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A Texas Town Takes on Fracking as a Racial Justice Issue

Just after passing resolutions to elevate the needs of Black and Hispanic residents, the Arlington City Council took an unusual stand on drilling. Read more.
Photo by J. G. Domke

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The Battle for Decatur – PFAS Contamination Divides an Alabama Town

While residents have just recently learned of the chemicals, 3M has known about the hazards they pose and their presence in local soil and water for decades. Read more.
Photo by Johnathon Kelso for The Intercept

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Chemical fire in Lake Charles area prompts shelter-in-place advisory from state

LAKE CHARLES – A chemical leak has apparently been reported in Lake Charles, according to reporters in the city covering the aftermath of Laura. Read more.
Photo from WBRZ News

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Michigan to Pay $600 Million to Victims of Flint Water Crisis

The state of Michigan is expected to pay about $600 million to victims of the Flint water crisis, according to two people with knowledge of a major settlement that is set to be announced this week.

The money would largely be designated for children in Flint who were poisoned by lead-tainted tap water after officials changed the city’s water supply six years ago, setting off a crisis that drew national attention and remains a worry for many residents. Read more.

Photo by Brittany Greeson for The New York Times

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Backyard Talk

Systemic Racism In Urban Environments & Our Future

By: Sharon Franklin
blog

Children play near an oil refinery in Los Angeles, California. Photo Credit: Etienne Laurent / EPA

 
Dr. Jake M. Robinson PhD Researcher, Department of Landscape, University of Sheffiel, South Yorkshire, England recently published an article in The Conversation entitledHow Racism and Classism Affect Natural Ecosystems”.
In the article, Dr. Robinson cited a recent publication in Science Magazine by Christopher J. Schell of the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, “The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Systemic Racism In Urban Environments” , which reports the conscious and unconscious systemic biases and stereotypes contribute to shaping institutional policies that drive and exacerbate racist and classist structures in urban systems (e.g., law enforcement, residential segregation, and gentrification).
Dr. Schell explained the urban ecosystems are made up of lots of complex interactions that is evident in many cities around the world, where environmental injustice has been dictated by structural racism such as racial segregation in US cities.  He further states that urban social inequality stems from historical and contemporary power imbalances, producing effects that are often intersectional, involving race, economic class, gender, language, sexuality, nationality, ability, religion, and age.  These types of social inequalities risk the cultivation of future stewards of our planet, or the next generation of biodiversity protectors.  Dr. Schell concludes that because of these kinds of factors “The decisions we make now will dictate our environmental reality for centuries to come.” “Two timely examples include the Green New Deal proposal and Paris climate agreement.”
 

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Toledo’s water-plant waste can’t be put in Benton Township quarry

GRAYTOWN, Ohio — A trial judge’s 2019 decision to block Rocky Ridge Development LLC from using an abandoned Ottawa County quarry to bury spent lime and chemical residue from Toledo’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant has been upheld by the 6th District Court of Appeals. Read more.
Photo from The Blade

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EPA cleanup of San Jacinto Waste Pits draws criticism

The ongoing EPA-ordered cleanup of the massive Dioxin dump known as the San Jacinto Waste Pits is drawing sharp criticism from environmental activists.
“I would hate for one of the most high profile sites in our country to be done half-ass,” said Jackie Young-Medcalf, leader of the Texas Health & Environment Alliance. Read more.
Photo: Fox 26 Houston

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2020 hindsight brings corrupted radiation testing into focus at the EPA

Tetra Tech was part of a team of contractors hired by the EPA to clean up a toxic radioactive dump in Ohio but evidence suggests EPA implemented a cover-up instead of a cleanup, creating a playbook for institutionalizing corrupted science across the nation. When Tetra Tech got busted years later for fraud at another radioactive site, in San Francisco, the EPA’s failure to demand best scientific practices was exposed again with dire ramifications for public health. Read more.
Photo from SF Bay View

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‘Right to Breathe’ event to be held to highlight intersections of systemic racism

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)– A coalition of organizations, community activists, and allies are coordinating the “Right to Breathe Caravan” event through the 35th Avenue Superfund Site Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m.
The event is a nonviolent protest of environmental racism, joining the global uprisings against systemic racism and oppression. The caravan was organized by People Against Neighborhood Industrial Contamination (P.A.N.I.C.) and Gasp in partnership with Black Lives Matter-Birmingham, SWEET Alabama, the Birmingham Earth Coalition, and the Arm in Arm movement. Read more.
Photo from CBS 42

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High BPA levels linked to 49% greater risk of death within 10 years, study says

Look into your pantry — have you packed it with canned foods since the start of the pandemic?  Or are you a receipt hoarder — who keeps all your paper sales receipts for taxes or refunds? Metal food and beverage cans are lined with an epoxy resin coating made from a family of chemicals called bisphenols.  That group includes the infamous bisphenol A that was used to create baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula containers until frightened parents boycotted those products a decade ago. The chemical compound BPA is an endocrine disruptor, affecting the hormones in the body, and fetuses and babies are especially vulnerable. It’s been linked to fetal abnormalities, low birth weight, and brain and behavior disorders in infants and children, as well as diabetes, heart diseasecancer and obesity in adults. One study even found erectile dysfunction in workers exposed to BPA.

Death from any cause may now be added to that list, according to new research published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open. Read more.

Photo from CNN