EPA acts to curb air, water pollution in poor communities

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a series of enforcement actions to address air pollution, unsafe drinking water and other problems afflicting minority communities in three Gulf Coast states. The EPA’s actions follow a “Journey to Justice” tour by Administrator Michael Regan last fall in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The EPA will conduct unannounced inspections of chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites suspected of polluting air and water and will install air monitoring equipment in Louisiana’s “chemical corridor” to enhance enforcement at chemical and plastics plants. The EPA also says Jackson, Mississippi’s aging and overwhelmed drinking water system violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.