Previous Environmental Justice News 2022

Highest drinking water metal concentrations found in Latino/Hispanic, American Indian communities: study 12-14-22

“Even after accounting for socioeconomic status, communities of color have higher arsenic and uranium in their regulated public drinking water.” Read more


How EJ activists helped reverse U.S. opposition to climate aid 12-12-22

U.S. environmental justice advocates used their pull with the Biden administration and congressional Democrats to break through years of entrenched American opposition to a new climate compensation fund for the world’s poor — helping deliver the most important outcome at last month’s United Nations climate talks. Read more


Biden administration proposes new rule targeting methane emissions on tribal lands 11-30-22

Wasted natural gas has quadrupled since 1990 – regulators hope to rein in that loss. Read more


Planning your 2023 travel? Skip these places in order to save them 11-23-22

With environmental and cultural strains, places like Lake Tahoe could use a break Read more


The U.S. Promised Tribes They Would Always Have Fish, but the Fish They Have Pose Toxic Risks 11-22-22

For decades, the U.S. government has failed to test for chemicals and metals in fish. So, we did. What we found was alarming for tribes. Read more


In a First, Rich Countries Agree to Pay for Climate Damages in Poor Nations 11-19-22

After 30 years of deadlock, a new U.N. climate agreement aims to pay developing countries for loss and damage caused by global warming. But huge questions remain about how it would work. Read more


Tyson Says Its Nurses Help Workers. Critics Charge They Stymie OSHA. 11-17-22

The company’s on-site care system is emblematic of risk-management practices that disadvantage workers farther down the supply chain. Read more


Can U.S. cities use climate plans to ‘undo’ racist legacies? 11-03-22

The Southside area of Richmond is home to industrial lots, racially diverse neighborhoods, an enormous tobacco facility – and little public greenery. Read more


Black residents in Corpus Christi file a civil rights complaint to stop Texas’ first desalination plant 10-29-22

Since 2007, Hillcrest residents have sued to challenge plans for a sewage treatment plant in their neighborhood, and then bridge construction. Read more


The wasted potential of garbage dumps 10-24-22

Toxic landfills are emblems of environmental injustice across the US. Clean energy can remake them. Read more


EPA finally calls out environmental racism in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley 10-19-22

In a “remarkable” letter, the EPA accused Louisiana regulators of neglecting Black residents’ concerns about toxic air pollution. Read more


EPA launches office for advancing environmental justice 09-30-22

A small, predominantly Black community protesting a contaminated landfill in Warren County 40 years ago this month is credited with sparking the environmental justice movement. Read more


‘Goliath is wobbling’: Louisiana court strikes blow to Formosa’s giant plastics plant 09-16-22

Without air or water permits, the company will have to “go back to the drawing board.” Read more

‘I just want my people out here’: Black-led groups in Detroit are cultivating access to nature 09-14-22

A growing number of initiatives in Detroit are working to redefine outdoor activities as acts of liberation. Read more


How White Flight and Environmental Injustice Led to the Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis 09-09-22

Heather McTeer Toney, the former regional EPA administrator, talks about the factors—climate change among them—that led to the water-system failure in Mississippi’s capital city. Read more


Unplugged: Why utilities are more likely to disconnect Black, Latino, and Indigenous households 09-06-22

Extreme weather leaves millions of Americans with power bills they can’t afford. Read more


The Tragedy of North Birmingham 09-01-22

Industrial plants in Birmingham, Alabama, have polluted the air and land in its historic Black communities for over a century. In an epicenter of environmental injustice, officials continue to fail to right the wrongs plaguing the city’s north side. Read more


Surrounded by fossil fuels, they fear climate bill leaves them behind 08-27-22

‘We’re completely surrounded’ Read more


Wildfire smoke is choking Indigenous communities 08-24-22

With government monitoring lagging behind, members are installing their own monitors. Read more


The TVA is Dumping a Mountain of Coal Ash in Black South Memphis 08-19-22

A convoy is trucking the contaminant through a community already burdened with pollution to dump it in a landfill. Read more


Piling on: Fresh off a pipeline win, a rural Virginia community now faces the threat of gold mining 08-09-22

Some members of the Buckingham County community who helped fight the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are being forced to take on industrial metals mining. Read more


Farmworkers Face Stress and Depression. The Pandemic Made It Worse. 07-28-22

A new study underscores the multitude of stresses faced by farmworkers, including the ongoing impact of COVID-19, increasing heat and climate crises, as well as challenging working and living conditions. Read more


Chicago made its Southeast Side a polluter’s haven, violating civil rights 07-27-22

The city’s decision to relocate a scrapyard to a majority Black and Brown community is part of a pattern of environmental discrimination, according to a federal investigation. Read more


