Ellison speech spells out encouragement
for Southside environmentalists

BY DENNIS GEISINGER

Congressman Keith Ellison has introduced a bill prohibiting atrazine, a substance linked with deformity in frogs.

U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison’ s recent speech at the 5th Annual Founders Day event for the Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota (EJAM) reaffirmed the Minnesota legislator’s commitment to environmental issues that have profound consequences for the residents of South Minneapolis.

Ellison recently introduced a bill to prohibit the use, production, sale, importation or exportation of products containing atrazine, the pesticide/herbicide most commonly found in state water that, as reported by Southside Pride last summer, has been found to cause deformities in frogs and hormonal changes in humans. A Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) whistleblower was fired in August when he revealed that his agency had suppressed testimony on the dangerous levels of the chemical in Minnesota waters, an issue of concern for those living near the Mississippi River and Minnehaha Creek watersheds.

In November of last year, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control determined that previous studies assessing population-based exposure to atrazine were significantly and systematically underestimated.

The Minnehaha Neighborhood has also faced concerns about environmental reports from the MPCA about low levels of arsenic found beneath the ground surface near the Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, reports that triggered a temporary closing of a baseball field located on plant property last summer.
Airport noise, another environmental issue close to the hearts of those in Minneapolis’ relatively affluent southern neighborhoods, has been a bone of contention to the aims of EJAM, which primarily promotes the awareness of environmental hazards contributing to health disparities on the basis of race and income. Some have argued that the political capital controlled by wealthier neighborhoods has detracted from work on environmental issues that primarily affect poorer parts of the city, like Ellison’s push to amend the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 to define blood levels of lead.

Yet there is room for overlap. In 2006, EJAM convened community meetings in South Minneapolis around the “Arsenic Triangle” contamination issue, and has labored to increase tenants’ right to know, community knowledge on contamination impacts, and government accountability for the cleanup of neighborhood homes.

Recent environmental efforts by local groups on the Southside that have improved neighborhood life include restoration projects for Lake Nokomis that began in fall 2001. The weir, or dam, at the outlet of the lake, where it joins Minnehaha Creek, was repaired in 2002. And in May 2003, the local Blue Water Association made its first annual report to area residents on the environmental health of Lakes Nokomis and Hiawatha.

An environmental issue that should be well be on the list of all Minneapolitans concerned with the continued safety and livability of the place where they live is that of global warming. Ellison is an original co-sponsor of the Safe Climate Act of 2007 that would freeze U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 at 2009 levels, with what he calls strong and enforceable deadlines. It cuts 2011 emissions roughly by 2 percent a year, reaching 1990 emission levels by 2020. After 2020, it would cut emissions by 5 percent each subsequent year.

Ellison is also the co-sponsor of bills to address global climate change through the negotiation of international commitments. He cosponsored and voted for the Clean Energy Act of 2007 to reduce dependency on foreign oil by promoting renewable energy resources and The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard Act of 2007, setting standards that require electricity retailers to use a minimum amount of electricity from renewable sources.

Ellison is co-sponsor of the Fuel Economy Reform Act, requiring an increase in fuel economy standards of 4 percent per year until 2018. If enacted, this would save 2.2 million barrels of oil per day and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 370 million metric tons per year by 2022.

The Congressman said he supports environmental sustainability standards set forth in the upcoming vote on the new Farm Bill that promote renewable energy and ensure that programs that invest in natural resources—like the Wetland Reserve Program and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program—are funded.

Ellison has also co-sponsored bills to authorize grants to develop research centers for the study of environmental factors possibly related to breast cancer; to prohibit the sale and export of elemental mercury; to codify an executive order relating to environmental justice; and to support America Recycles Day.