Environmental Injustice in Grand Bois

In 1994 in Grand Bois, Louisiana waste from oil spills was driven through this small town to be dumped into the ground at a Campbell Wells Toxic Dump site. This was toxic waste that seeped into the ground, the water supply and polluted the air. The workers who brought in the waste wore protective clothing, and masks. The smell was so bad that the whole town was gagging when they went outside. Reports from people in the community stated that "children were getting off the school buses with shirts over their mouths". People reported sore throats and burning eyes. The towns people were being forced to endure dangerously high amounts of air hydrogen sulfide and they got very sick. Childern were examnied by doctors and were found to have unusually high blood lead levels, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. The towns people were never warned of any hazardous that came with the waste. They were not told to take any percautions, even though the men handling the waste did. This oil company was allowed to do this becuase most waste from oil is unregulated. They were just allowed to dump it and no one could do anything about it. The members of the community in Grand Bois went through a very lengthy and expensive law suit but the oil company was eventually cleared of any charges.
This is a clear case of Environmental injustice. Not only is Grand Bois a very small community, only about 250 people live there it is also made up of mostly blue collar workers. They happen to be mostly Native American as well. The oil company assumed that these people would not cause any problems. Of course they would notice the smell, and the trucks but its not like these people of Grand Bois have the money to do anything about it. I feel that the oil company willing took advantage of these people and then pretended as if they did nothing wrong. The significance of these events is that they prove environmental justice is real, the huge oil company took advantage of this small town. The most amazing part is that the oil company did not actually break any law, becuase up until this point the waste was unregulated. Cases like this are significant in regards to changing laws to better protect people.