Wins and What Followed
Deprecated: strpos(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($haystack) of type string is deprecated in /home/hiddenhi/public_html/application/views/helpers/Shortcodes.php on line 51
These two aerial photographs, taken around thirty years apart, document the same 52-acre site at Airport Boulevard and Springdale Road before and after PODER's campaign. The photo of the tank farm in 1987 shows the site fully operational, surrounded by a residential neighborhood. In contrast, the 2021 image shows the same site cleared of the petroleum tanks. The difference between the two photographs illustrates the result of organized community activism, guided by PODER, that led to the successful removal of an industrial hazard that harmed communities of color for decades.
People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER) was founded in 1991 by East Austin residents. Its stated mission was to redefine environmental issues within the framework of social and economic justice. The profile additionally describes the organization’s success in relocating the Tank Farm.
This profile introduces PODER as an organization whose scope extended beyond environmental issues to questions of land use, economic development, and political power. The tank farm campaign was an early demonstration of what that mission looked like when directed at a particular, concrete harm.
This brochure was produced after the tank farm campaign concluded, and it reflects an organization that had demonstrated what community organizing could accomplish in the face of corporate and governmental resistance. The brochure’s description of PODER’s mission and activities also looks ahead to the issues the organization will continue to pursue after the tanks were successfully removed.
Aside from the tank farm removal, PODER's primary activities included evaluating the impacts of the Holly Street Power Plant, educating workers about their rights in working with chemicals, and securing funding for research on safe manufacturing methods. The brochure does not present a conclusion, but an organization that treated the tank farm victory as one part of a broader effort to change the conditions under which East Austin residents were unjustly forced to live under the 1928 City Plan.