The Detroit area's poor and minority populations face greater health and environmental challenges than most communities because of proximity to industrial pollution -- an "environmental injustice" and "human rights abuse," officials said Thursday as they released a report on the state of the environment in and around the city.
Keith Matheny of the Free Press reports the Sierra Club called on the DEQ to stop issuing permits for new or modified industrial facilities that emit toxic air pollutants in Detroit until a determination is made that they do not disproportionately affect already-burdened communities. Strict limits should be set and based on analysis of the cumulative impacts faced by residents, the group said.
"We have in the city of Detroit, in the area of (ZIP code) 48217, River Rouge and Ecorse, the most polluted areas in the state of Michigan and definitely in the Midwestern states," said Rhonda Anderson, environmental justice organizer for the group.
