The Alley: After Decades of Poor Air in Phillips, Proof: Pollutants Harm Health
Via The Alley Newspaper
By H. LYNN ADELSMAN & ROB HENDRICKSON
With severe wildfire smoke covering much of the country this June, air quality is back in the headlines, but some of the most hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) have been present in our neighborhoods for decades. This past spring, a statewide law passed (HF637) requiring the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to consider the cumulative impacts of air pollution before adding to the burden, also known as the Frontline Communities Protection Act.
Cumulative impacts are the total combinations of chemical and non-chemical emissions across space and time that cause disease and affect health, well-being, and quality of life outcomes. This new bill requires analyzing existing levels of pollution before issuing air quality permits in areas like Phillips that are over 40% non-white, 40% limited English proficiency, and/or 35% low-income.
As noted by Roxxanne O’Brien, who testified at the legislature and is a lead organizer for Community Members for Environmental Justice (CMEJ), “It’s not easy living in a community that has been overburdened by constant trauma and constant policies that make it hard for us just to have day-to-day normal lives. I’m here to ask that you correct the historic racial wrongs in my community. This is not the end of the work but this is a really good start to what we can do by stopping more of the accumulation of pollutants and poisons into our community.”
Many of the worst air pollutants today can cause and worsen asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and some are causes of cancer and kidney and heart disease. These health effects become more intense in elders and seriously impact our developing children.
Cassandra Holmes, resident of Little Earth of United Tribes and fierce environmental justice advocate, has worked tirelessly to improve these conditions for the youth of Phillips. “I have a son I lost to heart disease. He just got it at 14.” He died in 2013 at age 16. “I’ve got another son who is experiencing heart problems… We have so many kids who don’t go to school because of their asthma problems,” Holmes said.