"ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, La. — As white smoke wafted from a massive oil and gas refinery that sits near his backyard, Michael Coleman reminisced about the sweet days of his childhood, before sugar cane fields that stretched for miles were sold and replaced by chemical companies that wiped out the “nice little community we had here.”
"A $9 billion highway widening project being proposed in the Houston area could become an important test of the Biden administration’s commitment to addressing what it has said is a history of racial inequity with infrastructure projects in the U.S."
"The Tennessee Valley Authority received the final regulatory approval it needs to remove tons of coal ash from ponds in Southwest Memphis and transport them along Shelby Drive to a landfill in Southeast Memphis."
"The department recommended higher fees for oil and gas leases, but there was no sign the government planned to take global warming into account when weighing new applications."
Here's a list of top environmental justice stories from SEJournal.
The history of environmental racism is a long one in the United States, far longer than the efforts to address the problem. But reporting on environmental justice continues to tick upwards, and an analysis in the latest Backgrounder points to promising progress, explaining why for journalists the year ahead may yield important stories, whether about future footholds or new missteps.
"A Midwest energy company on Friday canceled controversial plans for a $2.5 billion oil export terminal and pipeline in Plaquemines Parish after facing numerous obstacles to development. Instead, Tallgrass Energy Partners said it will consider other uses for the site."
"The quest for Congo’s cobalt, which is vital for electric vehicles and the worldwide push against climate change, is caught in an international cycle of exploitation, greed and gamesmanship."
"Oil companies have replaced Indigenous people’s traditional lands with mines that cover an area bigger than New York City, stripping away boreal forest and wetlands and rerouting waterways."
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