PERCEIVED RISK AND THE SITING OF A CONTROVERSIAL ...

Early in the planning process, the City of Waco exercised their legitimate power
as the largest political entity in the area by threatening the owner of the land they wished
to acquire for the wastewater treatment plant. Mrs. Smith, an elderly widow had owned a
gas station with her husband in Waco for decades but it had been closed for many years.
The couple had stored petroleum waste products and old tires on the land out of
convenience; the majority of the materials were put there prior to the establishment of
environmental regulations or hazardous waste dumps. Knowing the materials were there,
the City used them to pressure Mrs. Smith into selling her land by giving her two
choices. Either she could sell the land to the City of Waco or they would contact the
regulatory agency in charge of illegal dumps and hazardous waste. Being in poor health,
with dwindling funds, and limited access to supporting friends and family, Mrs. Smith
sold her land to the City of Waco under duress, to attenuate her perceived risk as much
as possible, responding to the use of coercive power on the part of the City of Waco .
Shortly after acquiring the land from Mrs. Smith, an anonymous tip was submitted to the
EPA and the City was notified that regulatory action was being taken concerning the
hazardous materials. Although the City officially stated they had been unaware
hazardous materials were on the land, records obtained by the BHCCWA through open
records requests confirmed this was not the case; they mentioned the debris in their
correspondence with Mrs. Smith (Kultgen, 2008a).
Members of the Alliance notified the reporter covering the story and the local
paper did a major story reporting the City of Waco expected to spend over $100,000
cleaning up the Smith property (J.B. Smith, 2009a). Despite an intense effort by the City
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