• Energy

More than 1000 Protesters Disrupt “Line 3” Pipeline Construction in Minnesota

• climate change
• Enbridge
• Environmental Justice
• Line 3
• oil
• protest
• tar-sands
• tribal treaty rights

Thousands of protesters gathered near the headwaters of the Mississippi River from around the country, including actresses Jane Fonda and Patricia Arquette, in an attempt to disrupt the construction of a major pipeline through northern Minnesota, the Duluth Tribune reported.

Why This Matters: The Line 3 pipeline, at a cost of $4B, will carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of dirty Canadian tar-sands oil through the U.S. across at least 200 bodies of water and sensitive watersheds.

• People

Rethinking Urban Freeways with Rep. Nikema Williams

• Environmental Justice
• equity
• Infrastructure
• transportation
• urban freeways

The American Jobs Plan is an unmissable moment for communities across the country to address the legacy of urban freeways and set a new course for a more equitable future. It’s absolutely critical that as we begin to reimagine and build the transportation infrastructure of the 21st century that we do not repeat the mistakes […]

• Weather

The Inequity of Extreme Heat Must Be Addressed

• climate change
• Environmental Justice
• extreme heat

by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Climate change is raising temperatures, but it’s not being felt equally. In the U.S., people of color and low-income communities are exposed to higher temperatures and more smog than white residents. Two new studies show this correlation:  A survey of temperatures across 175 of the largest U.S. cities found […]

• People

Amazon Employees Petition Company to Prioritize Communities of Color

• Amazon
• climate change
• Environmental Justice
• Jeff Bezos

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Six hundred and forty Amazon tech and corporate employees have signed a petition urging the company to raise its emissions goals and address the disproportionate impact its emissions have on communities of color. The petition, organized by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, comes in response to Amazon successfully persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission […]

• People

All Communities Deserve A “Cool and Green” COVID Recovery

• Environmental Justice
• extreme heat
• green space
• urban heat island effect

by Reann Gibson Over the last 14 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of nearly everyone in the United States and abroad. While we have all suffered, communities of color have borne the brunt of the illness, job loss and death of the pandemic. As summer approaches once again, these communities are about […]

• Water

American Jobs Plan Aims To Regain Public Trust In Safety of Drinking Water

• American Jobs Plan
• clean water
• Environmental Justice
• Flint
• lead pipes
• safe drinking water
• water

From 2018 to 2020, over 61 million people were exposed to water with more lead than is safe to drink. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, if funded, would fix this problem by spending $45 billion to replace more than 6 million lead-pipe service lines across the country.  Infamously, in Flint, MI, thousands of children were exposed to water contaminated with lead, in one of the worst public health disasters in recent memory. 

Why this Matters:  Lead pipes predominantly impact low-income, nonwhite communities across the nation — they are a major environmental justice flashpoint.