This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. Late in the summer of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency sent the Mississippi state government a routine report assessing its use of federal funding for water infrastructure. The agency concluded with the words “no findings” — that is, the EPA found […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Water Quality
Jackson’s Water Is Still Brown. The EPA Says That’s Not Discrimination.
As a child, Brooke Floyd wondered why her grandmother cooked all her food and washed all her dishes with bottled water. As an adult living in Jackson, Mississippi, it became clear. After a storm damaged a water treatment plant in 2022, leaving most of the majority-Black city without water flowing through their faucets for weeks, […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Infrastructure, Partner Content, Rural Issues
How Alabama Turned to Restrictive Deed Covenants to Ward Off Flooding Claims From Black Residents
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. SHILOH COMMUNITY, Ala.—Their land is bound forever. The deeds of three homeowners — Pastor Timothy Williams, Aretha Wright, and Page Jones — all living in the historically Black Shiloh community of south Alabama, tell the tale. Restrictive covenants attached to their deeds limit the ability of current and […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Republican Lawmakers Take Aim at Community Air Monitoring in Louisiana
Originally published by Floodlight. In 2022, decades of advocacy by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network to address poor air quality near industrial facilities took a significant leap forward. That’s when the Biden administration awarded more than $50 million through the Inflation Reduction Act to increase air quality monitoring in some U.S. communities historically overburdened by […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Land Pollution
This Environmental Victory May Reinforce Injustices in Black Communities
While virtually every environmental group across the nation celebrated the Biden administration’s historic steps to lower pollution last month, John Beard sat patiently. After years of advocacy and hundreds of scientific studies, the federal government designated two “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances. This move makes it easier to mandate the removal of these man-made compounds […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Health, Partner Content
More Than a Third of All Americans Live in Communities with ‘Hazardous’ Air
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. Within 5 miles of Kim Gaddy’s home in the South Ward of Newark, New Jersey, lies the nation’s third-busiest shipping port, 13th-busiest airport, and roughly a half dozen major roadways. All told, transportation experts say, the area where Gaddy and her neighbors live sees an average […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Water Quality
Flint’s Warning to America
FLINT, Mich. — At the edge of Saginaw Street, a hand-painted sign is etched into a deserted storefront. “Please help, God. Clean-up Flint.” Behind it, the block tells the story of a city 10 years removed from the start of one of the nation’s largest environmental crises. Empty lot. Charred two-story home. Empty lot. Abandoned […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
23 States Ask EPA to Halt Civil Rights Rules Regulating Pollution
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 […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
Hundreds of Millions Up for Grabs in Environmental Justice Grants
It’s been nearly two years since President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act won Congress’ approval, but it’ll likely be months before that cash starts trickling into the marginalized communities it’s supposed to help. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in December that the Biden administration had picked 11 organizations to serve as grantmakers tasked with […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Health, Unsafe Water, Water Quality
Federal Mandate Targets ‘Forever Chemicals’ Driving Black Communities’ Water Woes
Belinda Joyner, a former schoolteacher in North Carolina, a state where cancer clusters born from water contamination have formed, wonders if it is enough to regulate future contamination without working to repair communities that have lived with the pollution for generations. “We’ve been saying this for so many years,” Joyner said, “and it ticks me […]
