Category: Consider It Briefed

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry noted that “most people in the United States have one or more specific PFAS in their blood, especially PFOS and PFOA.”(1) PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) belong to a class of human-made chemicals known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.(2) PFAS are characterized by their carbon-fluorine bonds, which are among the strongest in chemistry, giving them the nickname “forever chemicals.” The bonds make PFAS remarkably durable but also make them highly persistent in the environment. PFAS’s chemical nature allow them to exist in thousands of chemical forms, making them versatile enough to be found in numerous products. Chemicals are usually mobile—think of carbon existing everywhere and in all living organisms—but PFAS’s mobility makes them more dangerous than most other chemicals. PFAS have been found in the blood of humans and hundreds of species because of its prevalence in the air, soil, and water.(3) There is no escaping them.

 

Along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, communities are more likely to die because of petrochemical industrial practices. This location is called Cancer Alley, a sacrifice zone created from petrochemical facilities and factories releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. When an industry places a heavy environmental burden on an area to the point where inhabitants are forced to remain behind because of the high economic cost of leaving, a sacrifice zone arises.(4) These zones are usually adjacent to heavily-polluting  industries or military bases, and people in areas near those facilities are “sacrificed” to the pollutant(s) caused by the pollution source. Sacrifice zones exist in an environmental justice context because it is often low-income and minority communities that suffer the most from chronic chemical exposure.(5) Often, those living in sacrifice zones do not know that they are being exposed to high levels of pollution.

 

In Cancer Alley, Black residents are unknowingly exposed to multiple sources of industrial air pollution, creating a cancer rate of about 47 times higher than the Environmental PPA’s acceptable levels.(6) PFAS also infest the unknowing residents’ drinking water, creating a cycle of exposure for the residents that use the Mississippi River in their daily life.(7) Without remedial action, they are sacrificed to the chemical manufacturing industry’s pollution.

 

Manufacturing facilities producing PFAS or PFAS byproducts can release those chemicals into the environment through several ways. PFAS can escape through the regular course of a manufacturing business or by accident. Through air emissions, spills, or waste disposal–among other ways–PFAS can leach into the environment and contaminate the air, drinking water, and soil near the facilities. Then those PFAS accumulate due to their “forever chemical” nature, making them capable of reaching the communities’ food and drinking water and staying in the bodies of the populace.

 

If more PFAS are not regulated, more sacrifice zones may be created. PFAS may cause communities across the United States to be sacrificed due to industries inadequately managing their PFAS production and harming the people and the environment. The EPA has regulated some of the chemicals—about six of them so far in drinking water and identifying hundreds of PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).(8) However, the EPA should consider adding more PFAS in future rulemaking actions. Recently, communities face problems with unregulated or underregulated PFAS.

 

Three decades ago, DuPont released a chemical called GenX into Cape Fear River in North Carolina.(9) GenX slowly contaminated the drinking water for the 500,000 people living in three counties.(10) DuPont became Chemours, and Chemours placed self-imposed safeguards to reduce the amount of PFAS flowing into the river.(11) Unfortunately, PFAS bioaccumulate. Depending on the type of PFAS, it takes anywhere from 72 hours to 35 years to leave the body.(12) When eaten or drank, PFAS migrate to protein-rich tissues of the body, which are typically the liver and blood, but PFAS are also detected in the brain.(13) During that time of bioaccumulation, people may report symptoms from a long list of health effects.(14) However, PFAS are understudied and underregulated, making proving knowledge of contamination in humans and in the area difficult.

 

As many as 49,145 industrial facilities may exist as PFAS contamination sites.(15) The severity of PFAS contamination throughout the United States cannot be overstated, and it is imperative that PFAS are regulated more before heavy PFAS  pollution creates a trend of sacrifice zones. The disproportionate harm brought on those on the frontlines of PFAS exposure is likely to continue to be a subject of concern in the future.

 

Introduction

From Flint Michigan’s contaminated water supply to Cancer Alley in southern Louisiana, communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution. Now, after decades of disinvestment, the Biden-Harris Administration has made Environmental Justice (“EJ”) a priority.

 

Spurred by the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to inclusivity, economic security, and climate resilience, 2023 brings historic federal funding in the fight against climate inequities. After decades of disinvestment, communities burdened by pollution and racist practices will receive this funding.

