A West Dallas neighborhood, citing decades of air and noise pollution, wants an asphalt shingle plant to abandon its decades-old location - but foot-dragging and bureaucracy is stalling a timely exit agreement.

In mid-2022, roofing manufacturer GAF announced plans to close its shingles factory - located in a predominantly working-class Latino neighborhood, labeled Dallas' most polluted ZIP code in a study by Paul Quinn College.

Since then, GAF has filed for city rezoning, which if approved, would allow it to stay until 2029.

Janie Cisneros is a leader and organizer with the environmental justice group Singleton United/Unidos.

"It really is about mobilizing people and standing up for what you deserve and standing up for rights," said Cisneros, "but I think it's problematic across the country and there's other neighborhoods that have similar types of fights."

GAF has been labeled West Dallas' biggest source of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter pollution by the state's environmental quality commission.

Residents have complained for decades about toxic smells from the plant - but the company has defended its safety protocols, saying they comply with federal regulations.

Cisneros said 25% of residents in the neighborhood live below the poverty line, and 20% are kids age nine and younger.

She said she fears at the rate things are going, most of them will spend their entire childhood breathing toxic chemicals from the plant.

"I have no doubt that this is going to take seven to 10 years on its own just to clean it up after they've shut their doors," said Cisneros, "and so we're talking about 20 years before this community sees anything other than what's there right now - their tanks and their equipment and everything that's there on that 26-acre property."

In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency found asbestos in the soil near the former W.R. Grace plant in West Dallas.

Cisneros said she believes such incidents are an example of environmental racism, with people of color disproportionally exposed to toxic chemicals and hazardous waste.

"When you talk about West Dallas, it's like, 'Oh, West Dallas, they got hurt really bad with X, Y, and Z,'" said Cisneros. "And so I just find it amazing that some people don't really understand why it is that we're so adamant about shutting down this polluter."

Next week, elected officials in Minnesota, along with Latine and environmental organizations, will gather to discuss a recent delegation trip to Puerto Rico.

Participants said climate solutions they observed underscore the strength of grassroots work. The weeklong visit in the first half of August was led by Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action. Those who made the trip saw firsthand how certain areas are establishing climate resiliency in the wake of two large hurricanes that devastated the island in 2017.

Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, who has Puerto Rican roots, was part of the delegation and said community-driven efforts really stood out.

"We have resources here in the states that they don't," Pérez-Vega explained. "They've managed to live without power, without water, without hospitals, and schools being shut down."

The delegation pointed to a mountain town developing a community-owned solar microgrid which stands a better chance of keeping the power on in a disaster. Officials hope such work inspires Minnesota community organizers to balance their grassroots responses to climate threats with calls for more equitable policies.

Next Tuesday's discussion will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the group's worker center in South Minneapolis.

Ryan Pérez, organizing director for the group Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action, said the trip also revealed more issues stemming from climate migration.

"We were really fortunate enough to visit a migration organization in Puerto Rico," Pérez recounted. "That organization actually addresses Dominicans and Haitians that migrate to the island because the conditions there are better than in the Dominican Republic and Haiti."

Pérez noted within Puerto Rico, there are some levels of discrimination toward those migrating to the island. He suggested while the Midwest faces its own climate threats, the Minnesota region could learn lessons about welcoming others who travel here to escape weather disasters from other parts of the world.

The L.A. area is about to get $12-million dollars from Bezos Earth Fund's "Greening America's Cities" initiative. One of the first projects will be the restoration of the Pacoima wash, which will make nature more accessible and help in the fight against climate change.

Amanda Pantoja, a sustainable communities advocate with GreenLatinos, has received $4.75-million to oversee many of the projects.

"There will also be projects to plant trees in Los Angeles. And that will help to sequester carbon and provide shade for the city," she explained.

Some of the funds will go to a community garden project near public housing, run by the East L.A. Community Corporation. The $400-million dollar "Greening America's Cities" program will also fund equitable and sustainable greening efforts in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Chicago, and Wilmington, Delaware.

Pantoja noted communities of color in L.A. bear the greatest burden of climate impacts linked to extreme heat and pollution.

"It's also tied to the lack of green spaces in these communities. In Los Angeles County, for example, there is a median of only three acres of park space for every 1,000 residents," she explained. "And that is half of the median for the entire nation."

A 2021 investigation by the L.A. Times found that wealthier, tree-covered neighborhoods can be as much as ten degrees cooler than low-income communities that have few trees but a lot of pavement and large buildings that absorb heat.

People's wallets continue to feel the impact of high food prices, and local environmental groups say sustainable food systems and regenerative farming are solutions that deserve support in the next Farm Bill. Lawmakers are currently at work shaping the legislation to replace the current Farm Bill, enacted in 2018 and set to expire this fall.

Hank Grady, a member of the Sierra Club Kentucky Chapter, explained relative to many other states, Kentucky is home to a large number of farmers working on more than 75,000 farms across the state, and said many producers are looking to transition away from the industrial farming model.

"We believe that in the short run and the long run, this will provide a better alternative and a healthier product than the industrial alternative," he continued.

According to the Sierra Club, certain soils also are effective at capturing carbon, but excessive tillage, overgrazing, erosion and overuse use of fertilizers in industrial farming have depleted their ability to reduce greenhouse gases and lessen the impact of climate change.

Grady said efforts to improve water quality have largely been left out of industrial agriculture, and added while the state's Agriculture Water Quality Authority is an innovative program, it has not gone far enough to help implement sustainable practices that keep local waterways pollution-free and provide healthy food.

"We would like to see it amended, so it not only attempts to protect water quality in Kentucky from agricultural pollution, but also protects soil and helps farmers build a healthier soil system - one that is not heavily reliant on chemicals and monoculture," he said.

According to the CDC, concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOS, poorly managed application of pesticides, irrigation water, fertilizer, overgrazing and overworking the land can all result in contaminated waterways.