ATLANTA — When issuing air quality permits for industrial facilities, Georgia environmental regulators must consider the race and ethnicity of surrounding communities, an advocacy group has argued in a complaint filed this week with the federal government.
The Southern Environmental Law Center has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to instruct the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to evaluate the “potential for disproportionate adverse impacts” of its permits on protected groups, including racial minorities.
The complaint is based the state’s decision to green light two large biomass facilities to manufacture wood pellets in the same neighborhood of Adel, a small town in South Georgia. Although Adel is about half white, half Black, both plants were approved for the western park of the city, where the community is predominantly Black and Hispanic.
