theintercept--2020-09-29--Philadelphia Activists on Verge of Historic Win for Public Housing

headquarters for the Philadelphia Housing Authority is hard to miss .
The newly renovated $ 45 million building in North Philadelphia is the newest office on the block , with floor-to-ceiling windows and life-sized blue and green block letters spelling out its acronym .
It sits just across the street from boarded-up buildings and a vacant lot lined with signs that feature messages like , “ Why does PHA ’ s CEO make over $ 300,000 yearly ?
” Ever since protests against police brutality took off across the country in late May , around 100 people have encamped at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a new , $ 52 million development project , distributing free snacks and supplies , as part of a local demonstration calling for broader racial justice : permanent , immediate housing for the city ’ s more than 5,000 homeless residents .
On Saturday , in a historic turn of events , organizers announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with the city and Philadelphia Housing Authority , the $ 371 million agency that manages the city ’ s public housing , to turn 50 properties over to a community land @ @ @ @ @ @ @ camps , including Philadelphia Housing Action , a housing advocacy group .
If implemented , it would be a huge win for housing activists in a city with a long history of organizing for community-owned property .
PHA , for its part , said that protesters ’ announcement of the tentative resolution is “ premature and disappointing , ” saying that it could threaten any agreement at all .
“ Announcement of a deal is entirely premature , ” PHA Executive Vice President of Communications Nichole Tillman said in a statement to The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to negotiate in the media and in the realm of public opinion demonstrates their of lack of sincerity .
Although , we remain hopeful about reaching an amicable resolution on the encampment , this puts any deal in serious jeopardy .
PHA would only accept a deal that would include a date for the camps to be resolved .
The encampment on Ridge Avenue continues to hold the community hostage and is jeopardizing a much-needed and long-awaited community development in the underserved Sharswood community.
” The proposal would provide immediate housing for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ living at the encampment outside the PHA headquarters and another near the city ’ s Benjamin Franklin Parkway since early June .
( Protesters are also occupying a loosely organized site near the Philadelphia Art Museum . )
But , the organizers caution , it lacks a long-term solution for the city ’ s broader houseless population , and it also does little to address the Philadelphia Housing Authority ’ s waitlist , which currently has more than 40,000 people after closing in 2013 due to a major backlog .
“ The whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a house , ” said Sterling Johnson , a camp organizer and local activist with the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative .
“ And we didn ’ t get that .
So , it ’ s alright .
But we ’ re going to continue to fight.
” The protest camps had formed as a way to protect one another from violence individuals experience while living on the street , Johnson said , particularly queer and transgender people .
“ Talk about Black Lives Matter : We ’ re talking about Black disabled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black drug users , we ’ re talking about Black sex workers , and we ’ re talking about Black women.
” “ It ’ s the elderly , we have a lot that ’ s disabled — most of those who are in wheelchairs , who are mentally and severely physically disabled , ” said Irvin Murray , a homeless resident and another organizer leading the encampments .
At the core of protesters ’ s concerns is the Philadelphia Housing Authority , which they say eats up properties , displaces families , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ selling them to developers to take over and transition units into the market .
That ’ s why they demanded community ownership of properties , Johnson said , so people can live freely and safely without being pushed around by PHA police or facing violence while sleeping outside .
“ People are pushed around that are unhoused all the time , ” they said .
“ We ’ re not looking for the most efficient way or the best way to save money .
You need to spend money on people.
” low-income @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going to corporations across the country , and Philadelphia is no different , said Stephanie Sena , professor and Anti-Poverty Fellow at Villanova University Law School who helped organize a lawsuit by protesters seeking to block the city from evicting them last month .
Sena is also the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unity of Philadelphia , an initiative by local students to house people in the city .
PHA “ is one of the biggest gentrifiers in our city , ” she said .
PHA is currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the city ’ s Sharswood neighborhood , including 1,200 new mixed-income units , a sorely needed grocery store , a bank , and other shops , at the site of the Ridge Avenue encampment .
PHA confirmed that some , but not all , units are classified as affordable or low-income .
In order to create the new development , the city seized 1,300 parcels in North Philadelphia in 2015 .
That included 1,000 vacant lots , most of which had no owners , tenants , or businesses occupying them , Tillman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because PHA knew , as soon as the public housing high-rise towers came down , the community would feel the economic pressures from Fairmont , Francisville , North Central ( Temple ) , and Brewerytown .
Having the parcels owned by PHA guarantees preservation of affordable housing .
This strategy was not executed in other areas upon demolition of high rises and the neighborhoods became quickly unaffordable.
” Organizers say that PHA made decisions about the project without truly consulting the community and that many of the properties seized were privately owned or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PHA claims .
They want the housing authority to release control of properties because they ’ ve let them fall into disrepair , said Jennifer Bennetch , an organizer with Philadelphia Housing Action who ’ s been leading the camps .
“ Some of the facts around PHA I think are important , and why we want the properties transferred and just not housing from them .
… They leave their properties to just sit in blight and draw trash and rodents .
And then they used that to seize 1,330 properties in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said , referring to the units taken over for the Sharswood development .
“ And all those properties are all just sitting boarded up now after they moved the homeowners and business owners out.
” PHA disputes protesters ’ claim that the agency has allowed properties to deteriorate for the purpose of selling them to developers and said it ’ s in the business of providing affordable housing , not privatizing buildings .
The agency operates almost entirely on federal funding “ with no state or city dollars provided , ” Tillman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public housing agencies suffer from “ a serious and ongoing underfunding by the federal government , ” which the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates at about a $ 70 billion backlog in necessary funds for maintenance and repair of the nation ’ s public housing units .
