Some grassroots environmental organizations have regained access to the millions of dollars they were promised through the Inflation Reduction Act. But now some see an even more menacing threat: prosecution.  The unease has grown as President Donald Trump’s attacks on them and their mission to help disadvantaged communities and curb climate change continues to escalate.  Leaders of these groups say they expect federal agents to start breathing down their necks any day now as Trump seeks to shred the climate initiatives of his predecessor, Joe Biden.  “It’s not a matter of if you will be audited, it’s a matter of when,” said Ashley Shelton, executive director of the Louisiana-based nonprofit The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. ...

Some grassroots environmental organizations have regained access to the millions of dollars they were promised through the Inflation Reduction Act. But now some see an even more menacing threat: prosecution. The unease has grown as President Donald Trump’s attacks on them and their mission to help disadvantaged communities and curb climate change continues to escalate. Leaders of these groups say they expect federal agents to start breathing down their necks any day now as Trump seeks to shred the climate initiatives of his predecessor, Joe Biden. “It’s not a matter of if you will be audited, it’s a matter of when,” said Ashley Shelton, executive director of the Louisiana-based nonprofit The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice....

“Grassroots work, unfortunately, isn’t for the fearful,” says Asti Robins, director of climate justice at the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, a Louisiana-based group of community organizations, which has seen clean energy projects shuttered as federal grants are revoked. The Power Coalition is among a number of groups that raised the spectre of audits as another tool in the Trump arsenal against climate groups, with reports surfacing that groups were being asked to turn over correspondence with the EPA along with the paper trail of how they were spending money, articles of incorporation and policies. There were also worries that the president would target green groups’ tax-exempt status, but as of April the move had not occurred. Beyond the economic attacks, there has been the broader “anti-woke” attack on all things DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – which is also a crucial part of the climate movement today. Environmental justice groups...

When Marcus Jones and his business partner, Akunna Olumba, set out to open a pizzeria in Detroit, they spoke with banks about their green vision: solar panels on the roof, an energy-efficient tankless water heater and a rooftop system to capture storm water. “The lenders thought we were crazy,” Mr. Jones said. Traditional banks were skeptical that such investments would yield a return, and few had ever issued loans for clean energy or efficiency measures. They told the restaurateurs that it simply was not done. Instead, the pair connected with a so-called green bank, one of a growing number of entities that loan money to businesses and individuals for equipment or technology that reduces the pollution driving climate change....

Climate action must be intersectional, writes Ashley Shelton, CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice. by Ashley Shelton in NewsOne This summer has brought no shortage of extreme weather events. July was the hottest-recorded month on Earth, and deadly heat is continuing to threaten millions across the world. We’ve also seen record-breaking storms in the Pacific and Gulf, and flooding harming our nation’s infrastructure. Extreme weather events are becoming the new normal, but Louisiana has lived this climate reality for a long time now, enduring loss and devastation year after year. Growing up in the marshy, humid environment of the Gulf Coast, the place I’ve called home my whole life, it’s devastating to see the people and places we love suffering from drought and fires. Louisiana is used to life-threatening weather events — from hurricanes to extreme flooding and tornadoes — but these new disasters pose another set of risks, especially for Black people. Too often, the...

Barry Keim, Louisiana’s state climatologist, has shared that the location is the most vulnerable in the country, and global boiling is the culprit.  The state’s geographic positioning makes it prone to significant damage from sea level rising, flooding and droughts.  The United States Environmental Protection Agency declared in 2017 that in just a few decades, Louisiana will become hotter and less habitable—soils have already become drier, annual rainfall has increased, more rain arrives in heavy downpours, and sea level is rising, the organization states....

The governor says FEMA has approved a request for a federal grant to help fight wildfires in Beauregard Parish.  Crews are currently working to detain fires in Tiger Island. The request was approved due to the threat fires are posing to lives, homes, property and critical facilities and infrastructure near Merryville and nearby areas, the governor’s office said....

No excerpt...

Competition in the electric utility industry, and more solar, nuclear and wind power, represent the best ways to reduce power costs for customers, according to The Times-Picayune Power Poll. Louisiana historically gives power utilities a monopoly in their geographic markets, but the Public Service Commission is considering competition, which was the No. 1 choice of Power Poll respondents. Here are the weighted rankings:...

