When two towns — one an affluent suburb and the other a poor rural community — faced similar air pollution crises, lopsided government action made clear there was an underlying race and class divide. Reporter Sharon Lerner shares the story behind her award-winning reporting that tells the “Tale of Two Toxic Cities,” in our latest Inside Story Q&A.
"Beneath a searing Louisiana sun, a crowd gathers on a former sugar cane plantation to commemorate Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. Rows of unmarked graves stand nearby—believed to be the resting place of those who’d been enslaved on the plantation. A few people, clad in face masks, hold up a banner: Honoring Our Ancestors. Another sign, staked into the grass, is aimed not at the past, but at the future: FORMOSA: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE."
"A massive plume of dust whipped up from the Sahara desert will hover over the U.S. Southeast this weekend, forecasters say, shrouding the region in a brown haze and raising more health concerns in states where the coronavirus crisis is worsening."
"Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, environmental activists with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, turned themselves into the Baton Rouge Police Department Thursday to be booked on counts stemming from a plastic pollution awareness event that took place more than seven months ago."
"A judge shut down an energy pipeline in Michigan’s Great Lakes on Thursday, granting a request from the state after the owner reported problems with a support piece far below the surface."
"Federal regulators are crafting an exemption for polluters releasing harmful perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) into the environment in a way that environmental advocates say circumvents a new law meant to address widespread contamination."
"An abandoned asbestos mine in a remote corner of Yukon has yet to be remediated 42 years after closing, and could pose a flood risk to anyone downstream, according to the federal government."
"A vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads to the U.S. with a size and concentration that experts say hasn’t been seen in half a century."
"Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is asking an Ingham County judge to temporarily halt Enbridge's operation of Line 5 after state officials learned last week that an anchor support had sustained damage."
"For Arthur Hadland, the news that the BC Oil and Gas Commission has assumed responsibility for 401 orphan wells left by a bankrupt oil and gas company is both a blessing and a curse."
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