Minneapolis, MN – Residents of the East Phillips neighborhood and organizers with the Climate Justice Committee rallied outside of Smith Foundry on Tuesday, June 4, after an announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it had reached a settlement with Smith, with the most significant provision requiring that the heavy-polluting foundry shut down its furnace within 12 months.

The rally showcased the results of a steadfast commitment to environmental justice. At the rally, every speaker emphasized that, while the ruling from the EPA is a huge step in the right direction, the Shut Down Smith Coalition, East Phillips residents and their allies are not finished.

Residents who spoke drove home the point that their collective effort is leading to results – that they are building an environmental justice fighting-machine that takes on the system in the streets, in the courts and in political offices. The Smith rally was a time to celebrate a major success, and to motivate organizers and neighbors for the next phase of the fight: demanding a total closure.

After the rally, the Climate Justice Committee circulated the following statement, summarizing these developments, the present state of the struggle, and where it goes from here:

“After a long campaign by community organizers in the East Phillips neighborhood, the EPA finally announced on Tuesday, June 4th, that they had reached a partial settlement with Smith Foundry, requiring that the facility permanently shut down its furnace within 12 months, immediately shut down two of their pouring lines, and pay an $80,000 penalty. Still, the settlement allows Smith to continue to operate as a metal finishing shop.

“This represents a major advancement in the East Phillips and Little Earth communities’ struggle for environmental justice, which is in direct continuity with the significant and hard-won victories at the Roof Depot and Bituminous Roadways. Every inch of ground gained thus far is the result of a tireless, multi-pronged struggle by a broad coalition of activists and community members who were willing to fight for the air we breathe by any means necessary.

“However, this fight is NOT over. Twelve more months is far too long for the neighborhood to continue to endure Smith Foundry’s reckless pollution. And, there are unknown ramifications of operations as a metal finishing plant.

“If Zynik Capital, the EPA, or the MPCA—whose commissioner, Katrina Kessler, was recently granted new powers by the MN State Legislature to shut down polluters like Smith—really treated public health as their top priority, Smith could be shut down today.

“Furthermore, we will continue to loudly demand that all Smith Foundry workers affected by the shutdown be afforded everything they rightly deserve, including generous severance packages, compensation for negative health impacts caused by working at Smith, and a just transition to new employment in a healthy and safe workplace.

“Finally, we demand that the MPCA—and Zynik Capital—issue apologies to the residents of East Phillips and Little Earth. This agency has steadfastly refused to use its enforcement powers, and instead has delivered decades of negligence, lies, and utter disregard for neighbors’ complaints about the epidemic of industrial pollution in their community. MPCA and Zynik must also provide reparations to the neighborhood in whatever form the residents see fit.

“As we enter a new phase in our efforts for environmental justice, we are determined to continue heightening the level of struggle and raising the bar for what communities can achieve when they are prepared to fight. Until East Phillips, Little Earth, and all communities across Minnesota have the power in their hands to build a future free from environmental injustice, the Climate Justice Committee will stay in the streets.

“When we fight, we win!”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Environment #EnvironmentalJustice #EnvironmentalRacism #SmithFoundry #CJC #EPNI #OppressedNationalities #IndigenousPeoples

The foundry is a major source of pollution in the neighborhood and is operating under long expired permits. Smith Foundry is a major source of lead pollution in Hennepin County, accounting for 70% of all lead pollution. Toya Lopez, from Health Care Professionals for a Healthy Climate pointed out, “There is no safe level of lead pollution.”

Rally organizers called on the governor and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to fulfill their duty to protect the people of Minnesota and shut down Smith Foundry.

“A foundry would never be allowed in an affluent white neighborhood,” said Climate Justice Committee (CJC) member CJ McCormick. “It’s blatant environmental racism that it’s been allowed to stay around this long.”

East Phillips is home to the Little Earth Native community, along with many other oppressed nationality and low-income families. The neighborhood also has some of the highest rates of asthma in the entire state.

Indigenous Protectors Movement founder Rachel Dionne-Thunder said “We are fighting for the next generation. We are fighting for our children. We all need clean water, clean air and a clean way of living. We call on Governor Walz to shut down Smith now.”E

A coalition of organizers, including CJC, has amplified the call since last year to shut the foundry down after public revelations about its harmful emissions. Some state representatives are currently working toward legislation that would pave the way for a buyout of the foundry, effectively forcing a shut down.

