Echoing arguments similar to those used by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court striking down affirmative action, Republican attorneys general from 23 states petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week to stop taking race into account when regulating pollution. The petition, authored by the office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, was filed […]
Air Pollution
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
How Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Created a ‘Climate Time Bomb’ in Black Neighborhoods
Nearly 45 years ago, the Acres Homes area north of Houston was the largest unincorporated Black community in the South, a thriving 9-square mile area where homeownership was the norm. That was until the city of Houston annexed it, and the Interstate 45 highway was built through its heart. In the aftermath, the community’s poverty […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Detroit Residents Battle Against Neighborhood Concrete Crusher
Detroit building officials are waging a court fight to shut down a concrete crushing operation on the city’s west side that has been covering a majority Black neighborhood in dust. The city issued nearly 300 blight tickets to Grand Rapids-based Green Valley Properties over two years, according to a BridgeDetroit analysis of online city records. […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Public outcry against carbon capture in Louisiana growing
Communities across south Louisiana want to protect themselves from what they consider to be a risky and possibly dangerous prospect of having tons of carbon dioxide injected underground to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) — capturing the planet-warming gas from industry and storing it permanently underground — has become […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Climate Change, Environmental Justice
At COP28, a Growing Sense of Alarm Over Air Pollution Crisis
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. In one home video, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah bops to a choreographed Beyoncé dance. In another, she looks at the camera, and her mom, and plants a big […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
A Detroit Community Fights to Survive as Its Industrial Neighbor Grows
DETROIT— For decades, Detroit has been a poster child for the economic drain of decreased manufacturing across the Midwest. The city has lost hundreds of thousands of mostly Black residents and experienced bankruptcy. Its East Canfield neighborhood hasn’t been spared — but in a rarity, its demise has been caused by industrial growth, not decline. […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Ominous Orange Skies Have Subsided – but Threat of Poor Air Quality Isn’t Over
Orange skies in the Northeast and Midwest from the fires burning in Canada may have subsided for now — but the threat of poor air quality is far from over. Just this past weekend, New York City was again under an air quality alert because of wildfire smoke. As the region experiences drier springs and […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
The Ways Pollution and Climate Change are Linked to Policing and Incarceration
Hurricane Ida was the second strongest storm to hit Louisiana over the last three centuries, dwarfing the beast that was Katrina. As virtually every Gulf Coast city was put under evacuation orders, thousands of incarcerated people were forced to stay put, some in flooded facilities that lacked electricity and running water, and had sustained intense […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Black Communities Overburdened by Power Plant Pollution May See Relief
A monumental federal plan would require most fossil fuel power plants to slash their greenhouse gas pollution by 90% by 2040 — or shut down. The Biden administration plan, announced on Thursday, could limit the amount of climate change-causing emissions released. If implemented, for the first time in U.S. history, the amount of greenhouse gasses […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Chemical Plants Destroyed These Black Towns. The EPA Hopes New Regulations Will Help.
As the Environmental Protection Agency moves to curb the amount of cancer-causing pollution spewed out by 218 of the country’s largest oil and chemical plants, environmental leaders and Black residents in some Southern states say the proposal doesn’t go far enough. Roughly two-thirds of these plants are sprinkled across Texas and Louisiana, where many of […]