See all LastWeekTonight transcripts on Youtube

Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ -♪♪ Moving on. Our main story tonight concerns pollution. It's the thing that PSAs have been warning us about for more than half a century now.

Speaker 2

00:12

Before you take another breath, think what air pollution may be doing to your lungs. Hold it now. Think, what are you going to do about it?

Speaker 2

00:21

Well, if there are groups in your town fighting to make the air clean, join them. Or, write to Clean Air, Washington, D.C. By the way, holding your breath is not the answer.

Speaker 1

00:44

Flawless. Not a single flaw. The only thing I'd say there is, you could have had a little more fun with what's written on the balls. That's it.

Speaker 1

00:51

You're already the flirtiest weirdo 1960s PSAs had to offer. Swing big. You could have gone with, bet you didn't know these were in my mouth. Or, these are Kermit's eyes.

Speaker 1

01:01

Or, Robert Kennedy will be shot on June 5th, 1968. The world was your oyster there. Look, we all suffer from exposure to pollution in this country, but some significantly more than others, thanks to what's called environmental racism. Studies have found that black Americans are exposed to 38 percent more polluted air, and are 75 percent more likely to live in communities that border a plant or a factory.

Speaker 1

01:24

And crucially, the disparity in exposure persists even when controlling for income. 1 study found that on average, black Americans making $200,000 were exposed to more air pollution than white Americans making $25,000, proving that yet again, racism is 1 of the few things in this country more powerful than money. In fact, I believe America's current top 5 power rankings go racism, beef, viral videos of soldiers reuniting with their dogs, DJ Khaled's PR team, and then money. And while the decisions that lead to disparate outcomes can be subtle, they can also be incredibly flagrant.

Speaker 1

02:00

In 2008, there was a massive spill of coal ash here in Tennessee, with tons of toxic waste dumped into a largely white community. Now, the good news is, they removed 4000000 tons of it. The bad news is, it was then dumped 300 miles away in this largely black community called Uniontown, where residents were pretty clear about what had just happened.

Speaker 3

02:20

Taking that from a white area, if the white people didn't want it, let's just keep it 100. If white folks didn't want it, why do you think it's good enough for the blacks?

Speaker 1

02:28

Yeah, she's absolutely right. It seems when white people don't want something anymore, they either dump it on minority communities or sew a hummingbird on it and list it on Epsi as handmade vintage. Let's keep it 100 for a second.

Speaker 1

02:39

That is garbage. The fact is, though, black neighborhoods in particular can get targeted with incredible precision, and the stakes could not be higher here. Pollution is 1 of the driving factors behind conditions like heart disease, asthma, and even death, with black Americans nearly 3 times as likely to die from exposure to pollution. And vast disparities can even exist within the same city as this environmental expert breaks down.

Speaker 4

03:06

Right now, the zip code is the most important predictor of health and well-being. You tell me a zip code, I can tell you how healthy you are. All zip codes are not created equal.

Speaker 5

03:14

Really?

Speaker 4

03:15

Yes. You can find zip codes that are adjacent to each other and have a life expectancy disparity of 10, 15 years, depending on what's in that neighborhood and what's not in that neighborhood.

Speaker 1

03:26

Wow, that is grim. You can live 15 fewer years depending on your zip code is the worst zip code news since the time that they added those 4 bullshit digits at the end. I don't know what those are, and I am never going to learn them.

Speaker 1

03:39

I know my five-digit zip code, my Social Security number, my birthday, 1 of my children's birthdays, And that is the end of my numbers. I'm not learning anymore. So given just how awful its effects are, tonight, let's take a look at environmental racism. How it got this bad, how government and industry continue to fail people of color, and what we can do about it.

Speaker 1

04:00

And the first major factor to consider here is history. As we've discussed before on this comedy show, it was explicit federal policy for decades to segregate housing based on race through a process known as redlining. Basically, black people could not get government-backed home loans where white people lived. And the areas where they could live were often also zoned for industrial uses.

