Click here for Inner City Press' weekday news reports, from the United Nations and elsewhere. Click here to Search This Site
ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of inner city-relevant topics, including racism,
environmental and otherwise - click here for
sample chapters, here for
an interactive map,
here
for fast ordering
and
delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person
accounts." The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’]," by
Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. The Pittsburgh
City Paper says the 100-page afterword makes the
"indispensable point that predatory lending is now being
aggressively exported to the rest of the globe," and opines that
that the "novel Predatory Bender: A Story of Subprime
Finance may, in fact, be the first great American lending
malfeasance novel" including "low-level loan sharks,
class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs, hired muscle, corrupt
politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall Street analysts, reporters
and one watchdog with a Web site." And environmental
justice too! Click here
for that
review; for or with more information, contact us.
March
1, 2021
From
the UK: THAMES
Water has been
given a fine
worth more
than Ł2
million
following a
pollution
incident in
Oxfordshire.
The water
company was
fined Ł2.3
million for a
raw sewage
pollution
incident in
2016, which
saw 1,200 fish
die.
February
22, 2021
Minnesota
pollution: On
Feb. 19, the
Minnesota
Pollution
Control Agency
issued a Code
Orange Air
Quality Alert
to be in
effect from 6
p.m. today
through noon
Sunday, Feb.
21 for much of
east central
and southeast
Minnesota,
including
Wright
County.
According to
the MPCA, "Air
quality is
expected to
worsen
beginning
Friday
evening, with
the Air
Quality Index
(AQI)
forecasted to
reach Orange
or Unhealthy
for Sensitive
Groups
category."
February
15, 2021
Britain’s
Supreme Court
ruled Thursday
that a group
of Nigerian
farmers and
fishermen can
sue Royal
Dutch Shell
PLC in English
courts over
pollution in a
region where
the
Anglo-Dutch
energy giant
has a
subsidiary.
Five justices
on the U.K.’s
top court said
Shell has a
“duty of care”
to the
claimants over
the actions of
its Nigerian
subsidiary.
Shell had
argued that it
was not
responsible.
Members of
Nigeria’s
Ogale and
Bille
communities
took Shell to
court in
Britain in
2016, alleging
that decades
of oil spills
have fouled
the water,
contaminated
the soil and
destroyed the
lives of
thousands of
people in the
Niger River
Delta, where a
Shell
subsidiary has
operated for
decades.
February
8, 2021
Owners
of a solar
energy farm in
Massachusetts
have reached a
settlement
with the
state’s
attorney
general’s
office to
remediate a
large tract of
wetlands and
riverfront
damaged during
construction
of the site in
2018.
Dynamic Energy
Solutions
agreed to pay
more than $1
million to
settle charges
that it
violated
federal
stormwater
protections,
damaged
wetlands and
polluted a
branch of a
river...
February
1, 2021
Riverkeeper Lawsuit Against EPA Will Exclude Hearsay Report In SDNY Ruling Due February
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 25 – Riverkeeper sued the EPA
for not protecting endangered species in
connection with its response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
On
January 25, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S.
Rakoff held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Rakoff
grilled Riverkeeper's lawyer about a report
being hearsay; he listened to the argument on
standing, that it was not based on spending
money on litigation but the longstanding
"Havens" factors.
At the end -
reference was made another proceeding, not on
the PACER Calendar Events - Judge Rakoff said
it is interesting case so it will take time to
rule.
He
specified the end of February, saying he'll
aim to do it sooner but cannot promise.
January
25, 2021
A
map of Florida
brownfields,
and
communities of
color, is here.
January
18, 2021
Tzumi Sues EPA To Stop Hand Wipes Wipe Out Order But EPA Says Claims Are False
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 14 – Tzumi Innovations
says that its "Wipe Out!" hand wipes should
not be registered with the EPA as a pesticide
under FIFRA. It has
sued.
On January 14, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G.
Schofield held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The EPA says
Tzumi is lying - or its claims are false -
when it accuses EPA of issuing a Stop Sale,
Use or Removal Order to Home Depot regarding
Wipe Out products.
On January 11,
Judge Schofield had ordered a briefing
schedule and a letter on whether the
effectiveness of any SSURO might be delayed
pending resolution of the case. Could it be a
wipe out?