 

President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative[1] ignites the allocation of 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments to disadvantaged communities. Recent federal investments falling under the Initiative’s guidance include the 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”)[2] and the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) of 2022.[3] The IIJA invests in EJ communities by increasing access to clean drinking water; remediating legacy pollution; expanding access to public transit; and modernizing infrastructure.[4] Similarly, the IRA mirrors language from the Justice40 Initiative while building on investment programs from the IIJA. With nearly $369 billion in clean energy and climate tax credits, the IRA designates $3 billion in EJ  block grants.[5]

 

On February 23, 2023, the Biden Administration announced $550 million in EJ grants in accordance with the IRA. Designed to expedite investments through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”)’s new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking (“EJ TCGM”) program, this funding will advance efficiency and simplify the application process for EJ grants. However, with funding allocated and Republicans in control of the House, the year ahead is a crucial moment for EJ communities.

 

How this money is distributed presents a momentous task of ensuring investments reach communities most in need. Misuse of the funding, specifically allocation to organizations that do not need financial assistance, risks hurting EJ communities. Because local and state governments ultimately control how the money they receive gets used, agency oversight is paramount.

 

Where to Watch: Texas & Louisiana

Texas:

With a history of locating hazardous waste facilities, industrial plants, and other polluting industries in low-income communities and communities of color, Texas is rife with environmental injustices. Carbon capture and storage, highway expansions and increased natural gas exports all threaten EJ communities within the Lonestar state. Further, the current controversy surrounding illegal dumping in Houston highlights the ongoing injustices minority Texans face.

 

Vulnerable Texans disproportionately face pollution. For instance, minority neighborhoods in Houston are burdened with waste facilities.[6]. Home to “all five city-owned landfills,” six out of eight incinerators, and three out of four privately-owned landfills, these neighborhoods bear the brunt of the city’s pollution.[7] Additionally, from the 1930s until 1978, a staggering 82% of solid waste disposed of in Houston was dumped in predominantly African American neighborhoods, despite African American residents comprising only 25% of the population.[8]

 

As the Biden Administration recognizes the urgency of addressing environmental injustice, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)’s investigation into Houston’s waste management practices is a notable example of the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that communities of color are not unfairly burdened with environmental hazards.

 

Louisiana:

Louisiana has been criticized for its inadequate regulation of toxic chemicals, particularly as it is home to Cancer Alley. The history of Cancer Alley dates back to the 1920s, when the first petrochemical plants were established in the area.[9] Originally coined “chemical corridor” for the hub of oil refineries that dot its landscape, 1987 brought a new name to the region: Cancer Alley.[10] The rapid industrialization of the region paired with lacking environmental regulations resulted in a wide range of ailments plaguing the residents, from cancer to mental and physical developmental disorders.[11]

Cancer Alley exemplifies the ongoing struggle to tackle the interconnected issues of race, poverty, and pollution. Home to African American and low-income residents, “this form of environmental racism poses serious and disproportionate threats to the enjoyment of several human rights . . . including the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to health, right to an adequate standard of living and cultural rights.”[12] As federal investments roll out to the state, “air pollution projects are made possible to assess and address air quality across the industrial corridor.”[13] Thus, with Louisiana organizations receiving $2,399,604 from the IRA to support “air quality monitoring in marginalized communities,” agency oversight is paramount to prevent the perpetuation of past injustices.[14]

In October 2022, the EPA directed Louisiana to examine the disproportionate burdens black residents bear from air pollutants causing cancer. As of March 2023, Louisiana residents and the DOJ have unveiled a federal lawsuit. This lawsuit accuses local officials of civil rights and religious liberty violations by repeatedly approving the construction of petrochemical plants in two predominantly Black districts.[15] As such, the EPA and DOJ are collaborating to advance this pending litigation. When paired with federal investments and incentives, this partnership serves as an encouraging example for achieving justice and restoring dignity within vulnerable communities. This approach is necessary to mitigate the devastating impacts of environmental injustices and take concrete steps to rectify these harms.

 

Food is the fulcrum point for many people to pry away the tentacles of colonization. Food sovereignty is the principle behind the leverage.

