EPA Didn’t Check Environmental Racism Complaint E-Mail for One Year

The EPA didn’t check for more than a year an e-mail mailbox it created for the public to flag potential or existing environmental racism issues, according to several current and former agency sources.

Nearly 150 messages were sent to that inbox between June 2014 and July 2015, before EPA staff “became aware” of the Title VI complaints mailbox and immediately started reviewing those messages, the agency said in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg BNA. Civil rights advocates and attorneys told Bloomberg BNA that this could have left individuals in harm’s way and, if the complaints weren’t appropriately addressed, could leave ...