Some notable petrochemical, tobacco and other corporate polluters stand to profit from weakening American democracy and environmental-climate change policy. From 2015 to 2020, 11 corporations, termed by Daniel Faber as “polluter-industrial complex” (Altria/ Phillip Morris, RAI Services/ Reynolds American, Koch Industries, Dominion Energy, American Electric Power, Exelon Corp, Marathon Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, General Motors, and Waste Management) donated $2.8 million to state lawmakers supporting voter suppression bills aided by entrenched conspiracy theories of voter fraud regarding the validity of the 2020 presidential election results.
Despite repeated election audits and judicial reviews discrediting the incidence of voter fraud, rising voter suppression legislation has emerged across the country aimed at black, brown, indigenous, student and some low-income white communities. Accordingly, these communities are disproportionately at risk for environmental harms like air pollution, water contamination, radiation, extreme weather events of climate change resulting in higher economic vulnerabilities and health effects.
Dr. Robert Bullard, often described as the father of environmental justice, states: “America is segregated, and so is pollution. The same racist and undemocratic forces that allow communities of color to be disproportionately poisoned are also implicated in disproportionately suppressing … voters and subverting our democracy.”
Defeat voter suppression! Stand for environmental justice!
Minta Phillips
Julian