Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

1 minute read

April 13, 2025, 9:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

KatMoy / Adobe Stock

Two years after the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services negotiated a historic settlement with Alabama officials to improve wastewater treatment services for Alabamians in majority-Black communities harmed by raw sewage, Trump has terminated the settlement, deeming it “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

The settlement represented a landmark: the first time in U.S. history that federal civil rights laws were used to alleviate an environmental injustice. Its termination represents a blow:

“Conditions in the Black Belt, which spans as many as two dozen counties in south-central Alabama, and in Lowndes County in particular, have been widely criticized for years,” Inside Climate News reports.

“Following a visit to Alabama in 2017, Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, characterized the situation in the Black Belt as a result of racism and the demonization of the poor.” 

Friday, April 11, 2025 in Inside Climate News

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