The Tar Creek Superfund site is located in northeastern Oklahoma on Quapaw tribal land and is the site of former zinc and lead mining site. The acid mine drainage from this site has been polluting the local community and watershed for over 50 years and is still toxic despite being a superfund site since 1983. Local community members have been fighting to continue the cleanup of the site despite the slow progress made by the EPA.
Lowndes County in rural Alabama faces inadequate sanitation practices resulting in 90% of community members having failing sewage systems polluting their living spaces. Current policies in place further exacerbate the problem. A hopeful solution to the issue is a USDA fund to help the community replace the current septic tanks.
In order to alleviate the traffic pressure of the Bosphorus Canal, reduce the potential risks of ships loaded with dangerous materials, and promote the country’s economic development, Istanbul Canal will be built connecting Marama Sea and the Black Sea. However this project will cause insecurity for Russia, upset environmental stability, pollute freshwater resources and deplete land for people's living.
This dissertation details the stormwater management practices and history in East Tampa, and uses them as a framework to address stormwater management on a larger level. It goes into detail about East Tampa, although it also mentions a number of other places, and does so by approaching the subject of stormwater management through a lens influenced by both environmental justice and critical race theory.
This study was conducted to address possible disparities across socioeconomic strata in regards to drinking water contamination. Seeking to look specifically at nitrate, a number of findings were made that raised concern - specifically that Hispanic communities are much more likely to experience high nitrate contamination in the water.
In the early 90's, the town of Holly Springs was predominantly African American, and was chosen for a site for a landfill to be built. Over time, the area shifted demographics until it was predominantly white, at which time the permit for the site was issued, denied, and re-issued. This is in spite of the fact that there appeared to be no such concerns when the area was predominantly African American.
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.
Lead-contamination in drinking water in Washington, D.C., became a crisis in 2004, with lead concentrations exceeding those in Flint, MI. In the decades since, very few pipes were replaced. Property owners were required to share the replacement cost, resulting in replacements being concentrated in affluent areas. Lead exposure continued in under-resourced neighborhoods, disproportionately affecting D.C.'s Black residents. In 2019, a new plan was instituted in which D.C. Water will be provided with funds to cover the full pipe replacement cost and construction will proceed on a block-by-block basis. Two predominantly Black wards will be first up for replacements.