Speaker 1

04:22

Here's how it worked in Dallas.

Speaker 6

04:24

So you can take a redlining map from the 30s and maps from the 40s and overlay that on a current industrial map of Dallas, and they'll show you black and brown folks are forced to live side by side by heavy industry in a way that nobody else in Dallas is forced to live.

Speaker 1

04:40

That's basically the same parts of town, which does seem pretty intentional. I know some things are just weird coincidences, like how John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, or how George Washington had wooden teeth and Patrick Henry died of anal splinters. Just a random true fact that they don't teach you about in history class, but this, this is no coincidence.

Speaker 1

05:02

And that might at least partly explain why the life expectancy here in Joppie, a predominantly black area with a lot of industrial zoning, is just 71, while in the predominantly white Highlands Park, it is 84. And it definitely helps explain why certain neighbors have to put up with shit like Shingle Mountain. That is the work of a company named Blue Star Recycling, which claimed that it had a plan to recycle roofing shingles into asphalt. So, it started dumping a literal mountain of them into a lot right next to homes in a largely black and Latino neighborhood.

Speaker 7

05:36

Look at it. Shingle Mountain. Wow.

Speaker 7

05:41

That's a hundred thousand tons of shingles.

Speaker 8

05:43

A hundred thousand tons of shingles? Exactly. It kind of smells like...

Speaker 8

05:50

Like just rubber, like raw rubber.

Speaker 7

05:53

It does. It smells like burnt payment. Not a violation.

Speaker 7

05:56

Excuse me. Bless you. Bless you. I better keep

Speaker 1

06:00

driving back here.

Speaker 7

06:00

Yes, that's what we doing.

Speaker 8

06:02

Yeah, you can feel it going up your nose.

Speaker 7

06:05

Mm-hmm, yeah, you can just actually feel it. On the mouth. Excuse me.

Speaker 1

06:10

Okay, look, sneezing in response to 100,000 tons of fiberglass waste is fine a couple of times, but there is a point when you're just interrupting people and it is rude. Still, still, you cannot deny, it is impressive that it took all of 5 seconds for that mountain to turn Soledad O'Brien into a woman at the beginning of an allergy commercial when she's still in black and white. And Blue Star's owner, Chris Ganter, did not seem that concerned about the mess that he made, because watch what happened when O'Brien managed to stop sneezing for long enough to call him.

Speaker 8

06:39

So let me ask you a question. When you think of the people who live there on Shingle Mountain, like, what would you say to them? Because, you know, it's pretty gross.

Speaker 9

06:47

Oh, the whole neighborhood around there is gross. I mean everything around there is an industrial area. I didn't really go down there very often because I didn't like being down in that part of town.

Speaker 8

06:56

But do you think the people there you know do you feel sorry for them? Do you feel like hey listen that's where they live they get what they get?

Speaker 9

07:02

I mean everybody knew what the zoning of the area was when they bought. I mean, it's kind of like, I don't know, buying right next to the nuclear place and then complaining later about it. It's an industrial area.

Speaker 9

07:12

Every city has to have an industrial area. Just the way it is.

Speaker 1

07:15

You know, part of me almost appreciates that level of unapologetic shittiness. No efforts to spin or dodge it, just flat out saying, yeah, it's an icky part of town full of gross poors who deserve to live in filth. Did you get all of that for your news report?

Speaker 1

07:27

I can say it again slower if it helps. But what Ganter clearly does not understand there is that a lot of people didn't choose to live in an industrial area. Racist zoning policies chose for them. And while his company eventually went belly up and local activists got the city to move the shingles, It only moved them just across the highway to a massive landfill allowed by the neighborhood zoning.

Speaker 1

07:51

But history and zoning are only part of the story here, because it also is about who has the power to push back. And polluters often assume that black communities in particular won't be able to stop them. Take the Byhalia pipeline. It was a joint venture between these 2 companies who planned for their oil pipeline to take a very deliberate path through Memphis.

