January, 27 2010, 02:02pm EDT
EPA Requests Feedback on Plan Analyzing Impact of Hazardous Waste on Disadvantaged Communities
Agency reaching out to environmental justice community
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requesting public
input on a precedent-setting effort to evaluate environmental justice
concerns raised by a Bush-era loophole that stripped federal oversight
of companies that handle 1.5 million tons of hazardous waste each year.
The waste is generated by steel, chemical and pharmaceutical
companies and mostly affects low-income communities and communities of
color where waste dumps are often situated.
EPA will discuss the preliminary plan
for the environmental justice analysis with the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council at the council's national public meeting on
Jan. 28 in New Orleans.
"This is the first time the agency will conduct a comprehensive
environmental justice analysis -- although these reviews were first
ordered by President Bill Clinton," said Abigail Dillen, an attorney
for Earthjustice. "This process is likely to become a template for
future analyses. We look forward to participating in this process and
are pleased the EPA is involving important stakeholders and advocates
for environmental justice."
Even though the EPA is reconsidering
the Bush era rule change, it remains in effect in the interim and three
states are already making use of it. According to an analysis by
Earthjustice that will be presented in New Orleans, 23 facilities in
Iowa, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are already operating under the
exemption. A basic investigation of the facilities shows that at least
six of them are chronic violators and 19 are in communities that are
predominantly low-income or minority.
"Disadvantaged communities face an increased risk from exposure to
this hazardous waste," said Dr. Robert Bullard, director of the
Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University.
"Involving representatives of this community in the process is needed
to create an unbiased plan that assesses the impact of this loophole on
all communities."
"It is imperative that those who stand to be most directly affected
by the operations of these hazardous waste recycling businesses are
involved in analyzing and commenting on this draft policy," said
Vernice Miller-Travis, vice chair of the Maryland Commission on
Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities. "A fundamental tenet
of environmental justice is that these communities speak for themselves
and voice their concerns directly to the federal government. This
upcoming public dialogue is their opportunity to be heard."
Individuals unable to attend this dialogue in person in New Orleans
on January 28th, may comment on the record via e-mail. Submit written
comments to RCRA-docket@epa.gov,
Attn: Docket ID EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0315. Interested stakeholders can also
attend a second public meeting on the proposed environmental justice
plan to be held on February 23, 2010 at the EPA Potomac Yard Conference
Center in Arlington, VA.
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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UNRWA's East Jerusalem HQ Closed After Arson by Mob of Israeli Extremists
"This is an outrageous development," said the head of the Palestinian refugee agency. "Once again, the lives of U.N. staff were at serious risk."
May 10, 2024
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that it was forced to shutter its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem after a mob of Israeli extremists set fire to the perimeter of the facility, causing significant damage and endangering staffers inside the building.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said late Thursday that the fire was the latest escalation by Israeli extremists who have been protesting outside the UNRWA compound for months, ginned up by the Israeli government's unsubstantiated claims about the agency staffers' ties to terrorist groups.
An independent probe released last month concluded that Israel "has yet to provide supporting evidence" that "a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations."
In his statement Thursday, Lazzarini said U.N. staffers have "regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation" and that the East Jerusalem compound "has been seriously vandalized and damaged."
"This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of U.N. staff were at serious risk," said Lazzarini. "In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored."
This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem.
This took place while UNRWA and other UN Agencies’ staff were on the compound.
While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage… pic.twitter.com/ZqHFDNkiWC
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) May 9, 2024
Attacks on the agency's East Jerusalem headquarters began in February after Arieh King, the far-right deputy mayor of Jerusalem, called on the Netanyahu government to kick the UNRWA "out of Israel and specifically from Jerusalem."
Lazzarini said that demonstrations "became violent" this week when Israeli protesters "threw stones at U.N. staff and at the buildings of the compound."
"On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns," said Lazzarini. "It is the responsibility of the state of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times."
"I call on all those who have influence to put an end to these attacks and hold all those responsible accountable," he continued. "The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable. Anything less will set a new dangerous standard."
Espen Barth Eide, Norway's foreign affairs minister, said Friday that he was "shocked" by the attacks on UNRWA's East Jerusalem headquarters and echoed Lazzarini's call for an investigation.
"As host country, Israel has a duty to protect U.N. personnel and premises at any time. The incidents must be investigated, those responsible must be held accountable. UNRWA is the lifeline for millions of Palestine refugees."
"Forced displacement and military operations in Rafah are worsening an already catastrophic situation. We need a cease-fire now."
Norway was among the nations that did not suspend funding for UNRWA as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and other Western countries cut off donations to the agency earlier this year following Israel's baseless allegations against the body's employees. UNRWA's chief has accused the Netanyahu government of launching a "concerted campaign" to destroy the agency.
The U.S., historically UNRWA's largest donor, has yet to resume funding for the agency, which is the primary relief organization operating in the Gaza Strip. Legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law last month prohibits U.S. government funding for UNRWA until at least March 2025.
The latest attack on UNRWA's East Jerusalem headquarters came as the agency worked to aid displaced Palestinians in Rafah, the overcrowded city in southern Gaza that Israeli ground forces invaded earlier this week, worsening an already grave humanitarian disaster.
UNRWA wrote in a social media post Friday that it has been forced to close 10 of its 34 medical points in Rafah amid the Israeli military's attack on the city.
"Forced displacement and military operations in Rafah are worsening an already catastrophic situation," the agency said. "We need a cease-fire now."
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'Barbaric': Whistleblowers Further Expose Israel's Torture of Detained Palestinians
"What we know about Gaza is only tip of atrocity iceberg."
