During the Biden-Harris administration, climate and environmentalist activists celebrated historic advances.
Now those advances are being systematically reversed, upending decades of work to combat environmental racism.
With a historic slew of executive orders so far in his second term, President Trump has cancelled grant funding, ended environmental justice programs,voided key climate policy protections, and, in the process, increased risks for health inequities in already-marginalized communities.
And this month, the Environmental Protection Agency revoked the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which means the EPA will no longer regulate greenhouse gases, and that states are stranded without federal enforcement of greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and aircraft.
But local activists are undeterred, ramping up demands for accountability from state lawmakers and agencies while raising awareness of increasing health risks in their communities.
Krystal Martin left a 29-year career in higher education after U.K.-based Drax Industries built a wood pellet plant in her hometown of Gloster, Mississippi, accidentally becoming an environmental activist.
Drax opened its Gloster plant in 2014 and committed to creating good jobs for county residents and being a good neighbor. Gloster’s population of approximately 1,200 is 80-percent Black, and 32 percent of the residents live below the poverty line.
But 12 years later Drax’s job creation claims are a point of debate, and the biomass energy company has been fined multiple times for exceeding hazardous air pollutant limits, including a Mississippi record $2.5 million fine for years of excessive pollution.
And Gloster residents’ complaints about health issues coincided with Drax’s arrival.
“My mom had been in and out of the hospital with breathing problems, and when she read about the $2.5 million fine, she called me and said, ‘Could this be the reason I am sick?’” Martin said.
Other Gloster residents developed respiratory issues and lung cancer, too, said Martin, who founded Greener Greater Gloster, a grassroots outreach initiative, in response to the Drax facility issue.
Martin said there is not yet a proven connection between the Drax Gloster facility pollution and residents’ health conditions and deaths. In the meantime, she and other community members recently hosted an advocacy day at the state capitol in Jackson as part of Black Climate Week and are calling on lawmakers to pass HB-1162, a statewide clean air bill sponsored by Rep. Zakiya Summers (D-MISS).
Gloster residents are also suing Drax for compensation for environmental racism and for “pain suffering and medical expenses for diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) due to the plant’s harmful emissions.”
“I came back home for my mom, but the work we’re doing is helping the community,” Martin said.
In Prince George’s County, Maryland, Chanda Causer is organizing community members as part of her climate justice work.
“I am a longtime organizer, but now I am taking a more intentional role. I thought with data centers coming to Prince Georges County, this would be a good time to start up,” Causer said.
Causer, a mom of three, is helping to launch a Prince George’s chapter of Mothers Out Front, a national network of moms committed to climate justice.
Climate justice legislation is also underway in Maryland. The Climate Crimes Accountability Fund Act would authorize the Attorney General to “hold accountable entities that contribute to climate change.”
“A lot of people are focused on jobs in the county and not health and health impacts over time, but we all should have a collective impact on what happens long term,” Causer said.
Causer said the climate movement needs everyone’s participation at the local level, across ages and generations.
“We can make incremental changes, especially locally. If you plan to live in the county for a long time. This is your county and our county, even if you don’t have kids, you have to be aware, and we want resources to go to the right places. Just show up,” Causer said.
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