Hip Hop Caucus' Stephone Coward and Stand.earth's Hannah Saggau Discuss Citi's Contribution to Cancer Alley

Under the Biden administration the US once again became the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. Because all fossil fuels projects are politically constituted via permitting, etc., it is no surprise that of the nearly $7 trillion of fossil fuel investments since the 2015 Paris Accord, almost $2 trillion has been provided by six US banks including Citi.

Cancer alley, the nickname for a stipe of largely Louisiana coastline, is home to over 200 petrochemical plants, refineries and ports. As the name implies, per the EPA, cancer alley residents are exposed to over ten times the level of health risks from resulting air pollution. A recent report by Hip Hop, Stand.earth and others, titled “Citi: Funding Fossil-Fueled Environmental Racism in the Gulf South,” documents Citi’s investment in moreover four liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals, the GHG emissions they’ll emit and the resulting health harms they’ll inflict on moreover minoritized communities. As likely the frontline example of environmental racism should cause one to recall the prosecutor’s closing argument in the George Floyd case, “if you’re doing something that hurts somebody, and you know it, you’re doing it on purpose.”

The report is at: Citi-Funding-Fossil-Fueled-Environmental-Racism-in-the-Gulf-South.pdf.

Info on the Hip Hop Caucus is at: https://hiphopcaucus.org/.

Info on Stand.earth is at: https://stand.earth/resources/citi-enviro-racism/

Info on Rise St. James is at: https://risestjames.org/

As for our failure to make any progress in addressing health equity see, e.g., this JAMA-published research in 2019: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2736934

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