REPORT: EPA is Failing to Protect Low-Income Communities of Color

*This is distressing. In 2008 4.7 million Latinos were diagnosed with asthma, most because of environmental causes. VL

By Yessenia Funes, Colorlines (1.5 minute read)

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report Friday (September 24) on the EPA and its enforcement of environmental justice, and they found that the agency is not protecting communities in need.

The 230-page report states:

First, EPA continues to struggle to provide procedural and substantive relief to communities of color impacted by pollution. EPA’s deficiencies have resulted in a lack of substantive results that would improve the lives of people living in already overly burdened communities. Second, EPA does not take action when faced with environmental justice concerns until forced to do so. When they do act, they make easy choices and outsource any environmental justice responsibilities onto others.

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The report is a result of briefings the commission held in January and February 2016 with EPA officials, scholars and environmental justice advocates. They specifically looked at the EPA’s Final Coal Ash Rule, which didn’t declare the dirty coal byproduct as a hazardous waste, and its enforcement of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. READ MORE