Lisa Jackson’s final blog — on EJ

The White House blog (Feb. 14, 2013)

Reducing Pollution For All American Families

By Lisa P. Jackson

When I first became Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, I made a list of my priorities for the Agency. Working for environmental justice was at the top of that list. Ensuring equal environmental protections for all Americans is the unfinished business of the environmental movement.

It’s a simple idea – that all Americans are entitled to clean air to breathe, safe water to drink and a healthy community to raise their families – but often, it is America’s low-income and minority communities that bear the brunt of our country’s pollution.

As a result, these communities are also hit harder by the many illnesses pollution is linked to – conditions like asthma, heart disease, cancer and strokes. Studies show that minority groups face a greater risk of having asthma, and once they have it, they are at a greater risk of needing emergency treatment. African-American children are hospitalized for asthma at twice the rate of white children, and asthma-related deaths among African-American children take place at a rate of four times that of non-Hispanic white children. Hispanic children — especially of Puerto Rican descent — also face higher rates of asthma.

Dirty air, polluted water and contaminated lands not only put families at higher risks of serious and potentially costly diseases – they also discourage new developments and new jobs. Poison in the ground often means poison in the economy. Limiting the economic possibilities of low-income and minority communities only makes it harder to break the cycle of poverty.

Shortly after I was sworn in, I asked EPA employees to make environmental justice part of every decision we make. I called on the whole Agency to think creatively and work hard to make certain that our efforts reach all communities. Plan EJ 2014 – the environmental justice strategy we unveiled more than two years ago– is the tool we created for answering that call. It is aimed at ensuring that environmental justice is integrated into all of EPA’s day-to-day responsibilities – everything from permitting, compliance and enforcement, to community-based programs and the work we do with other federal agencies.

As I prepare to leave EPA, one of my last acts as administrator is issuing the Plan EJ 2014 Progress Report. The report provides ample evidence of how far we have come in making environmental justice an integral and permanent part of EPA’s day-to-day business. It also details how we have mobilized the entire federal government to incorporate environmental justice into the work each agency conducts.

For the first time in our 42 year history, we have laid the groundwork for EPA to fully implement its environmental justice mission of ensuring environmental protection for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity or income level. I am proud of the work we have started and the progress we have made, and I am confident that it will continue long after I depart.

Public information session on Newark incinerator Feb. 21

The NJ DEP has announced they’ll hold a public information session on the air permit renewal for the Newark incinerator, operated by Covanta in the Ironbound.  The meeting will take place 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Thursday Feb. 21 at Newark city hall (920 Broad St.).   To learn whether the meeting is being canceled for bad weather, check the DEP web site at 4:00 pm on Feb. 21 or phone (609) 633-8248.
If the event gets canceled because of bad weather, the alternate date for the information session is Feb. 26, same time, same place.
The DEP will publish a notice about the air permit renewal in the New Jersey Register on about April 8, 2013 and will take comments from the public between April 8 and April 22, 2013.
A public hearing about the permit renewal for the incinerator is scheduled for April 10, from 7 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at Newark City Hall (920 Broad St.).

East Orange, NJ, officials arrested for conspiring to hide water pollution

http://ens-newswire.com/2013/02/13/new-jersey-water-officials-charged-with-poisoning-drinking-water/

Environment News Service (Feb. 13, 2013)

Two top officials of the East Orange Water Commission have been charged with conspiring to close contaminated wells before monthly water tests so as to falsely report low levels of a regulated contaminant in drinking water supplied to customers, then opening the wells, allowing the chemical back into the water supply. …

[Executive director Harry] Mansmann and [assistant executive director William] Mowell allegedly conspired to falsify mandatory testing of the EOWC’s water supply to hide elevated levels of the contaminant tetrachlorethene, or PERC, an industrial solvent used for dry cleaning, which is classified as a probable carcinogen.

In addition to charges of conspiracy, the two were cited for official misconduct, unlawful release of a pollutant, and violations of state water quality laws. The two were responsible for the water quality of East and South Orange, home to some 80,000 people. According to ENS, one well had levels of PERC 25 times higher than the legal limit.

86% of Blacks Support ‘Significant Steps’ By President To Tackle Climate Change

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/516sl-eaYxs/story01.htm

A new poll from the League of Conservation Voters found 61 percent of Americans say “the effects of climate change are already affecting them personally or will in their lifetime.”

Nearly two-thirds of voters (65%) support “the President taking significant steps to address climate change now” including:

89% of Democrats,

62% of Independents and

38% of Republicans

60% of whites,

76% of Hispanics and

86% of African-Americans

70% of voters under 40 and

62% of voters over 40

Bolstering this desire for action is the intensely held value that Americans have a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted or damaged. Nearly everyone (93%) agrees with this, and 67% strongly agree.

Obama’s Chicago Speech Can’t Address Gun Violence Unless It Takes on Race

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/Zb2OnFYJy3Y/story01.htm

Academic research long ago showed that poverty and institutional racism are at the root of urban crime. Will the president have the courage to say so?
By Michael P. Jeffries

One of the iconic moments of late Bush-era America came when Kanye West wandered off script at a Hurricane Katrina telethon and boldly proclaimed, "George Bush doesn’t care about black people." Despite some obvious political and personal differences between Bush and Barack Obama, the current president has also been criticized for taking black supporters for granted and failing to advance a policy agenda that effectively combats black suffering.

But as the nation’s gun-violence crisis continued this week, President Obama is pushing back on those critics.
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