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.
Video: Dr. Camara Jones: Why Place Matters — Toward a National Conversation on Racism
Dr. Camara Jones, Ph.D., is an extraordinary scientist, physician and story-teller. In this video she discusses racism and its effects on the health of communities and individuals.
http://www.ideastream.org/cityclub/entry/47946
Watch “Racial Discrimination and Environmental Justice in Camden” on YouTube
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.
Continue reading
Rosa Parks, Revisited
N.Y. Times (Feb. 1, 2013)
Most of what you think you know about Rosa Parks may well be wrong.
By Charles M. Blow
On the verge of the 100th anniversary of her birth this Monday comes a fascinating new book, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” by Jeanne Theoharis, a Brooklyn College professor. It argues that the romanticized, children’s-book story of a meek seamstress with aching feet who just happened into history in a moment of uncalculated resistance is pure mythology.
Theoharis points out, “Rosa’s family sought to teach her a controlled anger, a survival strategy that balanced compliance with militancy.”
Parks was mostly raised by her grandparents. Her grandfather, a follower of Marcus Garvey, often sat vigil on the porch with a rifle in case the Klan came. She sometimes sat with him because, as the book says she put it, “I wanted to see him kill a Ku Kluxer.”
When she was a child, a young white man taunted her. In turn, she threatened him with a brick. Her grandmother reprimanded her as “too high-strung,” warning that Rosa would be lynched before the age of 20. Rosa responded, “I would be lynched rather than be run over by them.”Continue reading
EJAC meeting February 20, 2013
EJAC members and all: This is your friendly reminder of our EJAC meeting on this upcoming Wednesday (Feb. 20, 2013) at 10am. Meeting will be held in the 7th floor large conference room here at NJDEP in Trenton (401 E. State St.).
This meeting is going to be devoted entirely to the discussion of Hurricane Sandy with a presentation
Continue reading
New Book: Living and Dying in Brick City
New Book — Living and Dying in Brick City: An E.R. Doctor Returns Home
by Sampson Davis
It was just before 7:00 A.M. on July 1, 1999, my first full day on the job. Jay-Z blared from the stereo as I steered my old Honda Accord past the White Castle burger joint, toward Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. The neighborhood — a mix of boarded up buildings, dingy brick storefronts, beauty supply stores, and fast-food restaurants — rolled by like a video. Before long, the July heat would draw residents out of their homes to play checkers and cards, children in swimsuits would be dashing through open fire hydrants, and sweaty boys would be swooshing basketballs through naked rims on concrete courts. This was Brick City, my city. I knew its rhythms, and I’d seen its dark side up close.Continue reading
Racism in 2012: Year End Review
Racism Review (Dec. 31, 2012)
Racism in 2012: Year End Review
By Jessie
As 2012 draws to a close, I pulled together some of the biggest news in racism for the year.
Election Politics – Of course, much of the year we were focused on the racism in election politics.
- New scholarship on the Obama years, the 2012 election and systemic racism appeared in the Journal Qualitative Sociology by our very own Joe Feagin and Adia Harvey Wingfield.
- As a voters, Latinos had a big impact in this election, as Maria Chavez noted here.
- Even though white privilege was not enough to secure a victory for Mitt Romney, he still did well among white voters who overwhelmingly supported him at the polls.
- Even so, The New York Times was unable to marshal a sophisticated critique of the racism in the GOP.Continue reading