Speaker 10

08:11

The path Byhalia proposed winds down through South Memphis, cutting through several historically Black communities. There is a more direct option, but that would cut through predominantly white, wealthier neighborhoods in the north.

Speaker 1

08:24

Yeah, that does seem a little odd, doesn't it? Normally, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, not through any black people who happen to be living nearby. Although I will say the least surprising thing there is that the white, wealthy suburb is called Germantown.

Speaker 1

08:39

That is the name you give your community when Aryanville feels a little too obvious. And while the companies behind the Bahalia Pipeline insist that they had good reasons for choosing the path that they did, according to a local activist, a rep for them once accidentally said the quiet part out loud.

Speaker 11

08:55

There was a community meeting that Byhalia Pipeline held, And they were asked by 1 of the members of the community, why did you all choose this route? And there's usually a PR answer, but instead the representative was pretty clear and plain. What did he say?

Speaker 11

09:12

We basically chose a point of least resistance. When people aren't scripted, you can really learn what they believe and what they think.

Speaker 1

09:22

Wow. You don't usually get a corporate PR line quite so honest. There is a reason that Apple's slogan is, think different, and not, We made all the ports different again. What are you gonna do?

Speaker 1

09:32

Nothing. You'll do nothing. You'll buy a hundred dollars of new cords that'll last you until next year when we invent some shit called USB-Q or whatever. It's not even about the money for us anymore.

Speaker 1

09:41

It's about the erotic rush of power. Now, I have to tell you, the pipeline company insists that that rep's answer did not reflect the company's views, and that he should have said that they look for routes with the least collective impact to the community. And that definitely does sound better than the actual truth, which is that largely minority communities often are seen as the path of least resistance. While local activists have tried to resist, and for decades, they've often done it alone, as big environmental groups historically haven't been the best allies.

Speaker 1

10:12

As this climate justice activist points out, the priorities of the environmental movement have tended to leave certain communities out.

Speaker 12

10:20

We need to redefine environmentalism, to think more inclusively than the traditional perception of the environmental movement, which tends to be on, you know, saving the whales or flora and fauna. I did a talk recently in a national park, and when it was being advertised, there were people who were perplexed and people who were actually opposed to having a conversation about environmental justice.

Speaker 1

10:46

She's right. Environmentalism clearly shouldn't just be about protecting wild spaces. Humans do need protection, too.

Speaker 1

10:53

And I know it's not the most popular stance, but maybe conservationists could redirect some of the resources to environmental justice that they've been completely wasting on pandas. And I mean, specifically pandas. We spent so much time saving them, and why exactly? They don't want to be here.

Speaker 1

11:09

They don't fuck each other. They spend most of their time falling off something. Seriously, you watch videos of pandas, they're constantly falling down. It's time to let them go as fast as they let go to whatever they are holding.

Speaker 1

11:23

And the thing is, at least with something like Shingle Mountain, you can see it so you know to fight it, but sometimes, pollution can be invisible. And those that you'd expect to warn you about that can be incredibly slow to do so when it comes to communities of color. You're probably already familiar with what happened to the residents of Flint, Michigan, but that is the tip of the iceberg here. Take the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana.

Speaker 1

11:47

A federally assisted housing community built on top of a former lead smelter. The lead levels there were dangerously off the charts. How far off the charts? I'll let this reporter fill you in.

Speaker 13

11:58

Well, the safe level's supposed to be 400 parts per million. Well, they found levels of 1,200 parts per million, which is already an emergency level, but in some areas in the soil underneath the ground, they have found areas of 45,000 parts per million, and even 90,000 parts per million.

Speaker 1

12:17

It's true. They found lead more than 200 times higher than the level requiring cleanup, which just isn't great when the place that you found it is the ground. A thing notoriously difficult to avoid, unless, that is, you're willing to spend the rest of your life playing a very high-stakes version of the floor is lava.

