Advocates Call For Environmental & Racial Justice At North Birmingham Superfund Site
Dozens of cars decorated with signs and posters formed a procession through the 35th Avenue Superfund site Saturday morning. Members of the “Right to Breathe Caravan” called for racial and environmental justice as they traveled through Fairmont, Collegeville and Harriman Park, north Birmingham neighborhoods that have faced decades of industrial pollution.
Charlie Powell, founder and president of the advocacy group People Against Neighborhood Industrial Contamination (PANIC), helped organize the event with several other groups including GASP and the Birmingham chapter of Black Lives Matter.
“We been fighting this for years and we ain’t been getting no justice,” Powell said. “This is an environmental injustice and we want relief, and we just going to have to start taking to the streets just like everybody else.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared part of north Birmingham a Superfund site almost a decade ago due to elevated levels of lead, arsenic and other carcinogens. The area is surrounded by industry, including two coke oven plants, steel producing facilities, quarries and asphalt batch plants. It was recently the subject of a federal bribery investigation involving a Birmingham lawyer, a Drummond coal executive and a state representative.
As part of the cleanup effort, EPA officials have spent years sampling affected neighborhoods and have removed contaminated soil from more than 400 properties. Powell said despite that, industry continues to pollute the area and many residents want the option to relocate to communities with cleaner air and soil.
This is included in a list of demands that the caravan group is proposing for state and local leaders. Advocates also want Gov. Kay Ivey to request to have the 35th Avenue site included on the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List, and they want the Birmingham City Council to establish an advisory environmental justice commission.
Mary Scott Hodgin,WBHM
Charlie Powell leads the “Right to Breathe Caravan” through north Birmingham.
Michael Hansen, executive director of GASP, said the issues in north Birmingham have been festering for decades, lowering property values and increasing health disparities for the area’s predominantly Black population. He said Saturday’s event was largely inspired by recent calls for racial justice.
“The global uprisings after the murder of George Floyd presented an opportunity to highlight the way that environmental issues intersect with systemic racism and oppression,” Hansen said.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic has also further proven the need for health equity, as data shows minority groups are disproportionately affected by the virus.
Tributes, not politics, play center stage as Trump hosts the Kennedy Center Honors
President Trump said he was closely involved with picking the honorees, and on Sunday he became the first president to host the Kennedy Center awards ceremony.
Thailand launches airstrikes along border with Cambodia as tensions reignite
Both sides accused the other of breaking a ceasefire that halted fighting earlier this year. Longstanding border disputes erupted into five days of combat in July that killed dozens.
Rafael Ithier, a legend of salsa music, dies at 99
The pianist, composer and arranger spent more than six decades turning El Gran Combo into one of the premier salsa institutions of Latin America and beyond.
Light from satellites will ruin majority of some space telescope images, study says
Astronomers have long been concerned about reflections from satellites showing up in images taken by telescopes and other scientific instruments.
Defense Department is reviewing boat strike video for possible release, Hegseth says
In a speech on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the strikes, saying: "President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation's interests."
Bama, Miami in, Notre Dame out and Indiana No. 1 in College Football Playoff rankings
Nobody paying attention for the past 24 months would be surprised to see Indiana – yes, Indiana – leading the way into this year's College Football Playoff.