The case is Tzumi Innovations, LLC v. Wheeler et al., 21-cv-122 (Schofield)
***
January
11, 2021
Check
it out: Top
Twenty Lenders
to 40 actors
in the Plastic
Packaging
Value Chain
(Jan 2015 -
Sept 2020;
million USD)
BANK
HQ LOANS &
UNDERWRITING %
OF TOTAL Bank
of America
United States
171,737 10.31%
Citigroup
United States
145,816 8.76%
JPMorgan Chase
United States
143,766 8.63%
Barclays
United Kingdom
117,923 7.08%
Goldman Sachs
United States
97,042 5.83%
HSBC United
Kingdom 96,201
5.78% Deutsche
Bank Germany
77,398 4.65%
Wells Fargo
United States
74,121 4.45%
BNP Paribas
France 55,852
3.35% Morgan
Stanley United
States 54,211
3.26% Mizuho
Financial
Japan 50,602
3.04%
Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial
Japan 43,587
2.62% Credit
Suisse
Switzerland
40,218 2.42%
Société
Générale
France 35,775
2.15%
Santander
Spain 33,960
2.04% SMBC
Group Japan
33,189 1.99%
ING Group
Netherlands
31,084 1.87%
Toronto-Dominion
Bank Canada
23,574 1.42%
NatWest United
Kingdom 22,207
1.33% Royal
Bank of Canada
Canada 21,760
1.31% Other
295,191 17.73%
January
4, 2021
Chippewa Sue Enbridge Tar Sands Oil Pipeline But Army Corps Lost in DC Mail Press Tweets
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT,
Dec 31 – A lawsuit seeking to enjoin a tar
sands oil pipeline in Minnesota and elsewhere
got a initial hearing on December 30 in the
U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia. Inner City Press covered it, and
live tweeted it here:
The US Army
Corps of Engineers decision to let Enbridge
Energy to build a 330-mile pipeline for
tar sands oil from Canada is being sued in DC
Dist by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
& White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
US says it has
not been served. The papers are in the mail,
but USPS says they won't arrive until January
5.
Judge Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly says she can move fast,
because of COVID she is not going anywhere.
She asks the parties to agree to a briefing
schedule Assistant US Attorney says the
Corps of Engineers people are on vacation,
unreachable. They want more time.
Judge: Are
they going to be back on Monday? AUSA: That
would be the first day. This permit may have a
truly massive record, including state
litigation. Judge: I was reversed some
years ago for doing a TRO without getting the
administrative record in. It's local rule
7(10)(1), it's gotten better. Has there been
other litigation?
Plaintiffs'
counsel: Yes, at the state level. And under
Section 401 of the Clean Water
Act. Plaintiffs' counsel: It's in
the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Judge: So
we'll talk once you reach the Army Corps of
Engineers.
The case is RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS, WHITE EARTH BAND OF OJIBWE, HONOR THE EARTH, and SIERRA CLUB, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, Defendant. Case No. 1:20-cv-3817 (D.D.C., Kollar-Kotelly)
***
December
28, 2020
EPA Cutting No Spray Pesticide Zone Triggered SDNY Hearing By Dec 26 Only EPA Has Filed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 23 – The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's rule to limit the 100-foot
no spray zone down to 23-feet gave rise to an
emergency hearing on December 23 at 5 pm.
Inner City Press covered it.
U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Judge Lewis J. Liman held the hearing, and
asked many questions, including about the
impact of the change of U.S. Administration on
January 20.
He did
not decide, at the end of an hour and a half,
on the request for a temporary restraining
order.
Instead,
Judge Liman said he will rule on it before
December 29. He asked the parties if they
wanted to submit more on "the 705 issue." Both
said yes.
So, letters
were said due at 5 pm on Saturday, December
26.
Now as of 5:10
pm on December 26, in the docket there is no
letter (yet?) from plaintiffs, but this in the
EPA's / DOJ's 3-page filing: "Dear Judge
Liman: This Office represents defendants
(together, “EPA”) in this matter. I write
respectfully in response to the Court’s
request at argument on December 23, 2020, for
briefing on the application of the stay
provision of the Administrative Procedure Act
(“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 705. As stated in EPA’s
brief, a request by plaintiffs for a court
order to delay implementation of a rule under
5 U.S.C. § 705 is governed by the same
standards as the issuance of a preliminary
injunction. Dkt. No. 30 (“EPA Br.”) at 10
(citing New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., — F.
Supp. 3d. —, No. 20 Civ. 4260 (JGK), 2020 WL
4581595, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2020)). It
has long been the law of the Second Circuit
that stays of administrative action are
governed by these requirements....Plaintiffs
have not established that nationwide and
rule-wide relief is necessary to remedy the
harms they allege. See EPA Br. at 29-30. If
the Court concludes that some type of
equitable relief is appropriate, that relief
should be tailored to affect only (1) the
harms that Plaintiffs can establish
specifically as to themselves or their
members, and (2) the portions of EPA’s 2020
Rule as to which Plaintiffs have shown a
likelihood both of success on the merits and
of irreparable harm absent equitable relief.
See New York, 969 F.3d at 88; Eastern Air
Lines, 261 F.2d at 830. Plaintiffs do not
challenge several aspects of the rule, see EPA
Br. at 9 n.2, which should not be enjoined or
stayed, and the Court should also decline to
enjoin all discrete portions of the Rule as to
which Plaintiffs have failed to carry their
burden."
