Environmental Justice

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/26/2023
  

  Will the Debt Ceiling Deal Derail Environmental Justice?

  by Robert Bullard and Larry Shapiro

  The idea of permitting reform—easing the environmental constraints on building new energy infrastructure—has been a bargaining chip in the debt ceiling negotiations. Reforms could help bring a green energy grid online, but it could also put more polluting industry in poor and minority communities. 

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• SOURCE: Capital B News
  5/16/2023
  

  Feds Confirm Alabama Discriminated Against Rural Black Residents, Leading to Sewage Crisis

  The state failed to connect rural Black residents in Lowndes County to subsidized septic system upgrades, leading many into debt to private contractors or to neglect updates leading to a wastewater crisis. A new agreement will upgrade the infrastructure. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/13/2022
  

  Black Mississippians Have Been Fighting a Water Crisis for Decades

  by Thomas J. Ward Jr.

  Black residents of the Mississippi Delta began organizing in 1970 for access to water and sewage services; their struggle continues today. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/1/2022
  

  Sold as a Dream for Black Buyers, a New Orleans Neighborhood is a Toxic Nightmare

  "New Orleans city officials allowed developers to build homes on land contaminated with chemicals linked to cancer. They didn’t tell the people who moved in."

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• SOURCE: Union of Concerned Scientists
  2/15/2022
  

  For Black History Month, Honor the Environmental Justice Activism of Hazel Johnson

  Hazel Johnson was pushed to environmental justice activism when her husband's cancer death made her aware of the toll of industrial pollution on her Chicago neighborhood. Today, it remains important to connect environmental protection and social justice.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/29/2021
  

  I Wrote About This Environmental Injustice Decades Ago. It Hasn’t Changed

  by Robert Bullard

  A vacancy on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will test Biden's stated commitment to advancing environmental justice. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/7/2021
  

  ‘One Oppressive Economy Begets Another’

  Slavery and Jim Crow deprived Black communities in Louisiana of wealth and power, and enabled contemporary environmental racism. But slavery-era cemeteries are becoming part of efforts by those communities to fight back against polluters. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/28/2021
  

  People of Color Breathe More Hazardous Air. The Sources Are Everywhere

  The findings of a new study confirm what environmental justice activists and scholars like Robert Bullard have been arguing for decades: minority communities in the United States are susceptible to a disproportionate share of environmental health hazards from multiple sources. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/6/2021
  

  ‘This is Environmental Racism’: How a Protest in a North Carolina Farming Town Sparked a National Movement

  After decades of struggle with little access to resources or power, activists in the environmental justice movement have placed racial equity at the center of the President's environmental agenda.   

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• SOURCE: NPR
  1/29/2021
  

  Hope And Skepticism As Biden Promises To Address Environmental Racism

  "The federal government has known of environmental injustice for decades. Presidents have promised to address it. But a legacy of weak laws and spotty enforcement has left Black, brown and poor communities mired in pollution and health hazards."

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• SOURCE: Vice
  12/16/2020
  

  Black People Have Been Saying 'We Can't Breathe' for Decades

  At 73, Dr. Robert Bullard, widely recognized as the 'Father of Environmental Justice,' is now preparing the next generation of Black leaders to lead the movement.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/19/2020
  

  Erin Brockovich to Joe Biden: Are You Kidding Me?

  "Are you really listening to the science or are you listening to an industry insider, who is controlling the message?"