After the Biden administration released a new rule setting standards to limit exposure to silica dust, advocates in Kentucky and around Appalachia argued it is not enough to stem the region's black lung epidemic.
The new rule shrinks in half the allowed exposure limit for crystalline silica during an eight-hour shift.
Rebecca Shelton, director of policy for the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, who represents miners in federal black lung disability claims, said while the rule is beneficial since silica dust exposure standards have not been updated in decades, miners are cutting through increasing amounts of rock to get to coal seams, breathing in more and more toxic dust.
"In the last decade or so, we have seen miners who are younger than ever before, and also sicker, coming through our doors because of this exposure to silica," Shelton observed. "Silica dust itself is more toxic than just coal dust alone."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said modern-day coal miners are at greater risk of developing respiratory disease than their predecessors, likely driven by increasing silica coal mine dust inhalation.
Shelton pointed out the new rule also requires quarterly sampling and stronger record-keeping requirements by coal operators, with little oversight for compliance and a heavy reliance on the coal industry's willingness to participate.
"Mine operators are going to be responsible for kind of self-auditing, and periodically evaluating the conditions in the mine to assess whether silica dust levels may be increasing, whether they may need to conduct more sampling," Shelton explained.
According to the group Appalachian Voices, one in five tenured miners in Central Appalachia has black lung disease and one in twenty lives with the most severe and disabling form of black lung.
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Cincinnati is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies' $200 million Sustainable Cities initiative and will hire three new staff members to merge climate solutions with Black financial empowerment.
This initiative is part of Cincinnati's broader strategic plans, including the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan for carbon neutrality by 2050 and the Financial Freedom Blueprint to combat poverty and racial inequity citywide.
Ollie Kroner, directory of Cincinnati's office of environment and sustainability, will prioritize green workforce development, minority-owned businesses support, energy poverty solutions and climate adaptation strategies. Kroner said it is all grant funded.
"Bloomberg philanthropy is making an investment in cities that are really trying to go big in both of these spaces," Kroner explained. "This will bring dollars and people to support the effort over the next three years."
The award aims to accelerate progress in 25 U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, and Cleveland, leveraging federal funding to further boost economically thriving communities. Kroner noted the importance of five Ohio cities in the program, given the state's lack of a climate change plan.
Kroner argued investing in combating climate change now is critical and Ohio aims to bring different segments of the community together along the lines of equality.
"It's hard to see the long-term outcomes, but we're certainly trying to strike at this intersection of the climate crisis and racial and financial empowerment," Kroner emphasized.
More than $400 billion in federal funding is available to local governments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for U.S. cities to invest in climate change solutions.
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An environmental justice organization in Wallace, Louisiana, says it won't back down in a fight for the health of its historic community.
The Descendants Project, which focuses on the cultural and historic preservation of enslaved Africans, has been successful in one lawsuit against St. John the Baptist Parish but is heading back to court. The dispute is over zoning ordinances that allow industrial giants to set up shop on the borders of residential areas.
Jo Banner, co-founder and co-director of The Descendants Project, said the battle is far from over.
"The land was reverted back to residential, but unfortunately, our parish administration and Parish Council went right back and switched, zoned the land back to heavy industry," Banner explained.
The land at the center of the conflict is known as the "Greenfield Property," where the company Greenfield Louisiana wants to build a large grain elevator and export terminal. Banner contends the area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge already has an overload of grain and petrochemical industries, and has been nicknamed "Cancer Alley."
Banner noted her organization has now filed another lawsuit against the parish to have the land zoning revert once again to residential. She stressed the tug-of-war shouldn't be happening.
"What's really sad is that residents like ourselves have to go through these measures in order to have safe zoning. If we did not have the support of our legal firms and our advocacy firms, we would not be able to continue the fight," she emphasized.
Banner pointed out residents of St. John the Baptist Parish have some of the highest cancer risk in the country; seven to eight times more than the average American.
"We have men who are getting breast cancer and having to get double mastectomies, children getting cancer at a young age, older people getting cancer when they should be past that point of getting cancer, and also rare forms of cancers," Banner added.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently recognized the community of Wallace as a National Register Historic District as part of the African American experience in Louisiana.
A judge will decide if the parish will be allowed to eliminate the 2,000-foot distance requirement from residential neighborhoods to allow the grain elevator and export terminal to be built.
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Michigan boasts 11,000 inland lakes, more freshwater shoreline than any other state and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams but a new report shows some waters are being contaminated by livestock waste from concentrated animal feeding operations.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center report says the 290 feeding operations in Michigan generate almost 63 million pounds of waste.
Katie Garvey, staff attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Center and author of the report, said lax regulation leads to more pollution.
"This is just a lot of waste, and it all has to go somewhere," Garvey pointed out. "Unfortunately, because of the way that this industry operates and the state's failure to regulate it properly, that 'somewhere' -- all too often -- is the waters of the state."
Garvey said if the feeding operations were regulated like other industrial operations, they would have to either treat their waste before disposing of it, safely manage it, or produce less waste. Some defenders of the operations say every farm is different and the industry should not be painted with a broad brush.
Sarah Fronczak, environmental management educator for Michigan State University Extension, grew up on a farm and now helps to educate farmers and others on best practices. Fronczak believes the most effective way to keep livestock waste from running off is a tried-and-true method many farmers have gotten away from, the use of plants known as cover crops.
"Usually, when I work with a farmer, I'll say, 'Hey, are you applying your manure to living roots?'" Fronczak noted. "Because if a plant is there to take up the nutrients, it's going to be hard for those nutrients to leave, because the plant's going to be there to take them."
She thinks there are more feeding operation owners adhering to their permit requirements than those who do not. However, Garvey argued there are laws in place wrongfully protecting the large operations.
"Most of these legal protections were not designed for these industrial-scale operations," Garvey stressed. "Therefore, they are basically benefiting from loopholes that are intended to benefit smaller-scale farmers."
Garvey added dozens of actions can reduce agricultural pollution, including tightening and better enforcement of permits, conducting more unannounced audits and inspections, and imposing real consequences on repeat offenders.
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