Maya Permit Violates Federal Civil Rights Law
Gary, IN. – Today, the Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD), represented by the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), re-filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance, asserting that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it renewed the permit for Maya Energy to build and operate a waste processing facility near the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Glen Park and across the street from a K-12 school.
GARD is requesting that EPA order IDEM to revoke the permit and conduct the requisite environmental justice analysis to determine whether the facility should be sited in this Gary community that’s already overburdened with harmful pollution. GARD also requested that IDEM create and implement a permitting policy that complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and incorporates environmental justice concerns into its permitting decisions on an ongoing basis.