EPA Begins Civil Rights Probe Into Swath Of Alabama Air Permit Approvals

EPA is launching a new investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to determine whether Alabama environmental officials discriminated against minority residents in implementing its Clean Air Act Title V permit program, opening the door to a new challenge to its rules in the wake of Louisiana’s recent injunction. The agency’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance (OECRC) in a March 11 letter accepted a complaint from a coalition of Alabama environmental justice organizations to investigate the state’s...