"Twenty-five Metro Detroit communities exceeded Michigan’s lead action level for drinking water since 2018, according to state compliance data analyzed by a drinking water engineer and reviewed by Planet Detroit."
"A business controlled by the American billionaire Ira Rennert reached a $150 million settlement in the United States with 1,373 Peruvians who claimed they were poisoned by lead and other toxic substances while growing up near a Peruvian smelter, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Wednesday."
"More than 40 million people in the United States and Canada depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Each glass of treated lake water is laden with tiny bits of plastic — microplastics — made of toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases. Also contaminated are fish, staples of Midwestern fish fries and fish boils, and an important part of the diet of Indigenous tribes, certain immigrant populations and communities of color."
"Officials from the Nueces River Authority collected millions of dollars from cities and utility districts near San Antonio and Austin before they partnered with an Israeli desalination giant."
"At least 358 human rights defenders were killed last year, according to a report released last week by Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based group that provides support for global human rights activists. Nearly a quarter, 84, were targeted because of their often unpaid work protecting land and the environment."
"Internal documents show the Department of Energy knew the decision "may generate negative commentary" and be perceived as "undue favoritism.""
"Millions of people around the world are having their lives upended by floods, storms and heatwaves worsened by the climate crisis. Those forced to flee their home countries, however, are finding that the door to the US is more firmly shut than ever."
"An appeals panel ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can take down an exhibit on the enslaved servants of George Washington at a Philadelphia national park, a win for the White House as it tries to reframe the nation’s sins into uplifting stories of progress across national park sites."
When the Supreme Court further hollowed out the Voting Rights Act this spring, it augured a historic loss of civic power for Black communities. And with that comes a further blow — to progress on the environment. For as Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes explains, key to climate policy are Black voters, and the Black legislators they bring into office.
"The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced that all immigrant detainees have been transferred out of a Florida detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, effectively shuttering the controversial facility." "The facility, located near the Everglade wetlands, has drawn human rights concerns and lawsuits over its conditions."
