The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has opened a civil rights investigation into a complaint that Alabama discriminated against Black residents when handing out funding for wastewater infrastructure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday it has opened a civil rights investigation into whether Alabama discriminated against Black residents when handing out funding for wastewater infrastructure.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice filed the complaint this spring, arguing Alabama’s policies for distributing money have made it difficult for people — particularly Black residents in the state’s poverty-stricken Black Belt — to get help for onsite sanitation needs.

“Sanitation is a basic human right that every person in this country, and in the state of Alabama, should have equal access to. Those without proper sanitation access are exposed to illness and serious harm,” Catherine Coleman Flowers, founder of The Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, said in a statement.

  • girlfreddy
    41·
    1 year ago

    Federal officials did not accuse the state of breaking the law but said they were concerned about a a pattern of inaction and neglect regarding the risks of raw sewage for residents. The agreement is the result of the department’s first environmental justice investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    Jayzuz. The feds haven’t done anything to hold Hellabama to account for 60 gd years!