Current:Home > MarketsEPA Rejects Civil Rights Complaint Over Alabama Coal Ash Dump -Aspire Money Growth
EPA Rejects Civil Rights Complaint Over Alabama Coal Ash Dump
View
Date:2025-04-13 04:07:24
Stay informed about the latest climate, energy and environmental justice news by email. Sign up for the ICN newsletter.
Black residents of rural Alabama have lost a civil rights claim involving a toxic coal-ash landfill that they blame for asthma, nerve damage and other health issues.
The Environmental Protection Agency rejected their complaint that state officials unlawfully granted a permit for the sprawling Arrowhead landfill near Uniontown and that officials failed to protect area residents from intimidation after they filed their first complaint.
In a 29-page letter, EPA officials wrote there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude officials in Alabama violated the Civil Rights Act by allowing the landfill to operate near Uniontown, which is 90 percent black and has a median household income of about $14,000. The Arrowhead landfill covers an area twice the size of New York City’s Central Park.
The facility began accepting coal ash, the residual ash left from burning coal, in 2008, after a dam broke at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant, spilling millions of gallons of coal ash slurry. Once the toxic waste dried, 4 million tons of it was scooped up and shipped 300 miles south to Uniontown. Coal ash contains toxins, including mercury, selenium and arsenic.
EPA officials said the coal ash was properly handled.
“The Arrowhead landfill is designed to meet the minimum design and operating standards of municipal solid waste landfills,” Lisa Dorka, director of the EPA’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office, wrote in the March 1 letter to attorneys representing the residents of Uniontown.
Following the initial residents’ complaint, Green Group Holdings, the company that operates the landfill, filed a $30 million lawsuit against the residents; the suit was later settled in favor of the community. Dorka expressed concern in the letter about how state officials handled retaliatory complaints but stated there was insufficient evidence to conclude there was retaliatory discrimination by the company.
“The decision stinks,” Esther Calhoun, a Uniontown resident who was among those sued by Green Group Holdings and a member of Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, said. “If you are going to do your job, just do the job, not only in a white neighborhood, but in a black neighborhood, not only in a rich neighborhood but in a poor neighborhood. Until you accept all races, all people, have equal rights, then you are part of the problem.”
Claudia Wack, a member of Yale University’s Environmental Justice Clinic, which represented the residents of Uniontown, said she was extremely disappointed with the decision.
“For the folks in Uniontown who have really been spending years trying to vindicate their environmental civil rights, it’s a pretty confounding decision,” Wack said. “In terms of national concern, if EPA is not going to be able to acknowledge them in this case, we’re pretty dubious that they are going to reach that finding for any civil rights complainants anywhere in the nation.”
veryGood! (5531)
Related
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- A fugitive gains fame in New Orleans eluding dart guns and nets
- Rebecca Minkoff says Danny Masterson was 'incredibly supportive to me' at start of career
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- A Malibu wildfire prompts evacuation orders and warnings for 20,000, including Dick Van Dyke, Cher
- A fugitive gains fame in New Orleans eluding dart guns and nets
- San Diego raises bar to work with immigration officials ahead of Trump’s deportation efforts
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Pakistan ex
Ranking
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Arctic Tundra Shifts to Source of Climate Pollution, According to New Report Card
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- As a Major California Oil Producer Eyes Carbon Storage, Thousands of Idle Wells Await Cleanup
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Morgan Wallen sentenced after pleading guilty in Nashville chair
- Alex Jones keeps Infowars for now after judge rejects The Onion’s winning auction bid
- What is Sora? Account creation paused after high demand of AI video generator
Recommendation
South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
Social media platform Bluesky nearing 25 million users in continued post
'Squirrel stuck in a tree' tops funniest wildlife photos of the year: See the pictures
How to watch the Geminid meteor shower this weekend
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
Morgan Wallen sentenced after pleading guilty in Nashville chair
Orcas are hunting whale sharks. Is there anything they can't take down?
As a Major California Oil Producer Eyes Carbon Storage, Thousands of Idle Wells Await Cleanup