justice

Growing Environmental Justice Concerns Surround Proposed Rail Merger

Growing Environmental Justice Concerns Surround Proposed Rail Merger
Growing Environmental Justice Concerns Surround Proposed Rail Merger

By Hazel Trice Edney

(Trice Edney Wire) – It’s an unfortunate truth that over the course of our nation’s history, progress has often come at the expense of Black and other racial minority communities. From heavy manufacturing to busy rail lines, too often, communities of color are expected to pay more than their share of the cost of development.

The ongoing fallout from last month’s derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio illustrates in no uncertain terms just how crucial the question of environmental justice is to the future of rail safety in America.

This writer has reported multiple concerns in past columns that a pending merger between two large railroads—Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern—would be the next example of minority communities being asked to bear the brunt of development. New comments submitted to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) by the Environmental

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April 4, 2023 by Environmental

Lawmakers Cherry-pick Outdated EPA Data in Effort to Undermine Environmental Justice Grant Programs

Lawmakers Cherry-pick Outdated EPA Data in Effort to Undermine Environmental Justice Grant Programs

Last year, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which authorizes sweeping investments and policies to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice. This historic bill invests nearly $3 billion in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate and Environmental Justice Block Grants, expanding funding for existing environmental justice grant programs and creating new opportunities.

Now, several conservative lawmakers are attempting to create roadblocks by using outdated EPA data to try to sow doubt and suspicion about these programs.

Broadly, these grants will support projects that aim to reduce harms to public health and the environment from climate change and pollution. Past funded projects include filtering lead out of household drinking water, preventing illegal waste dumping in Indigenous communities, and training farmworkers on disaster preparedness, among other projects.

It is hard to overstate the importance of these investments and the immense benefits they provide for overburdened communities. These communities have,

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April 2, 2023 by Environmental

NMHU Launches New Social Justice Concentration in Sociology and Anthropology

NMHU Launches New Social Justice Concentration in Sociology and Anthropology
NMHU Launches New Social Justice Concentration in Sociology and Anthropology

Dr. Jacob Avery

The new focus will provide prepare students interested in pursuing jobs in justice and human rights

January 12, 2023

New Mexico Highlands University launched a new social justice concentration in Sociology and Anthropology this fall. Students from any discipline interested in social justice can also choose to add it as a minor.

The concentration in social justice will provide students with both theoretical and practical frameworks for understanding human rights, justice, and social movements from local and global perspectives. Courses can be chosen across a variety of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, criminal justice, history, English, Political Science, and Spanish, among others, and coursework will prepare students for careers in community organizing, leadership, international non-governmental organizations, and law, among other options.

Dr Erika Derkas, professor of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies, comes from an activist background and said her activism is part of what inspired her to

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March 28, 2023 by Anthropology Sociology

EPA environmental justice office has cash, staff but no boss

EPA environmental justice office has cash, staff but no boss

President Joe Biden still has not nominated a leader for EPA’s new national office for environmental justice, despite his agenda’s emphasis on addressing marginalized communities bearing the brunt of pollution.

“The fact that this office does not have a serious, capable, competent, connected leader who could speak to the breadth and depth of the environmental justice movement at this stage in the game, six months into the game, is a profound disappointment and disservice to the people,” said Aaron Mair, an environmental justice pioneer who was the Sierra Club’s first Black president.

On Sept. 24, 2022, EPA stood up the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The office, which is tasked with billions of dollars to distribute and hundreds of staff to hire, is meant to have a Senate-confirmed leader, putting it on par with other program offices. It’s part of Administrator Michael Regan’s legacy-making effort to cement

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March 28, 2023 by Environmental

In Braddock, Imagining Environmental Justice for a ‘Sacrifice Zone’

In Braddock, Imagining Environmental Justice for a ‘Sacrifice Zone’

This article was originally published by PublicSource, a nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region. Sign up for its free weekly newsletters here.

“My name is Edith Abeyta.” 

The word ‘question’ was tattooed across the backs of her fingers, which shook slightly as she spoke. 

“I live in North Braddock. I live in a sacrifice zone. I live in a dystopia.”

A collection of engineers, scientists and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] peered back at her, seated in a conference room at an agency-sponsored carbon capture workshop at Hazelwood Green in December.

“You may ask: How did I get here? Why is it that I am standing here talking to you today?”

Edith, a professional artist and self-described “activist for imagination,” has led grassroots advocacy in her community since 2014. She successfully organized to stop bids to frack at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works and at the

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March 28, 2023 by Environmental

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