“The governor has the power to make that happen. He’s just avoiding stirring what he sees as controversy during an election year,” McCormick said.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #Environment #SmithFoundry #CJC #EnvironmentalJustice

Minneapolis, MN – The Climate Justice Committee (CJC) recently brought a taste of guerrilla theater to a local bureaucrat’s front lawn, March 3, to drive home a simple point: her wealthy, white neighborhood would never allow a major polluter like Smith Foundry to move in and disrupt their way of life.

And, as shown by the neighbors’ peeved reactions to our noisy presence and miniature factory replica on a quiet Sunday morning in pseudo-suburbia, their obsession with maintaining the status quo single-handedly proved the point.

As commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Katrina Kessler has gone out of her way to dodge accountability for her agency’s failure to do its job protecting the residents who live just ten minutes across town from her. Unlike in her idyllic corner of Southwest Minneapolis, residents of the East Phillips neighborhood have been forced to breathe air polluted by Smith Foundry and other nearby industrial operations for decades.

The century-old foundry has a track record of being an especially terrible neighbor, in particular as the leading source of lead pollution in Hennepin County. It’s a textbook case of environmental racism, as Smith Foundry sits in the center of a neighborhood with many low-income families and people of oppressed nationalities struggling against abnormally high rates of asthma and heart issues.

So, the CJC decided it was time to bring a homemade replica of the foundry sidewalk – complete with a working smokestack – to Kessler’s front to demonstrate exactly how the commissioner, her family and their white, wealthy neighbors would react to a factory popping up in their neighborhood fortress.

A pre-built model was quickly assembled on the sidewalk, dry ice and hot water were poured into the stack, and chants of “Kessler, Kessler, shame on you, East Phillips has rights too!” began surging through the megaphone. As the loud chants carried through the air and pretend “emissions” billowed from the factory, people began emerging from their homes.

What first seemed like curiosity quickly turned to mild confrontation. “We live here,” one man seethed. Another person was upset about the “contaminants” being put into the air via the smokestack (for the record, dry ice is 100% safer than what comes out of a real foundry smokestack). All in all, folks seemed most upset about the “noise pollution” from the chants disrupting their morning.

The irony of this reaction is almost poetic, as residents of East Phillips are forced to breathe air polluted by fine particulates and other toxins all day, every day.

For the past few months, residents and allied organizers in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis have ramped up demands to shut down Smith Foundry, which simply doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood. Last year, the factory was found by a surprise EPA inspection to be in violation of multiple pollution regulations, including the Clean Air Act. It is also a major source of lead pollution, a fact that Commissioner Kessler has outrageously denied in the media.

East Phillips is home to the Little Earth native community, along with many neighbors from oppressed nationalities and low-income families. With elders and young children alike breathing the polluted air around the clock, the neighborhood also has the highest rates of asthma in the entire state.

In a city with a sordid history of redlining, the struggle for justice against environmental racism is very much alive and continues today as an extension of the fallout from redlining. Until there is justice for East Phillips, and Smith Foundry leaves the neighborhood for good, the miniature foundry and its megaphone counterpart will keep making appearances at the homes of the upper-class bureaucrats who are standing in the way.

#MinneapolisMN #Environment #CJC #SmithFoundry #EnvironmentalJustice

The petition challenges the MPCA's recent assertion that Smith Foundry's emissions fall within permissible limits. Evan Mulholland, from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy said, “Not only is this permit wildly out of date, but the bounds of the permit are inadequate if it sets no maximum for lead emissions.”

Mulholland continued, “The MPCA only tested the baghouses, which is only one avenue for pollution to leave the foundry, and what we learned is that it is emitting lead; that’s after it’s all filtered, it’s still emitting lead. On top of the lead, there may be lots of other toxic substances in the fine particulate matter, which haven’t been tested for.”

The community's distrust in the MPCA runs deep. Jolene Jones, a resident of the nearby Little Earth native-preference housing complex, said, “They don't listen to this community. When we said last summer we couldn't breathe, that there were black clouds over Little Earth – nobody listened to us. No one has listened to us for the last 20 years.”