Speaker 1

12:36

But what's even worse is, the government knew the area was dangerously toxic, decades before they told anyone who lived there. Time and again, regulators had the opportunity to tell residents, and they just didn't. Like in 1985, when the EPA first found high levels of lead in the soil near the housing complex. They didn't notify residents.

Speaker 1

12:55

Or later, in 1998, when the Department of Health and Human Services and state health officials found 30 percent of children under 6 in the housing complex had elevated blood lead levels. They didn't notify residents. Flash forward to 2009, the EPA declared the Land West Calumet was on a Superfund site, marking it a priority for contamination cleanup. And still didn't notify residents.

Speaker 1

13:17

And quick side note here, they didn't have to do that because, fun fact, federal law doesn't require its agencies to tell tenants that a unit is located on a Superfund site, which I truly cannot wrap my head around. The whole point of Superfund is to officially classify something in the government record as very dangerous. So, it is not great to do that and then not tell the people actually at risk. It's like putting a do not leave lean over the fence sign at a bear exhibit and having it face the bear site.

Speaker 1

13:47

Sure, the information's technically out there, but it's not really doing much to improve public safety. Anyway, in 2014, the EPA, the DOJ, the state of Indiana, and the corporations responsible for the contamination agreed on a remediation plan. But still didn't tell residents about the danger. In fact, it was only in 2016 when the EPA found those lead levels in the soil, hundreds of times their maximum permitted level, that the city finally sent a letter to residents telling them about the contamination.

Speaker 1

14:17

That is 31 years and 8 government agencies later. And even then, the steps the government took were utterly pathetic.

Speaker 14

14:27

On Monday, the EPA will be passing out flyers like these, which have lots of safety tips, including reminding families not to let their children play in the dirt, play in the grass, and to remove their shoes before walking into their homes.

Speaker 15

14:41

I've been told to just keep your children out of the grass and out of the areas where the march is. How do you do that when children play? That's what they do.

Speaker 1

14:54

She's right. Kids want to run around and play. Although, in the government's defense, they did put up that sign.

Speaker 1

15:00

And we all know there is nothing children respect more than the authority of a flimsy sign. Sorry, friends, no frolicking, hijinks, or tomfoolery for us today. After all, the sign is watching us. -...yeah.

Speaker 1

15:13

-...and while the details in this example may be extraordinary, it is worth noting that 70 percent of hazardous waste sites on the Superfund list are located within 1 mile of federally assisted housing. But look, this isn't just about cleaning pollution that's already happened. It's about deciding where industries will be allowed to pollute going forward. And without significant changes, our whole system is currently set up so that places that have already been polluted get worse and worse.

Speaker 1

15:40

There's even a term for this, sacrifice zones. Areas of the country where it is both government policy and industry practice to concentrate polluters. Basically, the thinking is, if you are zoned for industry and a company is already there, what's 1 more? But people live in those zones.

Speaker 1

15:58

And 1 such area in Louisiana has even come to be known by an incredibly bleak name.

Speaker 16

16:03

More than 100 petrochemical plants and refineries dot this corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, often referred to as Cancer Alley. Reserve is right in the middle of it. The EPA says the cancer risk here is almost 50 times the national average.

Speaker 5

16:20

They built this monstrosity up on top of us.

Speaker 16

16:23

Even the town's cemetery is surrounded by a refinery.

Speaker 1

16:27

Okay, first, putting an oil refinery around a Cemetery is pretty on the nose, but also, let's not gloss over the term Cancer Alley. It is pretty upsetting to learn that that's a name for an actual place where people live, and not what you'd assume, a slang term for the Marlboro Man's ass crack. --AUDIENCE LAUGHS- It's no wonder, frankly, that residents of Cancer Alley are so angry that industries have been allowed to move in right next to them.

Speaker 1

16:50

And yet, infuriatingly, some local government officials try to downplay the risks.

Speaker 17

16:56

I think Cancer Alley, the term Cancer Alley is a myth. Really, that needs to be debunked. Data that we received from the tumor registry reports that it's not cancer, Ali.

