Comments submitted to the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) by Earthjustice on behalf of Flint community organizations and individuals opposing Universal Coating’s proposal to add new tumble spray lines at its facility, which will add to the cumulative pollution affecting residents of this environmental justice community.

John Petoskey, Attorney, Midwest Office: “EGLE needs to do more to ensure that not only that the community knows about pollution, but that pollution in the community is reduced.”

The scrapyard violated emissions limits in a community already facing many harmful sources of air pollution

A letter on behalf of our clients Flint Rising, Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint and St. Francis Prayer Center, requesting that the U.S. EPA Region 5 enhance monitoring, compliance, and enforcement efforts under the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws to better protect public health and the environment in Flint, Michigan.

Includes nearby sources to Ajax Facility, Flint Facilities Inspection Summary, and EGLE response to AJAX Asphalt Title VI Complaint.

Summarizing Feb. 28 tour and site visit, resident interviews, and why HUD and the EPA must act.

Thanking Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint for meeting and assuring EGLE’s commitment to address environmental justice concerns.

From Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint, Flint Rising, and St. Francis Prayer Center, urging EGLE to pledge to critical changes, requesting written agreement that provides meaningful commitments and accountability to ensure that EGLE will better protect Black communities and other communities of color.

Advocates call on Michigan to overhaul its discriminatory air permitting program

Letter from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, Office of External Civil Rights Compliance to Earthjustice and Great Lakes Environmental Law Center notifying that EPA has resolved complaint based on the Informal Resolution Agreement entered between EPA and EGLE.

EGLE agrees to engage in the voluntary Informal Resolution Agreement process to resolve complaint alleging discrimination by EGLE in violation of Title VI of Civil Rights Act when it approved a permit to install for the Ajax Asphalt Plant without providing meaningful public participation.

The court upheld Michigan’s permit despite environmental justice concerns

A circuit court upheld a wrongful decision by Michigan regulators to allow a toxic asphalt plant to pollute an environmental justice community near Flint.

Despite two federal civil rights investigations and a lawsuit, Michigan allowed operations to start

Earthjustice Attorney Debbie Chizewer, who represented the five community groups, said the judge’s decision is urgent as Ajax began testing operations this week. “Environmental justice is critically important in this appeal because of the consequences of the facility,” Attorney John Petoskey, representing the community groups, said. “We’re hoping that that was communicated today and it…

Five community groups respond to Ajax in a final briefing before the Genesee County Circuit Court. The groups are appealing a decision by Michigan’s environmental agency to allow the Ajax corporation to install a toxic asphalt plant in a predominantly Black, low-income, and environmentally overburdened neighborhood.

Brief in Genesee County Circuit Court responds to Ajax’s arguments, which ask the court to undo the modest pollution controls included in their permit.

In the fall of 2021, Michigan’s environmental agency (EGLE) authorized the Ajax corporation to build a toxic hot-mix asphalt plant near Flint. Close to 3,000 people live within a one-mile radius of the plant site, in a low-income area already overburdened with industrial polluters. The asphalt plant will release harmful chemicals like sulfur dioxide and…