Missouri DNR calls allegations of civil rights violations unfounded • Missouri Independent

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The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has granted an air pollution control permit to Kinder Morgan Transmix, located on the Mississippi River. The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether the DNR violated the civil rights of residents of St. Louis. (Google Earth)

Missouris ‘Department of Natural Resources has called the allegations that it violated residents’ civil rights as unfounded and conclusive, even though it quietly addressed several findings of an ongoing investigation by the Human Rights Protection Agency. environment.

The EPA investigated whether the DNR, the environmental regulator of Missouris, violated the civil rights of residents when it issued an air pollution control permit for a fuel haulage company located near several neighborhoods predominantly black in the south of Saint-Louis.

So far, the investigation has come to a general preliminary finding that MNR lacks several required elements of a non-discrimination program. The regulations gave MNR 50 days to accept and work on compliance or refute the allegations.

MNR responded in a letter in May calling for this preliminary finding, issued by the EPA’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office (ECRO), and for the broader investigation to be canceled.

The Independent requested a copy of the states’ response in June under the Missouri Sunshine Act. The letter was only delivered this week.

The department has not, has not and will not discriminate or retaliate against any individual or community of a protected class for any reason, wrote former department head Carol Comer. The ministry will continue to comply with federal requirements by means other than those recommended by ECRCO.

In an email, MNR’s communications director Connie Patterson said it was the department’s policy not to comment on outstanding legal issues.

The problem is a DNR license granted to Kinder Morgan Transmix to operate a facility that separates fuel products into usable gasoline and other products after shipment.

The facility isn’t new, but the way the license renewal was issued has caught the attention of the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, a St. Louis-based environmental law firm.

The firm said during the licensing process that MNR had failed to comply with federal regulations and asked it to study the disparate impacts of air pollutants on large minority communities.

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Great Rivers has filed a Title VI complaint, which prohibits discrimination by agencies receiving EPA funds, on behalf of several St. Louis organizations, including the local NAACP.

In a statement, Sarah Rubenstein, staff attorney for Great Rivers, said the group was disheartened that the DNR appears unwilling to admit that its programs have failed to comply with the regulations and guidelines for many years. Title VI of the EPA.

It should be noted that MNR’s response does not present any evidence that its air permit program adequately involves the regulated public; that its licensing decisions adequately take into account the cumulative impacts on low-income minority residents who have been forced to bear an excessive pollution load; or that his decision to authorize Kinder Morgan discriminated against the community of Dutchtown.

MNR was only informed of the findings in part of the investigation. The preliminary conclusion highlighted what ECRCO considered to be general failures. A spokesperson for the EPA said the agency has been in discussions with MNR on potential next steps since that finding was released in March.

Whether the MoDNR has been discriminated against on the basis of race, color or national origin in its actions over the Kinder Morgan permit remains under investigation, the spokesperson said.

Preliminary findings and response

The EPA’s preliminary findings highlighted several deficiencies noted in the protection of DNRs for residents. He said the DNR did not have an appropriate discrimination notice, telling the public that the agency does not discriminate, and a non-discrimination coordinator, a staff member responsible for overseeing the issue for the department.

In both cases, the DNR objected to the agency’s findings, but still made changes to comply, which Rubenstein said certainly revealing.

In some cases, the cited fact that ECRCO relies on for its finding of non-compliance is so trivial that ECRCO totally rejects an otherwise functional and compliant policy, Comer wrote. For example, the non-discrimination notice is alleged to be insufficient because the prohibition on reprisals is not explicitly presented in this document, even though this prohibition is explicitly stated in the personnel policy prohibiting reprisals.

The agency claimed that ECRCO had shifted the burden to the ministry of proving compliance.

ECRCO’s preliminary findings are unsubstantiated allegations at best, the MNR wrote.

At the same time, the agency updated its non-discrimination notice to state that it does not retaliate against complainants, and updated its website to provide direct contact with the coordinator of non-discrimination, also the department’s human resources manager.

ECRCO also found MNR’s grievance procedures to be inadequate as they do not outline elements of the investigative process or include retaliation as a basis on which residents can complain. He says they are also not accessible to those with limited fluency in English.

Further investigation

What remains unanswered is whether the MNR discriminated against residents of Dutchtown specifically by issuing the Kinder Morgan permit.

The permit sets legal limits on emissions and state and federal regulations. It requires the facility to monitor emissions and report itself if it exceeds permitted standards. Emissions governed by the permit include volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, particulates, oxides of sulfur, oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide.

More than half of the residents of the surrounding community, known as Dutchtown, are black and 10% are Latinos. The area is disproportionately affected by potentially dangerous pollution. The EPA’s Environmental Justice Mapping Tool shows Dutchtown is well above average in terms of risk for respiratory hazards and hazardous waste.

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A report from the city shows that parts of Dutchtown, including the postcode where Kinder Morgan is located, have one of the highest asthma rates in the city.

In its complaint, Great Rivers said MNR issued the permit despite comments from the NAACP opposing the lack of any meaningful opportunity to participate in the permit decision-making process.

Rubenstein said the company remains confident that the EPA’s preliminary findings and the ongoing investigation confirm the weight of the evidence supporting our complaint.

We remain hopeful, she said, that the EPA will compel MNR to do a better job of involving the regulated public in its decision-making processes and bringing the agency into compliance with Title VI requirements.

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