Finally some good news on Trump’s EPA, as a Federal Judge ruled that the agency must investigate, and respond to communities of color claims of environmental racism. The ruling follows the dismissal by the EPA in early March of a discrimination suit against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management by residents of Uniontown, AL. Alabama had granted a large landfill near the predominately minority community in the state’s black belt. The landfill would be filled with waste from more affluent areas of the state as well as toxic coal ash.
Earth Justice filed five complaints for alleged discrimination in the permitting of: Genesee Power Station in Michigan, the Los Medanos Energy Center and Delta Energy Center in California, an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery operation in Texas, the Triassic Park hazardous waste facility in New Mexico, and Stone's Throw Landfill in Alabama.
Communities of color fighting environmental discrimination just got a major boost. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must investigate and respond to civil rights complaints within 180 days of accepting them.
The EPA has dragged its feet for decades on various civil rights complaints, denying justice by delaying it.
Since 2003, residents of Tallassee, Alabama, have been seeking relief from a landfill placed without their consent in the heart of their community. While an Alabama state agency granted the permit, the EPA has the power to withhold money from agencies engaged in environmental discrimination.
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“Today’s decision affirms that EPA cannot continue going through the motions without meaningfully attending to serious problems of environmental discrimination,” said Suzanne Novak, staff attorney at Earthjustice. “EPA must now secure real changes and ensure civil rights compliance by states and regional authorities that receive EPA funding. How long do communities overburdened with polluting facilities have to wait for justice?”
Residents of Tallassee, AL, are seeking relief from a landfill in the middle of their community.E&E News expands on the story:
Senior Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled last week that EPA had a "mandatory duty" to act once it accepted the complaints for investigation.
"It is not in dispute" that EPA failed to meet that deadline for each of the five complaints at issue in the suit, Armstrong wrote Saturday in a 41-page opinion.
The judge also rejected EPA's arguments for dismissing the case, including that the plaintiffs filed in the wrong court, that they didn't have standing to sue and that the case was moot because the agency had closed each of the complaints.
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Under Title 6 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, EPA has 180 days to issue preliminary findings from investigations into civil rights complaints.
But EPA launched a kitchen-sink defense against the lawsuit, arguing that it should be dismissed because the plaintiffs lacked legal standing and some had filed in the wrong court. The agency also argued that the plaintiffs couldn't seek judicial review because there were "alternative remedies" to address their complaints and that it was not required to issue preliminary findings in response to a complaint filed under Title 6.
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