EPA Issues Clean Water Rule, Fight for Environmental Justice Continues in NC
Thursday, May 28, 2015
WALNUT GROVE, N.C. - On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Waters of the U.S. rule that will offer protection to 2 million miles of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands. Until now, those water sources were not clearly protected under the Clean Water Act.
It comes as dozens gathered on Wednesday to call for environmental justice in North Carolina. Among them was Karenna Gore, daughter of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
"North Carolina is a very important state and we have a moral framework around the issue of climate change that is growing, and people are understanding this is not just about science and even jobs," she says. "It's also about who we are."
Gore joined the North Carolina NAACP and the Forward Together Moral Movement to call for greater environmental protections for all citizens, including those in less advantaged communities.
Gore and organizers chose Walnut Grove because of existing health concerns after local water officials traced carcinogen spikes in treated drinking water traced to coal ash pits at Duke Energy's Belews Creek station.
Gore says it's sometimes no accident that environmental violations and threats happen in communities where people are the least equipped to fight back.
"It's actually calculated by some profit-driven corporations to target areas where people are not going to be able to fight back," she says.
Earlier this month, Duke Energy announced it was retiring the coal-fired power plant located in Asheville, and also pleaded guilty to nine federal misdemeanors related to illegally discharging pollution from coal ash ponds in North Carolina.
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