Imagine waking up every day to the smell of sulfur dioxide, gas fumes and other foul-smelling chemicals. Even if you don’t live near gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast, you know the air must smell bad. Imagine your children are constantly breathing these chemicals and your elders have among the highest incidence of cancer in the nation. Now imagine that you also hear daily sirens warning of gas leaks and potential catastrophic explosions. What you’ve imagined — this is the reality for Gulf Coast communities....

Few people recognize the trauma that can arise from living through a natural disaster that is worsened by climate change and policy inaction....

June 1 marks the start of hurricane and wildfire season. This is a time when many wait with bated breath, wondering how they will survive another storm even as they have yet to recover from prior weather emergencies. This is the time of year when anxiety kicks into high gear, and when post-traumatic stress disorder can take hold. This is the time of year when one vows to prepare, but limited resources make it impossible to do so....

 At an Ethnic Media Services briefing, June 3, speakers and moderator ­­– Ashley Shelton, Founder, President, and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice (Louisiana); MacKenzie Marcelin, Climate Justice Manager, Florida Rising; Chrishelle Palay, Executive Director of the HOME Coalition in Houston; Daysi Bedolla Sotelo, Senior Strategist for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (California); and Moderator: Jennifer R. Farmer, Principal, Spotlight PR LLC­ – discussed what they are planning for the current season and what they need government at all levels to do....

June 1 marks the start of wildfire and hurricane season. Community activists from Florida to New Jersey, California to Louisiana and Texas, under the banner of Organizing Resilience, for the first time, are working together to pressure elected leaders to address a failed disaster relief system and the PTSD, fear and economic impact that failure has had on their communities. EMS briefing on June 3  discussed what they are planning for the current season and what they need government at all levels to do. Ashley Shelton, Founder, President, and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice (Louisiana) said her state has experienced the double whammy of the coronavirus and hurricanes last year. Her Coalition for Equality and Justice works to provide cash assistance to affected families to help them pay rent, utilities, food and more. In addition, the group is actively pushing for legislation to make insurance companies...

For the past year, Roishetta Ozane has been trying to stop new liquified natural gas, or LNG, export terminals from being built in southwest Louisiana. “We are already inundated with LNG and oil and gas,” said the clean energy organizing director with Healthy Gulf, who lives in the town of Sulphur. “We’re surrounded by it.”...

By Seth Freed Wessler | ProPublica A whistleblower says a plan to build a grain elevator on an old plantation would disrupt important historical sites, including possibly unmarked graves of enslaved people, and that her cultural resource management firm tried to bury her findings....

Earth Day has passed but the need to continue the fight for environmental justice remains. We started our organization, the Descendants Project as a way to advance intergenerational healing and promote the flourishing of the Black descendant community in the Louisiana river parishes. Originally, this work was tied to making sure descendants of enslaved people were included in the cultural and historical tourism industries that are popular in our area. However, when the toxic Greenfield Grain Elevator put its sights on our Wallace community, we realized there was no way to address the other tenants of systemic racism without first liberating ourselves from environmental racism. ...

By Rebecca Santana | AP EDGARD, La. — Descendants of slaves who lived and toiled in southeastern Louisiana won a key ruling Thursday allowing their legal challenge to go forward against a $400 million grain elevator planned along the Mississippi River, although the company behind the project said it would likely appeal....

OPINION: It is imperative that groups seeking to offer humanitarian relief direct funds to grassroots groups who are clNonprofits and churches are always the first, and often the only, to step up and provide basic needs during disasters....

Today, one day after the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I cannot help but reflect as Ida ravishes our state. This storm comes as our region faces the worst impacts of a fourth surge of COVID-19, the Delta variant, exacerbating joblessness, food, and housing insecurity.  I have always been struck by the inhumanity of these storms; they always hit at the end of the month when working class folks are forced to choose between evacuating and paying bills. The utter destruction of all that they have worked to build is cruel, but the storm is the first slight. The rebuilding process is the next, and given the strained supply chain, rebuilding is always more difficult than it looks ....