Climate and Environmental Justice
Harm to the environment has a vastly unequal impact on Americans depending on the color of their skin and how much money they have. Both climate change and toxic pollution are compounding the consequences of discriminatory housing, labor and economic policies. Public Integrity’s investigative reporting confronts this type of inequality and illuminates the impact of efforts to address it.
BY THE NUMBERS
1 in 2
Share of American children under 6 with detectable levels of lead in their blood, among those tested between late 2018 and early 2020. There is no safe level.
1,100
The number of uranium mine waste sites on Navajo Nation land, left by federal government contractors. Uranium contamination is harmful to the health of residents.
50 vs. 1
Percentage of Houston-area residents experiencing powerful or severe emotional distress after Hurricane Harvey vs. the share who received FEMA counseling services.
IN-DEPTH investigations
Environmental Justice, Denied
EPA promised to address environmental racism. Then states pushed back.
FLINT, Mich. — Civil rights law offers a tool for communities of color trying to stop unequal exposure to pollution. Over and over, people here have tried to make it work. From 1992 to 2015, residents and community groups filed a series of federal complaints asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to intervene over pollution affecting majority Black neighborhoods, from…
TOXIC Labor
Toxic Labor
Harm’s Way
Trapped in harm’s way as climate disasters mount
TAKE ACTION IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Find out how you can stop the cycle of lead poisoning in your area.
Learn about steps that can help with mental health after disasters like floods.
Get data on disaster-preparation funding and buyouts in your community.
Questions about how to use our investigations? Email environment@publicintegrity.org.
VIDEO
MORE ON ENVIRONMENT
Nuclear buildup sickened his community. Then it caught up with him.
Blue Gap-Tachee Community — Growing up in this corner of the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, Earl Tulley experienced all the…
Study finds disparities in states’ distribution of federal funds for water systems
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Biden last November, is pouring billions of dollars into an upgrade of the country’s…
Getting the lead out — at long last
The country began phasing lead out of gasoline for cars in the mid-1970s, and yet the toxic metal is still in…
Farming’s growing problem
ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa — Everywhere Randy Souder looked, he saw mud. On his soggy fields. In the mechanized crannies of his…
Environmental racism persists, and the EPA is one reason why
The invasion of sewer flies moved residents of University Place subdivision to turn to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for help.…
As disease-bearing ticks head north, weak government response threatens public health
Maine’s invasion came early this year. In recent hotbeds of tick activity — from Scarborough to Belfast and Brewer — people…
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OUR IMPACT
Center for Public Integrity wins first Pulitzer Prize
A landmark Center for Public Integrity investigation detailing controversial denials of black lung benefits to coal miners has been honored with a Pulitzer Prize. The winning series, “Breathless and Burdened: Dying from Black Lung, Buried by Law and Medicine,” was a year-long investigation by…
Labor Department unveils rule to protect coal miners following Center investigation
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday that it plans to issue a new rule to address recent disclosures that lawyers representing coal companies have withheld medical evidence from miners in black lung benefits cases. The announcement…
Keep readingEPA plans more aggressive civil-rights reviews
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights will more aggressively evaluate recipients of EPA funding to ensure their compliance with federal civil-rights laws, the office said in a draft Strategic Plan released last week. Billed as an effort that “invigorates the EPA’s civil-rights mission,” the…
Keep readingJohns Hopkins terminates black lung program
Johns Hopkins Medicine said Wednesday that it has discontinued its black lung program, the subject of a Center for Public Integrity-ABC News investigation that showed how coal companies routinely beat back sick coal miners’ disability claims with help from doctors…
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