"New Report Underscores Racial Prejudices In Superfund Sites"

"A new report by the Shriver Center on Poverty Law highlights the disproportionate manner in which Superfund sites – home to the country’s most hazardous waste – affect low-income people of color in the U.S.

The report, released Tuesday, underscores what the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development signaled in 2017: 70 percent of the country’s Superfund sites listed on the National Priorities List are located within a mile of government-assisted housing. As a result, over 1,000 federally assisted housing buildings, an estimated 77,000 people, live within a mile of a Superfund site.

For context, Superfund sites can be home to any kind of waste the government deems hazardous and problematic, though the report focuses solely on the adverse effects of lead poisoning."

Marty Johnson reports for The Hill July 1, 2020.

Source: The Hill, 07/02/2020