removal of all hazardous materials from the Lane Plating Superfund Site and the creation of a healthy and safe place for residents,” said Allen McGill, Chair of the Lane Plating Community Advisory Group."
Lane Plating
Shingle Mountain (2018)
Residents in Floral Farms lived in the shadow of the 150,000 ton illegal dump called "Shingle Mountain" from 2018 to 2021.
The campaign to remove the mountain attracted city, state, and national media attention. Soledad O'Brian premiered a 1-hour feature about the campaign on her new show "Disrupt & Dismantle" on BET. Media coverage of the fight and information on the groups involved can be found here.
Shingle Mountain
GAF Asphalt Shingle Factory Fight (2021)
GAF has been in West Dallas for almost 80 years. Since 1946 asphalt shingles have been produced in the middle of a residential neighborhood along the Singleton Corridor, and it has been a non-conforming industrial land use since 1986. That means that the City could have initiated a legal process to remove them due to the 'adverse' impact is has on the community.
In January 2021, residents and advocates were notified of a permit renewal for the factory and requested a public meeting. This was granted in summer 2021 and occurred in the midst of a neighborhood-planning process in the Singleton corridor to address environmental injustices like GAF.
A residential association, consisting of neighbors adjacent to GAF, formed Singleton United/Unidos . They launched the "GAFs Gotta Go/GAF Vete Ya" campaign in August 2021. Since then, residents have advocated to ensure the company leaves West Dallas and the City of Dallas is held accountable. Follow the GAFs Gotta Go campaign website for updates.
GAF Shingle Factory
On this Earth Day, let's revisit environmental justice fights in Dallas. Some wins, some losses, but we celebrate the residents who continue the fight each day.
Each point of this working archive below represents an environmental justice landmark categorized by color for its status. Click the points to read more on each fight.
Full Environmental Justice Archive Map