Tania Rivera said, “The Pollution Control Agency has clearly not been holding our best interests at heart – it’s not just me, it’s 80 kids that I take care of, it’s 160 families.” She asked rhetorically, “Why is it always East Phillips?” These stories reveal a broader narrative of systemic disregard for oppressed communities, where industrial operations leave a toxic legacy unchecked by regulatory bodies.

Tracy Molm of the Climate Justice Committee added, “This action transcends the call for the shutdown of a single foundry. It embodies a fight for environmental justice, challenging the systemic inequities that allow such conditions to persist. This press conference is not just a procedural step. It's a rallying cry for change, a demand for accountability, and a testament to the power of community advocacy in the face of environmental neglect.”

#MinneapolisMN #Environment #EnvironmentalJustice #SmithFoundry #MNCJC

Minneapolis, MN – On the evening of February 7, residents of East Phillips confronted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) at a community meeting and then held a press conference regarding the Smith Foundry.

East Phillips is a primarily oppressed nationality neighborhood and home to the Little Earth indigenous community. East Phillips has the highest rates of asthma in all of Minnesota, with many residents suffering from COPD among other respiratory health issues.

The double-dealing of the MPCA was on clear display by trying to break the community meeting up into smaller, fragmented groups at “answer” tables. The East Phillips community and their supporters refused to cooperate, ignoring the “answer” tables and demanding that the MPCA address the community as a whole.

This was a follow-up meeting after the federal Environmental Protection Agency found, in a surprise inspection, that Smith Foundry was polluting the neighborhood and it required an outside agency to come to test the facility again.

The Smith Foundry has been releasing lead and other pollutants into the air on a permit they received in 1992. This permit does not monitor for lead. On Tuesday this week, the MPCA went out of their way to announce via Twitter that they found “The Smith Foundry is meeting their permit requirements. The facility emits low levels of lead.” The MPCA proudly shared this information, despite the fact there is no safe level of lead.

At the meeting on Wednesday night, residents pointed out that Smith has been poisoning the neighborhood for 120 years, while MPCA denies this and claims the foundry is in compliance with its permits. Brian Dickens, an Environmental Protection Agency employee named on Wednesday night, said that last year the Smith Foundry was in complete violation of their permits, but he states that “things have improved a lot.” 20-year Phillips resident Steff Yorek responded, “How can we trust you to maintain that they’re in compliance with the permit after you’ve allowed them to poison our air for decades?”

The MPCA is aware that this residential neighborhood is flooded with polluters and did not express any interest in changing that. As stated by MPCA representative Frank Kohlasch, “Bituminous Roadways is next door to Smith Foundry. Considering all sources of pollution around Smith Foundry is critical to the process for meeting permit requirements, we have to consider all the polluters. What are all of the other sources of air pollution that can be quantified?” Kohlasch did not respond when a neighbor pointed out that this is a residential neighborhood, not an industrial wasteland. The attendees of the neighborhood made their point clear: Smith Foundry does not belong in a residential neighborhood.

At the press conference called by the Climate Justice Committee, the MPCA was exposed for protecting the polluters like Smith Foundry, and not the community of East Phillips. A question-and-answer chant showed the community’s understanding of the role of the MPCA. The question to the community was, “Who keeps us safe?” The answer by the community was, “We keep us safe!” and “What do we want? Shut it down!”

#MinneapolisMN #Environment #EnvironmentalJustice #OppressedNationalities #IndigenousPeoples #EPA #SmithFoundry #CJC #EastPhillips #EnvironmentalRacism

Smith Foundry has been recognized as a health hazard by nearby residents for decades, according to both empirical metrics – Smith is responsible for over 70% of all lead pollution in Hennepin County, and respiratory and cardiovascular disease rates are through the roof – along with personal experiences. Many neighbors attested to years of fruitless attempts to tell government agencies about strong chemical smells, black smoke, and dust-like residue all coming from the foundry but being completely ignored.

Last month, it was revealed in documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request that the Environmental Protection Agency had found evidence of egregious Clean Air Act violations at Smith Foundry during a surprise visit but did not alert the public of these findings. Despite the major renewal of community outcry for Smith to be shut down immediately after this revelation, the EPA and their state-level counterpart, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, have failed to offer any solutions.

