Unraveling environmental racism, here and now: What the South Bronx and other communities deserve
Daily News
By: Arif Ullah and Mychal Johnson
There is poison in the air, and we need to breathe. Poisons like nitrogen dioxide, fine particle pollutants and black carbon are spewing from vehicles on expressways that city planners saw fit to encircle our communities in, and spilling from the disproportionate number of peak power plants, waste transfer stations and diesel-truck-intensive operations saturating our inaccessible waterfront.
When deciding where to put sources of pollution like power plants, sewage treatment facilities, waste transfer stations, trucking warehouses and busy highways, the environmental impact they will have on the local community — the amount of air pollution and other poisons they emit — are supposed to be reviewed to ensure that no community faces an unfair burden. But under the current law, the cumulative impact of multiple sources of pollution — from existing sources along with the proposed project — are not taken into consideration. As a result, communities like the South Bronx, and similarly disadvantaged communities throughout the state, end up with a disproportionate amount of these polluting facilities, the cumulative impacts of which result in serious health problems.
