Environmental Justice

"Faced with an outcry from neighborhood activists, federal civil rights investigations and pressure from the Biden administration, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday blocked a clout-heavy scrap shredder from opening on Chicago’s Southeast Side."

"The Biden administration could soon deliver on its promise to create a Senate-confirmed position to coordinate environmental justice initiatives across EPA."

"When Abra Lee became the landscape manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, she sought some advice about how to best do the job. The answer: study the history of gardening. That led to her uncovering how Black involvement in horticulture in the U.S. bursts with incredible stories and profound expertise, intertwined with a tragic past."

"The EPA is working to stiffen its enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which broadly forbids discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, the agency’s top lawyer said Tuesday."

"Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden from pollution, research shows. But using race to allocate federal help could result in legal problems."

"A city commissioner race in Florida provides a window into how the sugar industry cultivates political allies, who help protect its interests."

"A British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands."

"Georgia has no national park, but with a deal finalized this week to purchase and protect an expansive tract of forest, swamp and sacred Native American tribal land, that could soon change."

"The success of New Jersey’s biggest city at replacing nearly 24,000 lead drinking water pipes can serve as a national model and shows why infrastructure spending is vital, Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday in Newark."

"The influential rightwing lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) is driving a surge in new state laws to block boycotts of the oil industry. The group’s strategy, which aims to protect large oil firms and other conservative-friendly industries, is modelled on legislation to punish divestment from Israel."