East Phillips is one of Minneapolis’ most diverse and working-class neighborhoods, and is home to Little Earth, the only Native-preference subsidized housing community in the country. Climate Justice Committee member Mordecai Mika highlighted this in a speech Saturday, condemning the colonialism and racism that is the status quo in Minneapolis: “What else is there to say when the militarized police hunt people for minor offenses while East Phillips continues to be poisoned?”

Speakers from Little Earth, such as Jolene Jones and Nicole Mason, also spoke out against the horrific environmental racism carried out against their community by the state of Minnesota, describing it as just one facet of ongoing colonial violence.

Another issue emphasized by speakers at the rally was the need to dispel the pervasive myth that the interests of the environmental justice movement are at odds with those of workers. Mel DiMartini, a speaker from Minnesota Workers United, highlighted the real antagonism: this working-class neighborhood’s health versus the profits of Smith’s owners, a Canadian venture capital firm called Zynik Capital. “We the workers are the foundation of this community. The rich owners of Smith Foundry would have us believe that our livelihoods are dependent on sacrificing the health and wellbeing of our families and our community – we reject that lie!” DiMartini and other speakers demanded that Smith’s owners use their enormous wealth to ensure a just transition for workers after the factory is shut down, as well as compensation for medical costs related to the foundry’s appalling conditions.

The Climate Justice Committee will be hosting a community meeting with the MPCA on January 11, 2024 in the East Phillips neighborhood, urging the agency to take accountability for their decades of inaction by pledging to finally shut down Smith Foundry.

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice

Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, November 10, community members gathered outside Smith Foundry in the Minneapolis East Phillips neighborhood to demand accountability following the EPA’s discovery of many violations of the Clean Air Act and other pollution control standards.

Smith Foundry has been the leading source of lead poisoning in Hennepin County for years, and a major source of air particle pollution. These pollution sources contribute to elevated levels of asthma, heart disease, and other devastating health outcomes for residents of East Phillips and surrounding areas, many of whom spoke out about it during the rally.

Local dancers Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue opened with a prayer and dance before speakers took to the mic.

Climate Justice Committee member CJ McCormick, who emceed, pointed out that MPCA claimed ignorance of the violations after allowing Smith Foundry to self-report.

Crow Belcourt, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and lifelong East Phillips resident, sang the AIM National Anthem. He said his elders taught him to always think about the welfare of the next seven generations. “I’m here to represent the community. I’m here to represent these mothers holding these babies. We’re here for the future generations,” he said.

CJC member Kawakata El-Ti had a sharp message for the century-old Smith Foundry: cease and desist! “It’s 2023, and in over 100 years you still can’t figure out how to keep the air clean?” he said.

A community member whose family immigrated from Mexico, said that immigrant families trying to build a better life are usually confronted with two options: housing that’s either too expensive, or in an area that’s too polluted, like in East Phillips.

Black, brown and indigenous communities form the backbone of East Phillips. Environmental racism and historic red lining practices are what have enabled the foundry to operate in a residential area, despite the obvious dangers it poses to people who live in the neighborhood.

“If it isn’t bad enough being here in the arsenic triangle, now we have to worry about lead,” said Tanya Perez of Circulo de Los Amigos daycare.

DSA member Michael Wilson said the silence is deafening from those who try to use things like philanthropic funding as a bandage for the deeper health crisis. “It reinforces how Black and brown bodies are not a priority,” he said, adding that it would be different if this were happening in a neighborhood like Lake Harriet.

Evan Mullholland of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy highlighted a particularly alarming discovery from the EPA inspection: the furnace chimney stacks above where the foundry burns metal have zero pollution controls or seals, meaning the fumes are sent straight into the air. “I’m not against the foundry or the workers – I’m against pollution!” Mullholland said.

Roxanne O’Brien, of Community Members for Environmental Justice, was a key person in the successful fight to shut down Northern Metals. “The Smith Foundry fight is like Northern Metals all over again,” she observed. She suggested each person request meetings with each level of their elected representation, as well as show up at MPCA meetings. She also mentioned an upcoming challenge to the law that allowed Smith Foundry to be grandfathered in.

