Trump Government Dismisses Biden-Era Sewage Pollution Ruling as 'Illegal DEI'

The Trump administration has killed a landmark civil rights settlement requiring Alabama to address raw sewage pollution in majority-Black, residential areas, dismissing it as an "illegal" diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agreement.

- Tom Perkins

The decision could condemn low-income people in Lowndes County to indefinitely continue living with no or failing sanitation infrastructure.

Throughout recent decades, untreated sewage flowed from some residents' toilets into their yards because the government has not provided sewer infrastructure, and residents could not afford septic systems. Failing septic systems in the region back up during rain, causing raw sewage to surface in yards.

Local officials did not offer assistance, and instead threatened residents who did not install new systems with prosecution or property seizure.

The Biden administration negotiated the settlement with Alabama officials in mid-2023, using federal civil rights rules to resolve an environmental injustice for the first time.