Post by libby on Jan 28, 2016 22:55:48 GMT -6
Duggan threatens suit over Marathon refinery emissions
Mayor Mike Duggan tonight tore into Marathon Petroleum's proposal to increase certain pollutants at its refinery in southwest Detroit, ultimately threatening a lawsuit against the state if it approves the oil company's plan.
Against the backdrop of the state's slow reaction to the Flint water crisis, Duggan said Marathon's plan, which ultimately would decrease sulfur dioxide in the gasoline it sells, would come at the expense of Detroiters who live near the refining process and the resulting emissions.
"This is indefensible," Duggan said before the standing-room-only crowd at a public hearing at Patton Recreation Center in southwest Detroit. "You cannot raise the pollutant levels on a poor area and the most polluted to benefit everybody else. I believe that's a civil rights violation."
Approving Marathon's plan to increase pollutants in southwest Detroit could be considered a violation of the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause because residents there would be treated differently than elsewhere, said Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, Detroit's corporation counsel. The city could have standing to sue the state in federal court.
Read more: www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/01/28/duggan-threatens-suit-over-marathon-refinery-emissions/79476424/
Mayor Mike Duggan tonight tore into Marathon Petroleum's proposal to increase certain pollutants at its refinery in southwest Detroit, ultimately threatening a lawsuit against the state if it approves the oil company's plan.
Against the backdrop of the state's slow reaction to the Flint water crisis, Duggan said Marathon's plan, which ultimately would decrease sulfur dioxide in the gasoline it sells, would come at the expense of Detroiters who live near the refining process and the resulting emissions.
"This is indefensible," Duggan said before the standing-room-only crowd at a public hearing at Patton Recreation Center in southwest Detroit. "You cannot raise the pollutant levels on a poor area and the most polluted to benefit everybody else. I believe that's a civil rights violation."
Approving Marathon's plan to increase pollutants in southwest Detroit could be considered a violation of the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause because residents there would be treated differently than elsewhere, said Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, Detroit's corporation counsel. The city could have standing to sue the state in federal court.
Read more: www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/01/28/duggan-threatens-suit-over-marathon-refinery-emissions/79476424/