Reading Log: The Issue of Institutions

Geoffrey Guilcapi
English 1100
11 September 2016
Prof. Young

Reading Log: The Issue of Institutions

1. Lee has been obsessed with finding that Rosemont has toxic chemicals that hurts people living in the area ever since her daughter died. This consumed her life driving everyone away, for the most part, except for a select few people. Lee made it her mission to stop the building of a complex so she has been a thorn in the side of the developers and the EPA for the past several years. Therefore causing City Hall and the EPA to have a negative view towards Lee and her actions. Lee had a better result speaking out the City Hall meetings as they are open for anyone to attend. She has tried contacting the Mayor so then he could help her with some backing at the meetings. The Mayor finally got back to Lee and when he was talking to her “his voice was gentler than usual” as he has pity to Lee as he knows how the fiasco left her (Steinke 70). However he has enough of her snooping around with the land as she is the only one putting up a protest causing him to “slam something in his vicinity” while on the phone with her (Steinke 71). After her persistence to continually find something wrong with the land his tone shifted from gentle to aggravated with his last sentence of their conversation “there’s nothing out there but empty land waiting to be put to good use” (Steinke 71). The Mayor was finally fed up with persistence of Lee that he still has pity on her but is getting more aggravated with her behavior. In the City Hall meeting there were around thirty people that showed up and at the end Lee would talk about her research in Rosemont, but would only end up talking up talking with three people. Lee had gone on about the chemicals in Rosemont for so long that the audience she once had was depleting every meeting. Even at the meeting the mayor, as well as another councilmen, went a little further to solidify this point by standing “up from his seat and stomped the dais” when Lee tried to interject Ms. Dawson assessment of Rosemont (90). It would be safe to say that City Hall’s treatment of Lee is of frustration and aggravation that she is still going on about the effects the chemicals have on people. With the amount of work the EPA has done there is some obvious hostility with Lee when she consistently goes against their results. The EPA has been frequently making tests on the area to make sure it is safe, the majority of the time the results keep coming back clean and safe for human health. There is some obvious deception on their part because of the actual physical evidence toward the contrary, with many people dead or having some health damages. Ms. Dawson has shown the reaction to Lee as the rest of City Hall had in that meeting. When Lee interrupted Dawson’s assessment of Rosemont Dawson “nodded aggressively, her mouth screwed tight” giving the impression that she does not want to be there as she sees Lee a nuisance (89). Dawson even tried to hurry her out of the room by saying “we have our study. I’d be happy to take a look at your results” just to keep her out of the way and put the situation to rest (90). The EPA’s treatment to Lee is generally not benevolent with the fact that she is continually sending them data of what she found on the site and keeps the building from being built. 

The EPA and City Hall have both been fed up with Lee’s rebuttals for building on the Rosemont site. According to the EPA, the test that they did “there’s no real risk to human health” from the chemicals in the containers. (90). Even though Lee found the cancer rate from the residents that lived within two miles and found that it was five times the national average. Therefore creating a connection between the chemicals and dangerous affects to the residents in the area. That is not even all the affects the chemicals had on the residents, with some having hallucinations to organ failure in otherwise healthy humans. The EPA is hiding something from the people because of the massive revenue that the building would bring. Giving fraudulent data is not what an institution like the EPA should be doing, however they are playing at a bigger game that involves much powerful people than Lee causing the data to be shown as positive.

2.The EPA indirectly told Lee that the results that they yielded are up to code and should be taken as they have been continually testing the area with the same result. Results from the EPA showed that “there’s no real risk to human health” time and time again for the past several years; however with Lee’s results showing differently and being the only person who is going up against them, their view of her is not all that pleasant (Steinke 90). Lee was also able to collect data to show the increased risk of cancer if one were to live within a two mile radius causing the reader to come to the conclusion that the real tangible evidence is purposely left out of the results of the EPA. There is no real proof of foul play by the EPA but there is a lot of evidence that seems to favor business rather than human health causing the reader to come to the conclusion that the responsibility to protect of the EPA has not been met.

Works Cited

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. New York: Riverhead, 2014. Print.