The EPA inspection revealed that not only was the foundry in violation of numerous pollution standards, but that the MPCA was not doing its job in regulating the foundry as a local agency. As several speakers pointed out, foundry workers are also put in the crossfire of dangerous working conditions.

Peter Molinar, a former Smith Foundry worker and shop steward, has long-term health issues as a result of his time working at the foundry, and cited a long list of colleagues who died prematurely over the years due to the job.

In his speech, Joe Vital of East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) was adamant about the need to include people employed by Smith Foundry in the discussions. “We have to talk about the workers who are directly impacted on the inside,” he said, calling for a just transition for everyone.

Karen Clark of EPNI, also spoke. A longtime East Phillips resident, she once served in the Minnesota legislature, where she helped pass cumulative impact laws. She said between city, state and federal laws, we can hold the neglectful regulatory agencies accountable.

Joan Vanhala, who lives just three blocks away and has lived in southside for 40 years, said it’s time to declare this a public health emergency. “Let’s make sure we center our people’s health in this,” she said.

State Representatives Aisha Gomez, Mohamud Noor and Hodan Hassan all showed up and delivered promises to hold MPCA accountable by bringing them into the community to directly face everyone’s questions, concerns and demands. Gomez said the failure of the regulatory system is made even more painful by knowing the history of the neighborhood consistently telling these agencies what’s wrong.

Joe Vital echoed other speakers, emphasizing that neither the EPA nor the MPCA have prevented pollution in East Phillips, only the people can. Closing the rally on a passionate note, Vital posed a question to the crowd, “Who keeps us safe?” The gathered people responded with, “We keep us safe!”

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice #EnvironmentalRacism #CJC #EPNI #

Tacoma, WA – On Sunday, September 17, over 60 people filled Oakland Madrona Park to rally against the mega warehouse complex that’s approved to be built in South Tacoma. The rally had several speakers from the local organizations opposed to the warehouse, and community members, including families who were at the park, gathered around the speakers to have snacks, make art and express their opposition to the warehouse.

This rally is in response to a decision that was made earlier this year. In April, the city of Tacoma approved land use permits filed by real estate company Bridge Industrial to build a mega warehouse at 5024 South Madison Street in Tacoma. Such permits allow for construction on the historically polluted, but currently undeveloped site. This includes paving over 5.4 million square feet of green space and installing over 2 million square feet of warehouses. This space is zoned heavy industrial due to historic usage, but is now surrounded by residential houses, schools and small businesses. The site also sits atop an aquifer, and contains many species of trees, plants and animals.

Organizations at the rally included Climate Alliance of the South Sound (CASS), 350Tacoma, The Conversation253, Industrial Workers of the World, La Resistencia, and Earth Ministry.

“It is no coincidence that they proposed this warehouse for South Tacoma and not for North End,” CASS member Gemini Gnull pointed out, referring to the wealthier and whiter areas in north Tacoma. “South Tacoma is a historically redlined neighborhood – this is racism plain and simple.”

The city of Tacoma approved land use permits without doing a health impact assessment, and the development goes against many of the rules that the city must follow, such as those laid out in the HEAL Act and Tacoma’s Climate Action Plan. An appeal has been filed to require the health impact assessment, and they are currently awaiting a decision. There is no limit on how long this could take, but they expect a decision by the end of the month.

This approval for land use has many community members concerned about negative health outcomes for their families and the environment.

“The warehouse is going to affect my son’s health, whose lungs are not fully developed,” Black Panther Party member Ovunayo X explained. “There’s definitely that health worry there, and they are not doing the health assessment, which is a horrible thing to not do.”

Many other attendees expressed their desire to preserve the proposed site as a green space.

“I think that our green spaces are very valuable and should be protected,” said community member Rose Stacy, “the earth was here before we were. Once you destroy these areas, it’s not something that can just be recreated, so it’s important to protect them as they are already naturally. Putting a warehouse there is the opposite of what we should be doing.”

After the rally, over 15 people took to the surrounding neighborhood’s streets to knock on doors, hand out literature, and raise awareness about the warehouse. For many Tacoma residents who will be impacted by this project, this is the first time they’re hearing about it.

