Environmental Justice

Unprotected, Farmworkers Live in Fear of Covid-19 but Keep Working

"As Americans shelter in place across much of the country, washing their hands and making sure to stay six feet away from others, the farmworkers carpool on grocery runs. At day's end, most retreat to cramped, crowded quarters, sleeping several to a room."

Source: InsideClimate News, 04/06/2020

Tribes Have Highest Rates Of Diseases That Make COVID-19 More Lethal

"They hastily piled all the dumbbells and treadmills in the back of a gym to make room for 23 extra hospital beds. The beds aren’t needed yet, but on a reservation where residents suffer high rates of diseases that exist throughout Indian Country, the Lummi Tribal Health Clinic is taking every precaution to prepare for the deadly coronavirus."

Source: Washington Post, 04/06/2020

"U.S. ‘Wasted’ Months Before Preparing For Virus Pandemic"

"After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment."

Source: AP, 04/06/2020

"Public Health: Years Of Toxic Leaks Raise Cancer Risk In Refinery Town"

"ARTESIA, N.M. — When the new pastor arrived at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church a few years back, he was struck by the sight and smell of the towering refinery a block east of his chapel. The Rev. A.L. Vijaya Raju had a question: Were fumes from the flares, pipes and tanks to blame for breathing problems afflicting some parishioners?"

Source: Greenwire, 04/03/2020

"Pandemic: EPA Enforcement Move Meets API Wish List — And Then Some"

"Three days before EPA issued a policy signaling to industry it would not penalize companies for failing to comply with environmental laws during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the American Petroleum Institute sent the agency a wish list. The oil and gas lobby got more than it had hoped for."

Source: Greenwire, 04/02/2020

"EPA Should Warn More Residents About Ethylene Oxide Risk: IG"

"The EPA has failed to warn residents who live near most plants that emit significant amounts of the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide about the potential dangers to their health, the agency’s inspector general concluded Tuesday."

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 04/01/2020

Tribe That Drew Trump’s Fire Over Casino Loses Its Reservation Status

"The U.S. Interior Department is rescinding the reservation status of a Native American tribe whose plan to build a casino on its Massachusetts land was attacked by President Donald Trump last year."

Source: HuffPost, 03/30/2020

"EPA’s Relaxed Enforcement Amid Virus Draws Mixed State Reaction"

"State regulators are giving mixed responses to the EPA’s relaxed enforcement on a range of environmental obligations by facilities affected by the coronavirus pandemic."

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 03/30/2020

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