[CPEO-MEF] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, MUNITIONS: "Historic Black community in Gulfport [MS] Continues to Fight Against Ammunition Storage in their Neighborhood"

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
Earth Justice
June 29, 2023

Historic Black community in Gulfport Continues to Fight Against Ammunition Storage in their Neighborhood
The Mississippi State Permit Board failed in its duties when it rubber stamped the Port Authority’s plan to build a military facility near Black community, allowed unresolved concerns about the potential for explosives storage near homes, and ignored demands for more suitable locations for military Port facility


GULFPORT, MS — Turkey Creek and the local Black communities that surround it are at risk again due to a proposed industrial military development that would increase flooding, risk toxic exposure from a contaminated groundwater site, and store dangerous and potentially explosive military equipment near a residential community.

Today, on behalf of EEECHO and other community groups, Earthjustice and the ACLU of Mississippi filed a reply brief in their appeal regarding failures by the Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board to examine how the storage of ammunition and other military equipment within close proximity of North Gulfport residents would impact them. They argue, in part, that the Mississippi Port Authority at Gulfport’s (the “Port Authority”) proposed project to martial military equipment, including ammunition, on the contaminated groundwater site known as the North Port Property violated state law in multiple ways. And while the matter will ultimately work its way through the Courts, EEECHO released a new GIS map to educate all of Gulfport regarding the placement of toxic sites, where those sites are located, and how they impact communities — even those communities beyond North Gulfport.

“Regardless of our court case,” Founder and leader of EEECHO Ms. Ruth Story stated, “this map demonstrates that our community must come together to ensure that toxic sites are not lumped into only certain areas, and that our public health, our waters, our ability to thrive in our community is protected.”

…

For the entire release, see
https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/historic-black-community-in-gulfport-continues-to-fight-against-ammunition-storage-in-their-neighborhood

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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