How a new Jeep factory in Detroit turned into a civil rights fight:
When plans for a new Jeep factory on Detroit’s east side were announced in 2019 — the city’s first assembly plant in nearly 30 years — it was celebrated as an economic boon for the city, bringing 5,000 jobs and an influx of investment to long-neglected neighborhoods. Six years after filing for bankruptcy, the city was “turning a corner” and becoming more business friendly, The Detroit News declared.
Last summer, residents in the surrounding area began complaining that paint odors were giving them headaches and making their eyes and throats burn, as The Detroit News reported. The state has since traced the cause of the odor to faulty ductwork that allowed chemicals to escape from the factory’s paint shop; Stellantis was fined for the violation and said in December that it fixed the ductwork.
The residents’ complaint is one of hundreds over decades that aims to convince the EPA that it should treat environmental inequality the same way it judges housing or employment discrimination — without having to prove racist intent to recognize the impact of discrimination. Applying that reasoning in an environmental context has been a bridge too far for the U.S.
In addition to the fines and ductwork fix, Stellantis submitted a mitigation plan to EGLE in January and pledged to add further controls to contain the paint smells. In a statement, a representative for the company said the plant uses “some of the most advanced technology” to cut down on emissions. “We should not be having to fight for our humanity as residents and taxpayers of a community,” Shobe, a cancer survivor and retired autoworker, said in an interview. “There’s no way they should be permitting them to do the things that they’re doing over here, because you’re dealing with models — the models don’t consider people, or the proximity of people.”
But according to EGLE, the agency doesn’t have the “tools or the authority” to deny a permit based on the type of cumulative impact analysis the Detroit residents want. The regulator “looks forward to EPA’s review of Michigan permitting decisions and processes to ensure that the state is doing everything within its authority to protect vulnerable communities, and to receive guidance from EPA in doing so most effectively,” a spokeswoman said in response to the EPA’s investigation.
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