Gerard lives along the #MississippiRiver, just a few blocks from a synthetic rubber plant that the admin of fmr President Joe #Biden sued, claiming it posed an imminent #PublicHealth hazard. Gerard, like more than 90% of people living within 1 mile (1.5 km) of the plant, is #Black.

#Trump #Musk #RFKJr #WhiteSupremacy #SocialCleansing #Eugenics #EconomicDiscrimination #HealthInequity #GeographicInequity #EnvironmentalJustice #health #disease #medicine #science #law #USpol

"She's not even 8 months yet, & has to be subject to breathing all that," said Gerard, referring to the plant's #emissions of #chloroprene, which in 2010 the #EPA classified as a human #carcinogen.

7 wks after #Trump took over in Jan, new EPA leadership withdrew the suit against the plant's Japanese owners, Denka Performance Elastomer LLC, siding w/ the company who disputed the lawsuit's contention that emissions were linked to significant #cancer risk.

#EnvironmentalJustice #PublicHealth #law

The #Trump admin's press release announcing the end of the lawsuit said the dismissal fulfilled Trump's Day One #ExecutiveOrder to eliminate #diversity, #equity & #inclusion, & that it aligned with the #EPA's new pledge to "end the use of '#EnvironmentalJustice' as a tool for advancing ideological priorities."
[read as opposite of what they say]

#WhiteSupremacy #SocialCleansing #Eugenics #EconomicDiscrimination #HealthInequity #GeographicInequity #PublicHealth #disease #science #law #USpol

3 #environmental researchers & 5 fmr #EPA ofcls interviewed by Reuters say the end of the EPA's #DEI & #EnvironmentalJustice programs—which seek to ensure a healthy #environment for *minority* groups that often live closest to sources of contamination - will be most felt in #Black & #Hispanic [& #Latin] communities that have long endured the harmful effects of #pollution.

#Trump #WhiteSupremacy #SocialCleansing #Eugenics #EconomicDiscrimination #HealthInequity #PublicHealth #science #law #USpol

Those #health inequities are the legacy of racial #discrimination that was legal from the country's inception until 1965, the type of historical #injustice #DEI policies were designed to correct.

#Trump also rescinded a 1994 EO by fmr Pres Bill #Clinton that directed every #FederalAgency to develop an agency-wide #EnvironmentalJustice strategy to address adverse health or #environmental effects on *minority* & #LowIncome populations.

#WhiteSupremacy #racism #HealthInequity #PublicHealth #law

"It's #DEI being treated like a four-letter word," said Linda Birnbaum, a retired toxicologist & fmr director of the National Institute of #Environmental #Health #Sciences who spent 19 years at the #EPA. "People who are already most impacted by high #pollution are going to be most hurt by the loosening of #regulations."

#Trump #WhiteSupremacy #SocialCleansing #Eugenics #EconomicDiscrimination #HealthInequity #GeographicInequity #EnvironmentalJustice #PublicHealth #disease #law #USpol

Asked to comment on the findings of this story, an #EPA spox directed Reuters to a video stmnt by #Trump's new #EPA administrator, #LeeZeldin, who has outlined a strategy emphasizing #deregulation, saying the US can protect the #environment & promote economic growth at the same time [note the absence of concern for #PublicHealth & populations in #LowIncome communities].

#Trump #WhiteSupremacy #SocialCleansing #HealthInequity #GeographicInequity #EnvironmentalJustice #science #law #USpol

…On March 12, the new #EPA unveiled what it called "the most consequential day of #deregulation in US history" by rolling back 31 initiatives & eliminating the agency's #DEI arm & its 10 regional #EnvironmentalJustice offices, which worked w/communities to ID & mitigate local sources of #pollution. It *said* it has saved $2B in *wasteful* [because some people have no worth] spending by canceling hundreds of #grants in conjunction w/ #billionaire #ElonMusk's #DOGE.

#Trump #WhiteSupremacy #law

#Democrats on the #Senate Cmte on #Environment & #Public Works complained in a letter to #LeeZeldin in March that the cancellation of 400 #grants in the name of eliminating #DEI & #EnvironmentalJustice violated several #court orders & terms of #EPA contracts.

At least one #nonprofit group is suing to reactivate an $11.4M grant that was frozen for North Charleston’s Union Heights in South Carolina, one of the first #Black communities established after emancipation from #slavery.

#law #Trump

…A $20M #EPA #grant was cut for San Diego's Barrio Logan, a predominantly #Latino community w/high rates of #asthma. A major highway cuts through the neighborhood, which is further affected by #pollution from waterfront industry & associated truck traffic.

…A program to provide electric buses for Barrio Logan has been canceled & a long-planned community park will be significantly delayed or canceled, as will free electric shuttle service & home upgrades to improve #AirQuality….

#law #Trump

#CancerAlley, a nickname dating to the 1980s, is an 85-mile stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge that is home to some 150 #ChemicalPlants & #oil refineries.

Multiple studies over years point to elevated #health risks, including one in 2022 that found nearly EVERY census tract in the area ranks in the top 5% nationally for #cancer risk.

In 2023, the #Biden admin sued Denka, demanding it eliminate the dangers posed by #chloroprene #emissions.

#Trump #EnvironmentalJustice #PublicHealth #law