Food sovereignty does not have a uniform definition; however, organizations generally define it as communities having control over the production, distribution, and quality of the food they consume. (1) Some other organizations take this definition further by addressing the social and economic relations of food systems:

“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.” (2)

La Via Campesina, the organization that coined the term in 1996, further qualifies this definition; “Food is the expression of values, and human dignity, cultures, social relations and self-determination, interdependence with nature.” (3)

 

Along that line of interdependence with nature, communities bring benefits to themselves and the environment while pursuing food sovereignty. These benefits are the foil to the harm caused by the exploitative and extractive practices of colonial food systems. Instead of depleting the soil and producing food with low nutrient values, traditional practices produce resilient soils and nutrient rich food, without hazardous and expensive chemicals. (4) Furthermore, the money earned by food sales stays local, instead of being concentrated in a few agriculture corporations.

The history of colonial food systems has been that of domination and dependence. In the Americas, colonial powers worked to separate Indigenous people from their food sources to separate them from their cultural practices and weaken their ability to fight colonial expansion. Just a few of the many examples of these colonizing acts include: During the Sullivan Expedition the Continental army, while committing heinous war crimes against the Haudenosaunee, targeted and destroyed fields and winter stores of food; The American army, in a similar act, funded the near extermination of buffalo to weaken Indigenous peoples living on the plains and force them into dependency on government rations unreliably dispensed at the reservations; In South America the Spanish colonizers lead a destructive

campaign against quinoa cultivation to destabilize this cultural practice and force Indigenous farmers to rely on Spanish agricultural practices. (5)

 

Modern examples of colonial impacts on food systems exist as well. In South America Indigenous communities in the Amazon Basin have been forced to rely on commercial food supplies rather than their traditional food sources because government supported mining along the river has caused extremely dangerous levels of mercury contamination. (6) The Green Revolution, the agricultural movement in western societies that used heavy amounts of fertilizer, pesticides, and Genetically Modified Organisms, also continues to have a devastating effect on local farming communities. (7)

Despite increasing the global food yield and bringing relief to many countries experiencing famine in mid 20th century, this style of farming creates a dependency on industrial fertilizers and pesticides and designer seeds, the price point of which pushes small and traditional farmers out of the market. (8) This led to most food production being controlled by a few large agricultural corporations. (9)

Luckily, there are groups and organizations that work to empower people to take control of their lives through food. Organizations like Soul Fire Farm in New York and SUSU in Vermont grow healthy food for community members who lack access to healthy food. These organizations also educate people about traditional agricultural practices as a way to reclaim a connection to the land and control over what they eat. The Ron Finely Project follows a similar tack though teaching urban farming. The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) channels resources and logistical aid to Palestinian farmers with the goal of creating “strong Palestinian rural areas empower[ed] by its agriculture sector and backboned with sovereignty.” (10) In the United States, the push for returning land access to Federal lands to Indigenous peoples has also aided the food sovereignty movement because it increases access to traditional food sources and medicines. (11)

 

U.S. slaughterhouses are violent places. They have dangerous and cruel effects on the exploited farmed animals themselves and the workers who perform their violent duties. These effects, however, do not simply cease to exist past confines of their walls. Slaughterhouses have harsh effects on the communities in which they operate, impacting the lives and safety of all nearby. The cruel and dangerous tasks demanded by current industry practices take a repeated toll on the welfare of all sentient beings in these communities. Slaughterhouses are exploiting whole communities, and the federal government needs to take a hard look at why it continues to help them do so.    

I. Conditions Inside and Outside the Slaughterhouse That Negatively Impact Workers

Slaughterhouse workers are some of the most exploited persons within the U.S. labor force. The majority of U.S. slaughterhouse workers are people of color with little to no bargaining power against the top four national processors that control the majority of U.S. meat supply. An estimated thirty-eight percent of these workers were born outside the U.S. and many are non-citizens. The issues these workers face are compounded by language barriers and fear of deportation, making the threat of retaliation too much for these at-will workers to report their concerns or injuries to those in charge. In some plants, employee turnover rate is as high as one hundred percent annually. In the last several years, union membership in the meatpacking industry has fallen, wages have decreased, and the occupational hazards have worsened.  

Most slaughterhouse facilities operate twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, requiring grueling hours for a wage that pays just above the federal poverty level for a family of four. OSHA has identified several workplace hazards in slaughterhouses, including dangerous equipment, hazardous chemicals, disease exposure, and high rates of musculoskeletal disorders. Slaughter jobs rank as one of the most dangerous professions in the world, with amputations commonly occurring roughly twice a week in the United States.  “The single largest factor contributing to worker injuries is the speed at which the animals are killed and processed.” Unfortunately, federal regulations continue to increase slaughter line speeds, worsening issues for the animals, the workers, and the communities in which slaughterhouses operate. 