Speaker 1

17:08

Oh, okay, then. But a few things on that. First, a tumor registry may be 1 of the saddest things that I've ever brought up on this show, and we've talked about everything from baby crib grenades to orthodontic bullying to the elderly being eaten by alligators.

Speaker 1

17:22

1 of those things is real, by the way, and you'll never guess which 1, mainly because 2 of those are real. But second, you should know that since that clip, researchers have, in fact, found that toxic air pollution is linked to higher cancer rates among impoverished communities in Louisiana, including this guy's fucking parish. And while local politicians and industry will be quick to point out the potential economic and employment benefits that come with industry. As a local activist points out, that is something of a devil's bargain.

Speaker 2

17:51

If, ISIS showed up... And they said they would create jobs, would we let them in?

Speaker 1

18:00

Exactly. And for the record, that man is a retired three-star general, so when he's comparing something to ISIS, he's really comparing something to ISIS. And as Resniss there will point out, they are right now, in many ways, trapped.

Speaker 16

18:15

Why haven't you moved?

Speaker 5

18:18

Why should I move? How can I move? I struggle all my life to build this.

Speaker 5

18:25

Right now, in good conscience, who would I actually sell this house to? What poor, unsuspecting family would I trick into moving into this debt trap?

Speaker 1

18:39

Look, I know the reporter is just doing her job there, but that is such a ridiculous question that that man would have been fully within his right to make the rest of that interview the most passive-aggressive interaction of all time. Why don't I move? Huh!

Speaker 1

18:51

Now you mention it, I hadn't even considered moving away from Cancer Alley. It just sounded so nice to me. What a great idea you just had. Hold on, let me throw up a Zillow listing for death trap, and I'll just sit back and wait for a bidding war to begin.

Speaker 1

19:05

And when you put all of this together, a history of racist zoning, ineffective regulation, and a government that continues to prioritize the profits of industry over the health of people, it is clear We have a massive problem. And the good news is, the current president actually seems to agree with that.

Speaker 18

19:21

The unrelenting impact of climate change affects every single solitary 1 of us. But too often, the brunt falls disproportionately on communities of color, exacerbating the need for environmental justice. Sorry, that's a bug.

Speaker 18

19:38

-...speaking of the environment.

Speaker 1

19:39

-...look... I don't love that a random bug undermines the genuinely important point that he was making there, but I will say this, At least now Biden knows what it feels like when someone creeps out on the back of his neck. But the fact is, the fact is, though, Biden did make environmental justice a pillar of his campaign, and since taking office, he's promised, among other things, to funnel 40 percent of relevant climate investments to disadvantaged communities, and to issue a yearly scorecard that measures progress, which sounds great. Unfortunately, so far, his administration still hasn't set clear goals to accomplish this.

Speaker 1

20:13

And even worse, In February, it said, race will not be a factor in deciding where to focus efforts. Which is pretty fucking infuriating. And the administration will point out that the Supreme Court, in its current makeup, is likely to strike down any explicitly race-based policy, which may well be true. But we're in a pretty fucking backward situation.

Speaker 1

20:35

When any solutions to this problem have to be race-blind, despite the fact that the causes of it are so demonstrably not. So, what can we do here? Well, as you've seen again and again in the stories tonight, it is local activists on the ground who've been working tirelessly to fight for their communities and to gain concessions. And they deserve much more support from larger environmentalist groups, even as they continue leading the way.

Speaker 1

20:59

As for the government level, we need significant zoning reform to keep polluters and residents safely apart because the status quo is just not acceptable. Because when this country designates communities of color as sacrifice zones, The clear message there is that the people who live in them are expendable. That it's okay for their kids to not be able to play outside and for their lifespans to be shorter. And unless we make big steps to address environmental racism and call it what it is, A brutal divide is gonna stay in place in this country where some are treated like they're worth protecting, and others, like they can be sacrificed.

Speaker 7

21:45

You