Environmental justice has found its way into President-elect Joe Biden’s transition plan as a “key consideration” for policy-making, and advocates are cautiously optimistic. And though a divided Congress is likely, they suspect an infrastructure bill — long promised but never delivered under the Trump administration — is a potential avenue for investing in communities that [...]
In St. James Parish, Louisiana, residents face some of the highest cancer risks in the country due to air pollution from the nearby 85-mile industrial corridor. Taiwanese plastics company Formosa plans to build a 2,400 acre site that could double the toxic emissions in the parish. Read more... Photo credit: NBC News
Over four years in office, the Trump administration has dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals. While other administrations have emphasized cutting regulations, calling them burdensome to industries like coal, oil and gas, the scope of actions under Mr. Trump is “fundamentally different,” said [...]
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis published a paper late last year that found carcinogens present in the air of the St. Louis metropolitan area to be highly concentrated in Black and poor neighborhoods. They found that approximately 14% of the census tracks in the city had elevated cancer risk due to exposure to [...]
As movements for racial and environmental justice escalate across the US, these struggles – which, as groups like the National Black Environmental Justice Network point out, must be seen as one – have a common foe: the fossil fuel industry. The same companies that drive environmental racism in Black and Brown communities through toxic and climate-changing [...]
Recent discoveries have found that large amounts of microplastics are coming down from the sky with rain. Researchers in the Western US were able to estimate the amount of microplastics in rainfall and found that approximately 120 million plastic bottles worth of microplastics in rain is pouring down on 11 protected areas in the US [...]
Over the course of the last three years, the Trump administration has rolled back or is in the progress of rolling back nearly a 100 of the country's top environmental policies. The administration has worked to weaken and revoke many of the Obama-era regulations that were enacted to protect our environment and health. A majority of the [...]
The Center for Health, Environment & Justice team and I send our compassion, support and affection to those whose health and livelihoods may be affected by COVID-19. This is a worldwide crisis on a scale we have not seen in our lifetimes. We are thinking of you, your family, friends and neighbors. As you know [...]
Although the elderly are the most in danger of infection from the virus, those that have developed preexisting conditions due to constant exposure to pollutants cannot be forgotten. Individuals in these communities are commonly low-income and/or minority populations and have to travel great distances in order to receive medical services. Former Army Surgeon General William [...]
California has some of the strictest air quality standards in the country. These standards have come to the benefit of farmers when a decrease in ground ozone has resulted in an increase of $600 million in crop production a year. Read More.