II. The Regulatory Framework of Slaughterhouse Line Speeds

On average, a single worker will be tasked to kill one farmed animal every twelve seconds within the course of their shift. One worker describes the only way to accomplish this impossible task is to “not care” about the animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and it’s sub-agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have the statutory authority to regulate the maximum speeds at which slaughterhouses can operate. The agency has recently been chipping away at maximum slaughter speeds and worsened many of the already dangerous working conditions in these facilities. FSIS is tasked with implementing the Secretary’s mandates under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act. Through this authority, the FSIS has continued to expand the maximum slaughter line speed to industry’s delight. The agency was forthright in addressing the tens of millions of dollars in profit that the industry would benefit from decreasing line speeds as a result of its most recent rule. The FSIS has explicitly acknowledged the evidence correlating increased line speeds to increased slaughterhouse workers. Yet the agency continues to wield its regulatory power to increase line speeds, while pointing the blame at OSHA to implement better worker safety standards. Currently, the FSIS permits slaughterhouses to kill up to 1,106 pigs and 175 chickens every hour, putting immense pressure on workers to keep up the line speed’s demand. The FSIS is blatantly ignoring the well-being of these workers and many have had their basic human rights violated.   

III. The Effects of Violence on the Workers of Factory Farms

Working in a distressing and hazardous environment has an impact on any average person’s mental health. When the work itself is inherently violent, many workers find it difficult to keep the effects from their work out of their own personal lives. Studies on the mental health of slaughterhouse workers are inhibited by language barriers and recruitment challenges, but several interviews with slaughterhouse workers confirm the mental anguish they experience from their work. Slaughterhouse workers have higher documented incidences of alcoholism, substance abuse, levels of aggression, anxiety, PTSD, and more convictions for violent crimes than other dangerous industrial jobs. Gail Eisintz, a writer well known for her documentation of conditions within the slaughterhouse has interviewed several employees of the meatpacking industry. Through her investigative work, she has documented several incidences of alcoholism, depression, sadism, and prison time for violent crimes amongst slaughterhouse workers. One slaughterhouse employee she interviewed told her “the worst thing” about the work was the emotional toll it took on him, even more so than the physical danger of performing such work. When slaughterhouse workers are unable to internalize the trauma of working in such environments, the aggression and violence they inflict on these animals follows them home and endangers all individuals within their communities.            

IV. Factory Farming’s Effect on its Neighbors in the Community

Slaughterhouse work perpetuates a vicious cycle of violence and abuse that endangers innocent lives. Communities with large slaughterhouses are plagued by increased rates of violent crime, housing shortages, increased demands for social assistance, and high rates of child abuse. Slaughterhouse employment is also associated with high rates of arrests for sexual assault and domestic violence. The U.S. Department of Justice has been studying the link between cruelty to animals and human violence for several decades now, and it is well established that exposure to violence can increase the violent inclinations within person.  In fact, many of the most infamous U.S. serial killers were known to have tortured or killed animals before they killed other humans. 

The Covid-19 pandemic hit slaughterhouse workers especially hard.  During the pandemic, slaughterhouse workers were given little to no protection from exposure, and experienced high rates of infection and death from the virus. In rural communities with high proportions of these meatpacking operations, cases of the virus were at rates ten times higher than other similarly situated rural areas. FSIS was given $33 million dollars in funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Act (CARES), and spent almost half of it to increase the salaries of the its own inspectors, leaving these workers and their communities with no support or protection to shield them from the dangers of the meatpacking industry.   

To add insult to injury, communities with slaughterhouses are constantly threatened by the pollution these facilities create. Hundreds of U.S. slaughterhouses dump their toxic waste directly into local waterways. This waste contains several human health hazards, including fecal bacteria, veterinary drugs, and cleaning products. Some facilities do not dump their waste directly into waterways, and instead house the waste in lagoons. During heavy rain periods or flooding, communities near these facilities report increased infectious rates, because the lagoons often overflow and contaminate community water supplies.  

V. Conclusion

Slaughterhouses are endangering communities and threatening the health and well-being of all within their vicinity. Until FSIS or OSHA decide to stop pointing the blame towards one another and implement better standards that acknowledge the health and welfare of the workers they employ, communities will continue to be harmed by their adverse effects.