The case is Rural & Migrant Ministry et al v. Andrew Wheeler et al., 20-cv-10645 (Liman)
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you
access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click
here to become a patron.
December
21, 2020
From
Thailand: "the
problem in
Bangkok is
little to do
with the
traffic, buses
and local
industry. Of
course, it’s a
contributor
but a tiny
fraction of
the bigger,
deliberately
lit,
plantation
fire
issue. A
long term
solution is to
subsidise
proper
machinery for
Thailand’s
farmers to
clear the land
mechanically,
rather than
the cheaper
burning of the
crops.
Districts
could share
the cost of
the necessary
machinery,
with
individual
farmers and
companies
hiring the
equipment when
needed.
Today it’s
easy to track
all the fires,
clearly
identified by
NASA
satellites, in
almost real
time. It’s a
free website
that anyone
can log onto…
even Thai
government
officials. You
can see the
active fires
in Cambodia,
Vietnam and
Myanmar as
well, but
there is a big
concentration
in central,
northern and
north-eastern
Thailand.
You can see
clear evidence
of exactly
where the
smoke is
coming from…
matched with
the daily
weather
forecast which
provides the
direction and
strength of
the
winds.
There’s even a
simple site
like Air
Visual which
lists the air
quality around
the country,
and the world
for that
matter, any
time of the
day."
December
14, 2020
In
Pakistan, the
National Forum
for
Environment
and Health
(NFEH) has
demanded that
a
national-level
emergency
should be
declared to
tackle the
problem of
marine
pollution as
the recent
sighting of
coral
bleaching near
Charna Island
shows that
serious
environmental
issue is
getting worse
every passing
day.
December
7, 2020
Arizona
District
Judge G.
Murray Snow
ruled
that
Chubb's
Illinois Union
Insurance Co.
doesn't have
to cover a
resort's
COVID-19
losses,
writing that
the carrier's
"premises
pollution
liability"
policy only
covers
environmental
pollution but
not the
coronavirus
pandemic. He
dismissed
London Bridge
Resort LLC's
lawsuit
against the
insurer,
ruling that
COVID-19 does
not fall
within the
policy's
"pollution
condition"
definition.
The case is
London Bridge
Resort LLC v.
Illinois Union
Insurance
Company
Incorporated,
case number
CV-20-08109,
in the US
District Court
for the
District of
Arizona
November
30, 2020
Utility
giant Georgia
Power has
embarked on a
buying spree.
In 2016, it
bought a
veterinarian’s
5-acre lot in
the rolling
hills of
northwest
Georgia for
roughly double
the appraised
value. The
following
year, it
acquired 28
acres of
flood-prone
land in
southwest
Georgia’s
Pecan Belt for
nearly four
times what the
local tax
assessor said
it was worth.
By the year
after that,
the utility
giant had paid
millions of
dollars above
the appraised
value for
hundreds of
acres near a
winding gravel
road in a
central
Georgia town
with no water
lines and
spotty
cellphone
service.
Two things
united the
properties:
They were all
near
coal-fired
power plants
that generated
toxic waste
stored in
unlined ponds
at those
sites. And
they were all
purchased
after the
Environmental
Protection
Agency
finalized new
regulations in
2014 governing
the disposal
of such waste,
known as coal
ash.
November
23, 2020
On
November 19,
2020, U.S. EPA
published its
decision to
remove Ohio’s
air pollution
nuisance rule
from Ohio’s
SIP in the
Federal
Register. The
removal came
at the request
of Ohio EPA
because the
nuisance rule
does not have
a reasonable
connection to
the attainment
of the NAAQS
in Ohio, and
U.S. EPA erred
in approving
it as part of
Ohio’s SIP.
November
16, 2020
Smog
levels reached
hazardous
levels on
Friday as
Faisalabad and
Lahore topped
the world’s
most polluted
cities index,
followed by
New
Delhi.
The overall
air quality of
Lahore was
recorded as
321 with a
high
concentration
of PM2.5 of
270
microgrammes
per cubic
metre, which
is the most
damaging of
the
particulate
matter in the
air and is
absorbed
directly into
the
bloodstream
and impacts
organs.
Faisalabad
ranked even
worse with 440
US air quality
index (AQI).
November
9, 2020
To
read: Jon
Mitchel's
“Poisoning the
Pacific: The
U.S.
Military’s
Dumping of
Plutonium,
Chemical
Weapons, and
Agent Orange,”
based on
thousands of
pages of
documents he
obtained from
the U.S.
military
through FOIA;
they detail
the widespread
contamination
of bases and
the areas
surrounding
them with PFAS
and other
hazardous
substances,
including
chemical
weapons, Agent
Orange, jet
fuel, and
PCBs.
November
2, 2020