By Avery Schuyler Nunn for Grist.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Michigan News Connection reporting for the Grist-Public News Service Collaboration

The neighborhood of Bryant sits in Ann Arbor, between the hills and valleys that surround this city in eastern Michigan. Its 262 homes are perched across from the city's largest landfill and stand on a floodplain, so residents grapple with mold, mildew, and water damage. Outdated infrastructure subjects them to high utility costs, and Interstate 94 long ago isolated the community, one of the city's most densely populated, prompting decades of neglect.

More than half of the people in this frontline community identify as people of color. About the same number are renters. Three in four families, many of whom have been in the neighborhood for three generations, live in poverty. The help that does come from the government is too often offered by bureaucrats with good intentions but little idea what residents want - or need.

"A lot of programs, specifically ones that are focused on energy conservation, just get designed and brought into these communities," says Hank Love, director of municipal and community programs at the energy equity organization Elevate, which works in cities nationwide including Ann Arbor. "People would say, 'Look at what we made for you and are going to implement,' without getting adequate input on the front end."

That dynamic began to change when Ann Arbor vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The city is beginning in Bryant, where it has enlisted residents and nonprofits to help decarbonize the entire community. Renovations to the first homes began in May 2022, funded through a state grant to repair and electrify homes, plant trees, and install solar panels.

"It's resident-designed and resident-centered," says Missy Stults, the city's sustainability director and a 2022 Grist 50 honoree. "We are trying to correct for market failures by working directly with a frontline community to determine how best to collaboratively create the nation's first fully decarbonized low-income neighborhood. There's a layering of so many elements, and it is literally changing lives."

In 2020, Ann Arbor announced the A²Zero initiative, an audacious plan to achieve carbon neutrality citywide within a decade. City officials formed a broad coalition of nonprofits, for-profits, and community organizations to answer the question, "How do we make it happen in just 10 years?"

Stults saw an opportunity to engage the community in an effort to address the complex and intertwined issues of gentrification, disinvestment, and environmental racism. She and her team had been mapping socioeconomic vulnerability within the city, and "Bryant popped up for us as an area of opportunity," she says. "We made a really strategic decision to focus on those who have been hurt first and worst by climate change and systemic racism. We thought, 'Well, why don't we try? Let's go talk to the residents and see if this is of interest.'"

Although she found plenty of interest, she also found apprehension - many of Bryant's residents had lived for generations under a legacy of institutional disregard and neglect. To earn their confidence, Stults and her colleagues knocked on doors to chat with residents about the program and gauge interest, and hosted community events like tree plantings.

"Our biggest obstacle was to gain that trust, to help people believe that we were actually trying to do something for them without taking from them," says Krystal Steward, a Bryant resident and outreach specialist for Community Action Network. "And now, they're seeing that things are actually happening. Because I'm their neighbor, there's a greater sense of trust in the project. It's an amazing feeling to be helping my community."

In spring 2022, nearly two years of planning finally began to yield results. Through a $500,000 state grant to Community Action Network, decarbonization of the first 19 homes - selected through an energy assessment that considered the extent of needed repairs - began.

Every project begins with an energy assessment to determine how best to rehabilitate and retrofit each house. Most homes use gas to power furnaces and other appliances, making the transition to clean tech as much about increasing comfort as it is about reducing emissions, says Hank Love. There's no point in, say, replacing a gas furnace if the roof has holes or the attic lacks insulation. "It's going to feel cold no matter how much you heat it, and you're going to spend a ton of money just trying to feel comfortable," he says.

Once repairs are made, crews swap gas appliances for electric ones before installing solar panels. "What I'm most excited about is that we are already solarizing households in the neighborhood and essentially fixing affordability issues that some residents are having," says Derrick Miller, executive director of Community Action Network.

Bryant resident Deborah Pulk, who lives on a fixed income and has been in Ann Arbor since 1986, was among the first to benefit from the program. She needed a new roof, and an inspection revealed that her stove was emitting dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide. The switch to electric appliances and renewable energy has saved her money, too.

"Krystal had told me that they were trying to start putting up solar panels," she says. "I said, 'Sure! I'd love to have solar panels on my house.' My gas and [electricity] bill is already much lower. I used to pay $145 per month on a budget plan. Last month my bill was $39."

As in any neighborhood, some people support the project, others are indifferent, and a few are opposed - because they remain leery of City Hall, question whether there will be enough money to continue the program, or don't believe climate change is a problem. Stults concedes the city has not yet lined up additional funding, but notes, "We are making progress." City officials are hopeful that the work done on the first 19 homes, and the lessons they've learned working with residents, homeowners, and landlords, will provide a blueprint for decarbonizing other neighborhoods and, perhaps, other cities.