“The city knows if they tell us about this project, we’re going to oppose it,” Gnull said, explaining why the group was going door to door. “The city and Bridge Industrial aren’t listening to us right now, but we are going to make them listen.”

#TacomaWA #EnvironmentalJustice #CASS

The Wells Fargo offices are a sprawling complex of interconnected buildings, all loudly sporting its red and gold logo. Directly across the street looms the towering silhouette of another major financial institution, U.S. Bank, whose name adorns the Twin Cities’ garish 70,000-person NFL stadium. Only a few blocks away, offices for Bank of America and J.P. Morgan stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Jail. In microcosm, this location represents exactly what the rally’s speakers sought to bring to light.

On behalf of Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American community organization, Kent Mori spoke on the recent catastrophic wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, emphasizing the role played by these major financiers in creating the artificial environmental conditions that led to the fires.

“The fire in Lahaina need not have occurred if not for the water theft to fuel plantations by the Dole and other corporations. The corporate drive for profit produced a desert environment in the tropical wetland of Maui,” Mori said. “These corporate crimes continue after the devastating fire on Lahaina; land developers are already sniffing about trying to steal land from the community in dire straits. These crimes weigh most heavily on indigenous peoples; note that this is stolen Dakota land, and Wells Fargo is able to pursue its profit-making, climate-killing schemes because of that theft.”

Next spoke Kawakata El Ti, an organizer with the Climate Justice Committee who has been involved with recent struggles in Minneapolis against evictions of majority-Native tent encampments, and who gave a moving tribute to Dan Dan, a Native community member who selflessly devoted his life to taking care of the unhoused and the land on which we all live. Dan Dan died of heat stroke last week while MPD officers stood by and, according to some bystanders, obstructed paramedics from saving his life. Dan Dan had spent six straight days volunteering to clean up trash at an encampment, all in a sweltering heat wave. The day after Dan Dan died, the Minnesota State Patrol conducted a militarized eviction operation on the encampment, once again displacing over 130 people – almost all of whom were indigenous.

From the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, Joe Vital spoke on the Climate Justice Committee’s role as a coalition partner in the fight for community control of the Roof Depot building. Vital underlined how crucial it was in their campaign that the coalition built up grassroots support within the community and turned it into mass action in the streets.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead stepped up next, on behalf of the Anti-War Committee, to illustrate the connection between major financial institutions like Wells Fargo and the environmental destruction wrought by U.S. imperialism and the military-industrial complex. In her speech, she drew attention to the monstrous sums of money being spent on the ongoing U.S. proxy war in Ukraine, environmentally destructive in its own right, that could instead so easily be used to finance the green infrastructure that humankind so desperately needs.

Climate Justice Committee member Charlie Berg concluded the rally, saying, “If you walk away from today having learned only one thing, let it be this: we are not doomed! These corporate oligarchs want so badly for us to be quiet, or for us to limit our expectations, or that we recoil into our personal lives and give up the fight altogether, because what they so deeply fear is the alternative – that we organize!” He continued, punctuating his final remarks with a well-known protest slogan: “What they fear – and what we ought to constantly remind ourselves of – is this: when we fight, we win!”

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice

Madison, WI – On August 19, more than 60 people rallied and marched during the weekly Dane County Farmers Market to demand that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) put an end to Line 5. The DNR holds the authority to approve or deny the permit that Enbridge, the Canada-based corporation that owns the pipeline, needs in order to continue its operations in the state. The actions were organized by students and youth with Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE) and drew support from many organizations and community members.

“We’re so excited to have so many people out here to show support for the Bad River Band of the Greater Chippewa Indians to urge the DNR to shut down the Line 5 pipeline,” said Marco Marquez, the Program Manager for Wisconsin ACE.

After the rally at the market, the assembled crowd marched around the State Capitol building before breaking away and heading to the state offices of the DNR to deliver a petition for them to deny the permits to Enbridge for their Line 5 pipeline.

“I’m 16 and I can't remember a time when I wasn't involved in the pipeline fight. I was 11 running around at camps in northern Minnesota where we were there to protest Line 3. I visited communities in the Dakotas that were impacted by the Dakota Access Pipeline,” said Xanthi Salman, a student leader with ACE Madison and a member of the Dane County Youth Environmental Committee. “After fighting pipelines for so long I’m very aware of and absolutely enraged by [these corporations] disregarding frontline communities. And now the pattern is repeating itself in our state with the Line 5 pipeline.”