May 10, 2024
Three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at the notorious Sde Teiman prison camp in the Negev desert offered horrifying accounts of the treatment of Palestinians held there, tellingCNN that the facility's doctors have amputated limbs due to handcuffing injuries, allowed detainees' wounds to rot, and carried out vicious beatings.
A medic who worked at Sde Teiman's field hospital said that Palestinian detainees there are stripped "of anything that resembles human beings" and that the harassment and torture are done not to "gather intelligence" but "out of revenge" for the October 7 attacks.
Israel has detained thousands of Gaza residents since October, with many of them held under a recently amended law that empowers Israeli authorities to imprison people indefinitely without charge or due process. Human rights organizations have documented Israeli forces' brutal and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees, including women and children.
At the field hospital, CNN reported, "wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws."
One Israeli whistleblower took a photograph of a room at the facility, which the person said was filled with a "putrid stench" and the sound of "men's murmurs" as they were "forbidden from speaking to each other."
"We were told they were not allowed to move," the whistleblower said. "They should sit upright. They're not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold."
CNN finally sheds light on Israel's shocking and barbaric torture chambers: thousands of people, detained for months:
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention centerhttps://t.co/XuOL4IaFQS
— Nimer Sultany (@NimerSultany) May 10, 2024
The whistleblower accounts, according to CNN, "paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners' limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being 'a paradise for interns'; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot."
The testimony provided to CNN is consistent with details that a doctor at the camp's field hospital included in a recent letter to top Israeli officials. The doctor described unlawful and inhumane conditions; in a single week, the person said, "two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event."
A report published last month by Al Mezan, a Palestinian human rights organization, also documented "harrowing accounts of torture and inhumane treatment" of people detained by the Israeli military.
"A 19-year-old detainee told an Al Mezan lawyer that he was tortured from the moment he was arrested," the group said. "He described how three of his fingernails were removed with pliers during interrogation. He also stated that investigators unleashed a dog on him and subjected him to shabeh—a form of torture which involves detainees being handcuffed and bound in stress positions for long periods—three times over three days of interrogation. He was then placed in a cell for 70 days, where he experienced starvation and extreme fatigue."
Mohammed Al-Ran, a Palestinian doctor who was arrested by Israeli forces in December, told CNN that he was "stripped down to his underwear, blindfolded and his wrists tied, then dumped in the back of a truck where... the near-naked detainees were piled on top of one another as they were shuttled to a detention camp in the middle of the desert."
Al-Ran was held by Israeli forces for 44 days. Just before his release, he told CNN, "a fellow prisoner had called out to him, his voice barely rising above a whisper."
According to CNN: "He asked the doctor to find his wife and kids in Gaza. 'He asked me to tell them that it is better for them to be martyrs,' said al-Ran. 'It is better for them to die than to be captured and held here.'"
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, said in response to the new reporting that "what we know about Gaza is only tip of the atrocity iceberg."
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Climate Movement Cheers Michigan AG's Plans to Sue Big Oil
"Pursuing this litigation will allow us to recoup our costs and hold those responsible for jeopardizing Michigan's economic future and way of life accountable," said the state attorney general
May 09, 2024
Advocates of holding fossil fuel giants accountable for their significant contributions to the climate emergency welcomed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Thursday announcement that she intends to sue the polluting industry.
"Big Oil knew decades ago that their products would cause catastrophic climate change, but instead of doing the right thing they lied about it," declared Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity. "The people of Michigan deserve their day in court to make these companies pay for the massive harm they knowingly caused."
Dozens of municipalities and attorneys general for the District of Columbia and eight states—California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont—have already filed climate liability suits against Big Oil in recent years.
"Our 'Pure Michigan' identity is under threat from the effects of climate change," said Nessel, whose state was praised last year for passing clean energy legislation. "Warmer temperatures are shrinking ski seasons in the UP and disrupting the wonderful blooms of Holland's Tulip Time Festival. Severe weather events are on the rise."
"These impacts threaten not only our way of life but also our economy and pose long-term risks to Michigan's thriving agribusiness," she continued. "The fossil fuel industry, despite knowing about these consequences, prioritized profits over people and the environment. Pursuing this litigation will allow us to recoup our costs and hold those responsible for jeopardizing Michigan's economic future and way of life accountable."
The Democratic attorney general's office explained that she is "seeking proposals from attorneys and law firms to serve as special assistant attorneys general to pursue litigation related to the climate change impacts caused by the fossil fuel industry on behalf of the state of Michigan."
The Detroit Newsnoted that "Nessel took a similar tact in suing drugmakers for the opioid crisis, farming out much of the work to outside law firms in Michigan, Texas, and Florida."
According to the newspaper:
Nessel's office is working with other state departments to assess the costs associated with climate change, such as the cost of expanding storm water systems to handle flooding caused by stronger storms, responding to natural disasters, or supporting northern Michigan tourism economies dealing with dwindling ice and snow.
"This is going to be a massive discovery effort to find out exactly what our Michigan damages are now already and what can we expect to see in the future as a result of climate change," she said.
"I don't know that there's a bigger issue facing the state of Michigan than climate change," Nessel told the outlet. "We are talking about billions and billions of dollars in damages and we're already starting to see that on a day-to-day basis. We know this is only going to get worse."
The youth-led Sunrise Movement applauded Nessel's plans and asserted that U.S. President Joe Biden—who is seeking reelection in November—and the Department of Justice "must follow suit."
The group's call echoed similar demands that emerged last week in response to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee's hearing about a three-year investigation into "Big Oil's campaign of deception and distraction."
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