
E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices
An internal memo directs the closure of offices designed to ease the heavy pollution faced by poor and minority communities.
Mr. Zeldin’s move effectively ends three decades of work at the E.P.A. to try to ease the pollution that burdens poor and minority communities, which are frequently located near highways, power plants, industrial plants and other polluting facilities. Studies have shown that people who live in those communities have higher rates of asthma, heart disease and other health problems, compared with the national average.
Make the hood toxic again!Last week, the E.P.A. and the Justice Department dropped a lawsuit against a petrochemical plant that had been filed by the Biden administration. The lawsuit claimed that the plant increased the cancer risk in a predominantly Black community in Louisiana. It was one of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s most visible efforts to try to improve conditions in an area that is known as “Cancer Alley” because of its history with toxic pollution.