Line 5 transports millions of gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wisconsin to a refinery in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The pipeline cuts through the heart of the Bad River Reservation, the home of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and then runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the waterway that serves as the dividing line between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Built in 1953, the 70-year old pipeline has spilled more than 1 million gallons of crude oil over its lifetime.

The struggle over Line 5 has been decades in the making, led primarily by members of the Bad River Band. A watershed moment occurred in 2013 when many of the legal agreements that allowed Enbridge to operate their pipeline on the reservation land expired. The tribe moved at once to expel the corporation from their lands in order to protect their cultural and natural resources, but early negotiations went nowhere.

The Bad River Band ultimately passed a resolution not only to remove the pipeline from their lands but from the entire watershed. Enbridge proceeded to disregard the wishes of the tribe in spite of the expiration of the easements which allowed them to operate on their land, and so the struggle went to the courts. In June 2023, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled in favor of the Bad River Band, stating that Enbridge needs to shut down the segment of their pipeline that runs through the reservation within three years and to pay the tribe $5 million. However, Enbridge filed an appeal on June 30 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. While the legal battle carries on, the movement in communities across Wisconsin is beginning to pick up.

#MadisonWI #EnvironmentalJustice #line5

Tacoma, WA – On Sunday August 20, several dozen community members, organizers, labor leaders and activists gathered in Tacoma’s South Park to protest the mega warehouse complex slated to be constructed just a few blocks away. Gemini Gnull, coordinating director of the Climate Alliance of the South Sound led the crowd, chanting “People power!” and “No to the warehouse!”

In early 2023 the Tacoma Planning and Development Services Department permitted the development of Bridge Industrial’s 2.5 million square foot warehouse complex in South Tacoma. “The quiet approval of the mega warehouse by Bridge Industrial was done without a single health impact study despite obvious concerns of extreme air pollution,” said Isaac Pennoyer, member of the South End Neighborhood Council. “Already, South Tacoma has the highest rate of heart disease in all of Pierce County.”

These warehouses, if they are built, will be surrounded by residential houses in historically redlined neighborhoods. This will disproportionately impact working class Black, Chicano, Latino, indigenous and Pacific Island peoples in the area.

Barbra Church, a community organizer with The Conversation 253, lives in one of the would-be impacted neighborhoods. Church voiced her concerns about the impact of the warehouses, saying, “Traffic to and from the warehouse will increase from 5 to 12 thousand vehicles a day. One of the main trucking routes has several school crossings putting the health and safety of our children, parents and neighborhoods at risk. We need a Health Impact Assessment!”

The EPA, Washington State’s health department and ecology department, and the county’s health department have all also raised concerns over this project, yet the city of Tacoma still approved it.

The International Brotherhood of the Teamsters Joint Council No 28. and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 367 are also opposed to the project due to the low-paying, non-union jobs the warehouse is suspected to bring. In April 2022 the Teamsters Joint Council published a letter saying, “the City should have more carefully studied the hydrological impacts of so much impervious surface being placed atop a sensitive aquifer. The mitigation documents do not take into account, or adequately address, the potential long-term impacts of this project.” The Climate Alliance of the South Sound plans to bring together the Teamsters, UFCW, and other local unions in a united front of organized labor to combat the warehouse.

“The good news is, this fight is not over. We can fight and we can win,” Gnull said in her closing remarks. “When we all come together we can show the city ‘Hey we’re not going to accept this.’ The way we win this is by standing up and fighting together!”

The rally was punctuated by a park cleanup that spanned multiple surrounding blocks. Community members used garbage bags, gloves and grabbers to collect litter for 45 minutes before returning to chat, rest and enjoy the park.

#TacomaWA #EnvironmentalJustice

Milwaukee, WI – The people’s movements mourn the loss of veteran activist George Martin, who passed away on July 16th, 2023. Martin was a well respected leader in local, national, and international anti-war, environmental, and social justice movements who had a great impact on many people over his life-long service to the cause of peace and justice.

In Milwaukee, Martin helped lead Peace Action Wisconsin and its anti-w