When Flint Rising, the Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint, and the St. Francis Prayer Center contacted Great Lakes Environmental Law Center (GLELC) and Earthjustice attorneys with concerns about Ajax Materials’ plan to build an asphalt plant in Flint, Michigan, it immediately raised significant alarms. The city has been an epicenter of environmental injustices for decades, the most recent of which captured attention of people across the world after thousands of residents were exposed to toxic drinking water.

Recognizing the cumulative impacts of the current environmental risks posed to the community, along with the undeniable disparate impacts of the proposed plant on a low-income community of color, GLELC and Earthjustice attorneys submitted a comment on behalf of their clients that urges Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to deny the permit.

If granted, the permit would authorize air pollution from a hot mixed asphalt plant at 5088 Energy Drive without any cumulative impact analysis. Of the 2,970 people living within 1-mile of the proposed plant, 86% of the population identify as people of color, including 77% of the population identifying as Black and 10% of the population identifying as Hispanic. Forty-three percent of households have incomes of less than $15,000 a year. The area’s per capita income in 2018 was $14,991.18.

EGLE’s failure to utilize its power to conduct a cumulative effects analysis perpetuates a long history of societal disenfranchisement, disinvestment, and disregard for communities of color. The confluence of environmental and social impacts, when combined, must trigger this heightened level of scrutiny applied to permit decisions for facilities near these large historically marginalized communities.

The comment can be viewed in its entirety below.