2001 Following are facts compiled by Renewable Energy Policy Project on energy and the environment as these complex issues relate to low income and minority communities. The REPP project, entitled Resolution on Sustainable Energy and Low-Income and Minority Communities was endorsed by over 50 related organizations. The electric utility sector ranks first among U.S. industries emitting toxics as listed in the federal Toxic Release Inventory, releasing 1 billion pounds of toxics in 1998, more than the chemical, paper, plastics and refining industries combined.
Electricity is the top driver for energy use.
African-Americans are 2 to 6 times more likely than whites to die from asthma . The National Academy of Sciences recently found that mercury causes developmental defects in 60,000 American children in utero each year . Native American and low-income and minority fisherfolk and their families are most at risk. Yet, in Navajo nation, over a third of all homes do not have access to electricity . Refineries located in low-income communities of color present serious environmental health threats, including ailments such as asthma and the risk of explosion, such as one in Richmond, CA in 1999 that sent 350 people to local emergency rooms.