“We have enforcement authority that we’re taking a very close look at to bring the facility in compliance - not just this facility, but all the facilities across the country who have been non-compliant, who have not honored the agreements that we have to be good neighbors and protect these communities,” he told residents in St. The facility is now owned by Japanese conglomerate Denka. More immediately, Regan promised that EPA will use its enforcement power to ensure a former DuPont petrochemical plant near Coleman’s home complies with federal regulations on emissions of chloroprene and other harmful chemicals. We need to give these individuals a voice and talk about what we’re going to do to solve these problems moving forward.’’
“We are actually acknowledging that they do. “For the first time we’re not questioning whether or not these environmental injustices exist,” he said. Loose permitting requirements for industrial sites, along with exclusionary zoning laws and housing practices, have long funneled racial and ethnic minorities into areas near toxic pollutants at rates far higher than the overall population.Īt a congressional hearing in October, oil company executives sidestepped questions about whether refineries and other facilities are more likely to be located in low-income and minority communities.Įnvironmental injustice is not limited to the South, and Regan has also visited hard-hit areas in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, as well as brownfields and tribal areas in North Dakota. While legislation can help, Regan acknowledged that decades of neglect and widespread health problems among mostly Black and brown communities won’t be solved overnight.
The law includes $55 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure, while a sweeping climate and social policy bill pending in the Senate would pump more than twice that amount into EPA programs to clean up the environment and address water and environmental justice issues. James, along with cities such as New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi, and Houston will benefit from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden, Regan said. Historically marginalized communities like St. They look just like my son, and it’s really tough to see them question the quality of their drinking water,’’ he said. “As I look at many of the folks in these communities, they look just like me. The region contains several hotspots where cancer risks are far above levels deemed acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency. John the Baptist Parish, where Coleman lives, is part of an 85-mile stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge officially known as the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, but more commonly called Cancer Alley. In the meantime, he copes with high blood pressure, thyroid problems and other health issues that he attributes to decades of pollution from his industrial neighbors, a Marathon Petroleum refinery and a Cargill grain depot. “I’m waiting for a fair shake,” he said in an interview on the front steps of the home he has lived in for more than 50 years.
The oil company offered Coleman a buyout, but he rejected it. “We was surrounded by sugarcane, and now we’re surrounded by (industrial) plants.” “Oh, when the plants came in, they built right on top of us,” he said. (AP) - Michael Coleman’s house is the last one standing on his tiny street, squeezed between a sprawling oil refinery whose sounds and smells keep him up at night and a massive grain elevator that covers his pickup in dust and, he says, exacerbates his breathing problems.Ĭoleman, 65, points to the billowing smokestacks just outside his backyard.