The journey of an immigrant is a story of resilience, hope, fear, and survival. Unfortunately, too often, the villain of those stories is the United States immigration system. Despite referring to our society as a “melting pot,” our government and society have long resisted and feared immigrants. (1) This paradox has persisted and thrived, especially over the last decade. President Trump separated children from their families at the border and implemented Title 42, a policy that used the emergency of the pandemic to expeditiously send asylum seekers back to their home country or the country they were last in. (2) In February, the Biden Administration proposed a harsh replacement for the Title 42 policy, set to end in May, that radically limits asylum at the border. (3) The government continues to crack down on illegal immigration, arresting and removing noncitizens who violate U.S. immigration laws.

In the mix of complicated immigration policies and cruel treatment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, immigrants are exposed to toxins and pollution at detention centers while awaiting deportation. Exposure can come internally within the center or externally from surrounding facilities. Regardless of where the exposure comes from, people are trapped within the detention center. Not only does the system degrade an immigrant’s sense of humanity, but it also poisons them. Reports from three detention centers highlight this environmental entrapment:

Karnes County Residential Center is a privately operated immigrant detention center for families seeking asylum in the United States located in Karnes City, Texas. (4) Within 100 feet of the facility are gas flares and pumpjack oil wells. (5) These fracking emissions are harmful to human health and especially hazardous to vulnerable populations, including  children, newborns, and pregnant woman at the detention center. (6) A 2017 Earthworks report found an excess of benzene, hydrogen sulfide, cyclohexane, naphthalene, n-hexane, and xylenes in the area. (7) These chemicals cause respiratory illness, neurological problems, developmental damage, cancer, and sometimes death. (8) On top of the environmental exposures, immigrants at the facility have filed numerous mistreatment claims, including allegations that officers sexually assaulted women, denied medical care to children, and that people were “treated like animals.” (9)

 

The Northwest CE Processing Center, located in Tacoma, Washington, is operated by the private GEO Group. (10) The center sits adjacent to a federal Superfund cleanup site where a coal gasification plant released toxic sludge into the soil for over three decades. (11) Today, the site is still dotted with drainage ditches, retention ponds, and a capped waste pile. (12) The EPA Superfund contaminant list shows the soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and air supplies to be polluted with 27 different compounds. (13) These compounds can cause skin irritation, respiratory infections, developmental effects, cancers, organ failure, and sometimes death. (14) Additionally, the building is constructed on a low-lying floodplain on top of loose soils prone to liquifying during earthquakes. (15) If an earthquake  were to hit, the GEO Group would have less than eight minutes to evacuate over 1,500 immigrants, and their safety plans have never been released to the public. (16) More recently, in February 2023, GEO guards used chemical agents following a physical conflict about conditions at the facility, including the food served to immigrants. (17) Chemical agents, like tear gas, can cause blindness, glaucoma, respiratory failure, and chemical burns to the throat and lungs. (18) As of the date of this article, the Washington State Attorney General is investigating the incident. (19)

 

In 2022, nine individuals filed a complaint against the privately-owned Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. (20) The complaint alleged civil and human rights violations, including toxic and unfiltered air, contaminated water, and exposure to dust and mold. (21) According to the complaint, immigrants detained at Imperial experience difficulty breathing and suffer from headaches and gastrointestinal pains. (22) The facility’s nonfunctional air ventilation system is the primary cause of these issues. (23) This is not the first time immigrants in the facility have called out the Imperial facility for its unsafe practices. In 2020, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security ordered ICE to address conditions at the facility, including “mold, rust, and peeling paint in showers in detainee housing areas.” (24) ICE claims to have addressed the issues, but as the 2022 complaint highlights, that is not the case. (25) Immigrants in the facility claimed that the mold was covered in paint and reappeared. They also shared their experiences with skin problems, hives, and vision issues that they believe stem from contaminated water at the facility. (26) Advocates should continue to follow the status of this complaint.

 

Sadly, these are just three examples of the toxic conditions ICE subjects immigrants to. Every facility has unique challenges, whether it is its location, the condition of the center, or the actions of enforcement officers. A common message exists though: private parties working under ICE’s authority must be held accountable for their actions. The U.S. immigration system equates anti-immigration policies with anti-humanitarian policies. It bears repeating this philosophy is not only dehumanizing immigrants but also poisoning them. We need to stop removing immigrants from the “melting pot” and locking them in polluted cages.