Corporate withdrawal privately conceded the community’s victory

Evidence

On September 7, 1993, Chem Waste announced that it was withdrawing its application to construct the toxic waste incinerator near Kettleman City. Although Chem Waste cited changing economic conditions and a new public policy turn away from incineration, the General Manager of the Kettleman Hills Facility personally hand-delivered the news to one of the leaders of the community group El Pueblo, acknowledging the group’s role in the decision. As the El Pueblo leader Espy Maya said, “I don’t care how they word it; we won.” — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 85

Categorization

• CANDY: A satisfying, self-contained anecdote: the company blamed economics but hand-delivered its surrender to the activists who beat it.
• XREF: connects to: Local base opposition can win concessions but not full withdrawal; Quiet private leverage outperformed public denunciation in achieving reform — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 395

Broader Connections

• Local base opposition can win concessions but not full withdrawal #qualifies (0.82)
• Quiet private leverage outperformed public denunciation in achieving reform #corroborates (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 395