Experts to Congress: Restore EPA enforcement staffing and funding for environmental justice 07-22-22

Since 2011, enforcement budget has declined by nearly 30 percent. available technology to control emissions, among other infractions. Read more


From Farmland to Frac Sand 07-19-22

In the Midwest, fertile soil is being excavated in pursuit of fossil fuels, while communities suffer. Read more


Onondaga Nation is Getting Some of Its Land Back 07-05-22

The Onondaga Nation, New York state, and the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a historic agreement last week that will return more than 1,000 acres of land to the nation — one of the largest ever returns of land from a state to an Indigenous nation. Read more


A Vast Refinery Site in Philadelphia Is Being Redeveloped and Called ‘The Bellwether District.’ But for Black Residents Nearby, Justice Awaits 07-04-22 Read more


New Jersey releases blueprint for landmark environmental justice law 06-22-22

‘We need to actually say no to industry when it hurts communities.’ Read more


Native American tribes to co-manage national monument for first time 06-20-22

The unprecedented agreement gives five tribes more input in the management of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Read more


Sweltering streets: Hundreds of homeless die in extreme heat 06-20-22

“During the summer, it’s pretty hard to find a place at night that’s cool enough to sleep without the police running you off” Read more


Three open questions about Biden’s new environmental justice tool 06-09-22

More than 2,000 public comments raise concerns that racial justice and cumulative burdens are being overlooked. Read more


How Ailing Strip Malls Could Be a Green Fix for U.S. Housing Crisis 05-18-22

Urban designer Peter Calthorpe has a plan for the shuttered and financially troubled strip malls that dot the suburban landscape. Read more


A Birder Is Back in the Public Eye, Now on His Own Terms 05-17-22

Christian Cooper’s encounter in Central Park with a white woman who called 911 to falsely accuse him of threatening her spurred a national outcry. Now he is hosting a birding series for National Geographic. Read more


High Cost of Water Hits Home 05-10-22

Rising rates hurt the state’s poorest residents. Read more


Historically redlined neighborhoods have twice the number of oil and gas wells. 04-13-22

A new study reveals the link between structural racism and pollution. Read more


EPA to investigate racial discrimination in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’. 04-12-22

Complaints allege that industrial facilities have discharged “excessive levels” of carcinogenic chemicals in a majority-Black community. Read more


Gordon Plaza was sold as a dream for Black home buyers. It was a toxic nightmare. 04-10-22

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. Read more


Rappahannock Tribe gets 465 acres of land back on the Chesapeake Bay. 04-04-22

The return of the land is “a historic victory for conservation and racial justice.” Read more


Biden administration lines up $3 billion so low-income families can retrofit their homes. 04-01-22

The move will affect nearly a half million households and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Read more


Hurricane Michael Hit the Florida Panhandle in 2018 With 155 MPH Winds. Some Black and Low-Income Neighborhoods Still Haven’t Recovered 03-22-22

Patricia Roundtree expected that the hurricane that was about to slam the Florida Panhandle in October 2018 would be a close call, like so many other storms over the years that had skimmed over her neighborhood in Panama City but never hit directly. Read more


The Air Force wants to blow up toxic military waste on a beach in Guam. 03-09-22

A Indigenous-led community group says: See you in court. Read more


9 Influential Female Environmentalists You Should Know 03-08-22

Rachel Carson and Greta Thunberg are household names, but the list of female environmentalists throughout history is long. Read more


Women of Color Are Leading Climate Justice Work 03-03-22

They’re also struggling to find funding. Read more


How two years of community protest blocked this Chicago scrapyard 02-24-22

The decision, spurred by a hunger strike and a federal civil rights investigation, is a major win for environmental justice fights nationally. Read more


New York environmental justice leaders propose new definition for ‘disadvantaged communities’ 02-02-22

New York wants clean energy to benefit “disadvantaged communities.” First it had to define them. Read more


The EPA is tackling pollution in ‘Cancer Alley’ 01-26-22

Better air monitoring is coming to the Gulf, along with a crackdown on polluters. Read more


Inspired by King’s Words, Experts Say the Fight for Climate Justice Anywhere is a Fight for Climate Justice Everywhere 01-17-22

On the holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., scientists, theologians, ministers and climate justice advocates find commonality in the movement he led more than half a century ago. Read more


Toxic Churn 01-13-22

How the legacy of former industrial sites pollutes American cities today. Read more


An African American Community in Florida Blocked Two Proposed Solar Farms. Then the Florida Legislature Stepped In. 01-02-22

In May 2020, the residents of the Saint Peter neighborhood in Archer, Florida, had a rude awakening when a public notice went up on a fence around vacant farmland. Read more