On October 3, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”)
announced it was accepting for investigation an Administrative Complaint filed
by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Natural Resources Council against
the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (“ADEM”). The Complaint
alleges that ADEM engages in racially discriminatory practices against residents
in the Black Belt region of the state through its implementation of the Alabama
Clean Water State Revolving Fund (“SRF”).
According to ADEM, the SRF is a low interest loan program
intended to finance public infrastructure improvements in Alabama, including publicly
owned wastewater treatment works, as well as sewer rehabilitation and
decentralized wastewater treatment. The SRF is funded with a blend of state and
federal funds. ADEM administers the SRF, performs required technical and
environmental review of projects, and disburses funds to recipients. Only
public bodies, including counties, state agencies, incorporated cities and
towns, boards, and authorities, may apply for SRF financing.
The Complaint that the EPA accepted for investigation claims
that ADEM makes it “impossible for people who need help with onsite sanitation
to access” the SRF funds. The Complaint claims that ADEM blocks access to the
SRF by not considering financial need, conducting inadequate outreach to
disadvantaged communities, and giving few points in its scoring system to
people who use at-home sewer systems rather than public systems. The EPA has
stated it will investigate “[w]hether ADEM’s implementation of the [SRF]
program . . . excludes from participation, denies benefits to, or subjects to
discrimination, residents in the Black Belt region of Alabama, on the basis of
race[.]”
Many households in the Black Belt region lack access to a
centralized public wastewater treatment system and rely on either septic
systems or “straight pipes,” which discharge untreated sewage directly into external
trenches and pits. The United Nations investigated sewage issues in the Black
Belt in 2017 and issued a report describing inadequate or nonexistent sewage
treatment as well as resulting health issues.
ADEM disagrees with the Complaint’s allegations, claiming that it has “made addressing the wastewater and drinking water needs of disadvantaged communities a priority” in awarding federal funding. According to ADEM, 34 percent of SRF funding in 2022 went to communities in the Black Belt region. ADEM states it welcomes “the opportunity to provide information to EPA to counter the allegations[.]”