"This project really lights me on fire and keeps me going - it's so transformative for everyone who touches it," says Stults. "It's certainly transforming me. I hope that it actually transforms our system by creating new tools and mechanisms for everyone to be able to engage in the clean energy and decarbonization movement. If we don't create space for everyone as a part of this movement, we will fail."

Avery Schuyler Nunn wrote this article for Grist.


get more stories like this via email

Environmental groups say more should be done to protect people's health from what they call toxic, radioactive sludge.

A court granted a temporary restraining order against Austin Master Services, a fracking waste-storage facility in Martin's Ferry, at the request of Ohio Attorney General David Yost.

Ohio has some of the least-restrictive rules on fracking waste, said Jill Hunkler, director of the local advocacy group Ohio Valley Allies. She said this makes communities "dumping grounds" for the byproducts of fracking, and residents are often left to educate themselves on the risks of living near fracking operations and waste sites.

"We can see firsthand how dangerous these facilities were and how poorly they were operating," she said, "and right within 500 feet of the drinking water supply for 5 million people, which is the Ohio River."

At a city council meeting, residents voiced their concerns about water-supply safety and ongoing health risks for neighboring communities.

In a legal complaint, the AG's office said the Martin's Ferry facility has exceeded the amount of waste it's permitted to store by thousands of tons.

Austin Master Services could not be reached for comment. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources maintains there's no evidence the waste has affected public health.

Hunkler said a judge ordered Austin Master Services to clean up the excess waste at a recent hearing, but the company said it didn't have the money to do so.

"It's just a very good example of the failure here to adequately regulate and enforce and protect the communities from this toxic industry," she added.

According to Food and Water Watch, fracking waste contains a mixture of heavy metals, brines, volatile organic compounds, carcinogens and naturally occurring radioactive contaminants. Yale University research has linked exposure to some of these substances to reproductive and developmental problems.


get more stories like this via email

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, say they continue to live with health problems, including rashes, nosebleeds and respiratory issues following last year's massive train derailment and chemical spill.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 177 tons of solid waste of solid waste and 68 million gallons of water have been transported out of East Palestine for disposal.

Jess Conard, Appalachia director for the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, said vinyl chloride is a key ingredient in making PVC plastic. She argued the disaster highlighted the need to reduce production of industrial plastic and better regulate all stages of the plastic life cycle. She added residents still do not have the resources needed to stay safe.

"We are also in desperate need of residential indoor and outdoor air monitoring and air assessments for our homes," Conard contended. "There are residents within the past month that have reported detections of vinyl chloride outside of their home."

Norfolk Southern recently agreed to a $600 million settlement in an attempt to resolve a string of lawsuits involving thousands of people.

If it gets approval from all parties, it would resolve all class-action claims by people and businesses who were within a 20-mile radius of the derailment site, and personal injury claims within 10 miles. In a statement on the company's website, the company stressed the settlement does not constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing or fault.

Conard pointed out the settlement will not prevent another train-related environmental disaster from happening. She noted the amount of money in the proposed settlement will hardly leave a dent in the pockets of a company whose profits topped $8 billion last year.

"If the court accepts this settlement, it sets the precedent that there is a corporate price tag for poisoning communities," Conard asserted. "The court must uphold justice for the people."

Congress has stalled on passage of legislation to boost regulations around inspections and fines for railroad companies violating safety standards. Earlier this month, the Biden administration passed a new rule requiring freight operators to have at least two people on board, in an attempt to increase safety.

get more stories like this via email

Chemical plants in West Virginia and other states will be required to curb emissions of toxic, cancer causing pollutants - such as ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other chemicals - under a new Environmental Protection Agency rule.

Hundreds of facilities, most located near low-income or communities of color, will also have to collect air pollution data and submit it to the EPA.

The data will also be made available to communities, which Jeremy Symons - a senior advisor with the Environmental Protection Network - said is an important tool for transparency and environmental justice.

"Not only will this action by EPA reduce these dangerous toxic air pollutants by 96%," said Symons, "but they're also going to require chemical plants to install fenceline air-pollution monitors."

Research has shown that long-term exposure to ethylene oxide and chloroprene can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer and liver cancer.

Children are particularly at risk.

The Biden administration says the rule will slash more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year in affected regions.

Symons, a former EPA advisor, said the rules come after years of work by local community members and environmental organizations that have sounded the alarm on the impact of deadly air pollution.

"There's been especially high cancer rates in these communities," said Symons. "So it's really significant that EPA has taken action and gone into the communities that have not been protected as much as they should be in the past."

A handful of companies in West Virginia - including Chemours, Koppers and Altivia - will have to comply with the new rules.

Investigative reporting published in 2021 by Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica have revealed how toxic chemical pollution has harmed the state's majority Black communities.

get more stories like this via email