On Thursday night, nearly two hundred concerned citizens and community groups gathered at River Rouge High School near Detroit to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to hold the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MEDQ) accountable for dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide pollution (S02) from local coal-fired power plants.
Portions of Wayne County are the only areas in the state where sulfur dioxide exceeds safe levels for human health. According to a 2014 American Lung Association report Wayne County has the highest number of pediatric asthma cases in the state. Because of the unsafe level of SO2 pollution, MDEQ is required to put forth a plan to reduce dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide pollution in Wayne County by the end of the year.
"Among all remaining U.S. coal plants, the River Rouge and Trenton Channel coal plants are among the worst public health offenders," said Beyond Coal director Mary Anne Hitt in her testimony. "These coal plants are responsible for at least 85 percent of all sulfur dioxide emissions in Wayne County – a pollutant that triggers heart attacks, asthma, and other health problems."
Currently, MDEQ has put forward a plan that fails to reduce S02 pollution to safe levels. Under the current plant, there are continued "hot spots" of unsafe levels of S02 pollution in Wayne County. On Thursday night, citizens from the region, state representatives, environmentalists and asthma experts all called upon the Environmental Protection Agency to step in and ensure MDEQ puts a plan in place that reduces the level of S02 pollution allowing people in Wayne County the right to same clean air that other residents across the state enjoy.
The City of Detroit and nearby downriver communities are, combined, a heavily polluted area deemed the "Epicenter of Asthma Burden" by the Michigan Department of Community Health. Residents have long complained about the number of polluting industrial operations in their communities:
Eddie Hejka, a teacher at River Rouge Middle School, worries about the "cumulative impact" of that pollution, especially on kids."We need some help," Hejka says. "You know, everything's about education nowadays...[but] education isn't just in the classroom. It's the entire environment."
DTE's coal plants are responsible for at least 85 percent of all sulfur dioxide emissions in Wayne County. The NAACP labeled DTE Energy, the utility that owns and operates three of Wayne County's top sources of sulfur dioxide air pollution (DTE's River Rouge plant, Trenton Channel plant and EES Coke at U.S. Steel), as one of the worst environmental justice offenders for its impact on low-income communities.
"Wayne County is simply being treated unfairly compared to the rest of the state," said Ebony Elmore, community activist and local business owner. "Our children miss more school and our elderly are more likely to die an early death because we suffer under the cloud of DTE's pollution."
Hitt said she traveled to Michigan to testify because it's is not only an issue that affects residents of this community, but "because the pollution and the health problems it causes are a national disgrace, and a national emergency."
Join the Detroit March for Justice on Saturday, October 3, at noon!