Pollution in DC rivers at the intersection of environmental and racial injustice

Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Attor­ney Gen­er­al Karl Racine is suing Vel­si­col Chem­i­cal for decades of man­u­fac­tur­ing and dis­tri­b­u­tion of the car­cino­gen chlor­dane even though the com­pa­ny knew of its risks to human and envi­ron­men­tal health. The law­suit says stud­ies have linked long-term expo­sure to chlor­dane to liv­er can­cer, as well as mis­car­riages, depres­sion and bone-mar­row dis­eases. Short­er-term expo­sure, it says, has been linked to blurred vision, headaches, tremors and insom­nia, among oth­er cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem symp­toms. Flanked by envi­ron­men­tal­ists and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the local NAACP, Racine (D) said at a news con­fer­ence that the effects of Vel­si­col Chemical’s alleged con­t­a­m­i­na­tion par­tic­u­lar­ly hit “low-income Black and Brown” res­i­dents, in a case that bridges envi­ron­men­tal and racial justice.

CEE sub­jects: Hydraulics and Hydro­log­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Water Qual­i­ty and Health, Envi­ron­men­tal Pol­i­cy and Sus­tain­able Infrastructure

• The pol­lu­tion described in these arti­cles took place over decades. Should it be cleaned up? Who should be respon­si­ble for the clean-up costs?
• Evi­dence of exten­sive ele­vat­ed lev­els of harm­ful pol­lu­tants in wealthy neigh­bor­hoods is rare. Why would this be? Con­sid­er both markets/real estate devel­op­ment as well as resources avail­able to com­mu­ni­ties con­cerned about indus­try and pollution.

• Pop­u­lar media/news references
  • https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/dc-ag-racine-sues-pesticide-7852281/
  • Vel­si­col con­t­a­m­i­na­tion exten­sive in Michi­gan and Mem­phis