FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room, January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The Trump administration Justice Department is terminating a landmark consent decree established under the Biden administration with Lowndes County, Alabama, over accusations of racially discriminatory sanitation policies, reported The New York Times' Glenn Thrush on Friday.
"DOJ just terminated consent decree with Lowndes County, Alabama to address documented, wrenching disparities in the quality of drinking water and sewer systems for Black and white residents," wrote Thrush on X. "We're talking kids playing in backyard sewage pools, folks."
The situation in Lowndes County, an impoverished, majority-Black area southwest of the state capital of Montgomery, marked a historic intervention by the Justice Department in 2023, one of the first environmental justice agreements of its kind.
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The problems had been going on for years before, as a "60 Minutes" video detailed in 2021. Black residents of the county rarely had connections to a public sewage system, forcing them to rely on septic systems, which failed routinely because of the rough soil conditions. The county, in turn, rather than working to upgrade and connect the sewer to more houses, is accused of alternating between neglecting the health risks and issuing arbitrary criminal penalties against Black homeowners for not fixing issues they could not hope to afford to fix.
“Today starts a new chapter for Black residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who have endured health dangers, indignities and racial injustice for far too long,” former Civil Rights Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke stated at the time the agreement was reached. “Our agreement puts Lowndes County on a path to long overdue reform as the state now takes steps necessary to provide access to basic sanitation services, end exposure to raw sewage and improve health outcomes for marginalized communities. This agreement marks the first environmental justice settlement ever secured by the Justice Department under our civil rights laws.”
Since assuming office, President Donald Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, have sought to aggressively roll back equity and justice policies secured by the Biden administration. In the meantime, Bondi has convened a "weaponization working group" to find pretext to discipline DOJ officials who prosecuted or investigated allies of Trump.