A few days ago we mentioned a housing project for the poor in East Chicago, Indiana that was built on the site of an old smelter that contaminated the ground with lead, arsenic and other toxic chemicals; yesterday the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited the area “to talk to residents.” He held a news conference that lasted two minutes, took no questions and refused to meet with those affected. The city has finally decided the complex must be bulldozed and residents relocated, but it has no place to send them except the high-crime south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Pruitt is an opponent of his own agency’s mission, and the result was a public donnybrook. Thousands of Black and Latino residents are affected, of whom 40% are children. Critics say it’s a textbook case of environmental racism. (Scott Olson/Getty)
The Daily Office 