The agency has tried to pit the neighborhood ’ s residents against the people living in the camps , claiming that residents “ are significantly impacted by the encampment.
” Protesters say this is their second summer camping in Sharswood , and that PHA does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are a part of .
The agency provides housing for 80,000 low-income Philadelphians with an average income of $ 15,000 , who pay an average monthly rent of $ 370 , according to PHA .
But PHA-administered properties are often still out of reach for the city ’ s poorest residents , Sena said , particularly because you often can not buy an individual property at PHA auctions .
The city agreed earlier this summer to a nine-month moratorium on PHA sales and auctions , part of protesters ’ demands from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ If PHA has like 25 units that it wants to sell , it ’ ll go up in auction .
And PHA bundles them together so that you can not buy a single property , you can only buy all 25 of them together .
What that means is for poor Philadelphians who go to the auction — and there are many who do , who are looking to buy a property — they can ’ t , because they can ’ t afford 25 properties , nor do they want 25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money off of those sales and auctions are big developers , ” she said .
“ It ’ s another way in which PHA housing is being sold to developers instead of the community and people who need it — which is why we ’ re paying taxes for it , to help those people.
” between Occupy PHA and Philadelphia Housing Action on one side , and the city and Philadelphia Housing Authority on the other , came after months of eviction threats by the PHA , with protesters refusing to vacate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , permanent housing amid a looming national eviction crisis made worse by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic .
Organizers with Philadelphia Housing Action have moved more than 50 people , including 13 families , into vacant city properties since March , when shelters were at capacity amid the pandemic .
City officials have said those people won ’ t be evicted , but pending contracts on some properties , some may have to eventually be relocated .
Another local group , the Poor People ’ s Economic Human Rights Campaign , has been moving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 30 years , providing a blueprint for groups leading protest camps .
“ No one would disagree that blighted , empty property is a problem not just throughout Philadelphia , but throughout Rust Belt cities , ” Mayor Jim Kenney ’ s spokesperson Mike Dunn said in a statement to The Intercept .
“ In a City like Philadelphia , with a high poverty population , the resources for redevelopment or even demolition are unequal to the need .
We hope that the protesters and advocates will join us in advocating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide a home for every Philadelphian — so we can end homelessness.
” Dunn said the city ’ s Office of Planning and Development is working to find resources to repair and redevelop housing stock , and pointed to the development of Philadelphia ’ s first housing action plan in 2018 .
Earlier this month , PHA agreed to make up to 300 properties available in the near future for acquisition by nonprofits and community land trusts , and after much back and forth , said they were willing to work with protesters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The city also said PHA and others would use newly available federal funds to create between 900 and 1,400 long-term housing units for people experiencing homelessness , and opened two Covid-19 prevention sites with 260 beds and on-site meals and services for those who are elderly and chronically ill. At least 142 campers so far have accepted emergency and temporary housing , and residential treatment , according to the mayor ’ s office , which includes development of an individualized housing plan .
After negotiations with protesters , the city ’ s Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rehousing program that has enrolled 25 people so far and referred people over the age of 65 and or with chronic health conditions to hotel rooms with services and meals provided as part of the city ’ s Covid-19 Prevention Spaces .
Protesters say the latest negotiations are a start , but that they need more than 50 units of permanent housing , with guarantees that it would be run by the community .
They also say the city still needs a clear plan to provide housing for extremely low-income people in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below the poverty line .
“ We don ’ t have any plan for low-income housing in the city , ” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Kendra Brooks .
“ That ’ s not a thing .
They keep doing mixed-used , mixed-rate properties .
But none of it focuses on low-income housing .
So when we start taking down low-income housing and we don ’ t replace it , where are people supposed to go ?
And that ’ s a reality that we have missed.
” The action at the camps has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homelessness crisis , but “ the housing crisis that we have in the city , ” Brooks said .
“ We can ’ t work on housing and not talk about homelessness at the same time .
I think it ’ s part of the same conversation , and people try to separate it.
” The city ’ s lack of low-income housing or a clear plan to improve it , she said , “ is the problem that gets us to homelessness .
”

The Ridge Avenue headquarters for the Philadelphia Housing Authority is hard to miss. The newly renovated $45 million building in North Philadelphia is the newest office on the block, with floor-to-ceiling windows and life-sized blue and green block letters spelling out its acronym. It sits just across the street from boarded-up buildings and a vacant lot lined with signs that feature messages like, “Why does PHA’s CEO make over $300,000 yearly?” Ever since protests against police brutality took off across the country in late May, around 100 people have encamped at that lot, which is the site of a new, $52 million development project, distributing free snacks and supplies, as part of a local demonstration calling for broader racial justice: permanent, immediate housing for the city’s more than 5,000 homeless residents.
On Saturday, in a historic turn of events, organizers announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with the city and Philadelphia Housing Authority, the $371 million agency that manages the city’s public housing, to turn 50 properties over to a community land trust administered by groups leading the protest camps, including Philadelphia Housing Action, a housing advocacy group. If implemented, it would be a huge win for housing activists in a city with a long history of organizing for community-owned property.
PHA, for its part, said that protesters’ announcement of the tentative resolution is “premature and disappointing,” saying that it could threaten any agreement at all.
“Announcement of a deal is entirely premature,” PHA Executive Vice President of Communications Nichole Tillman said in a statement to The Intercept. “The encampment leaders continuing to negotiate in the media and in the realm of public opinion demonstrates their of lack of sincerity. Although, we remain hopeful about reaching an amicable resolution on the encampment, this puts any deal in serious jeopardy. PHA would only accept a deal that would include a date for the camps to be resolved. The encampment on Ridge Avenue continues to hold the community hostage and is jeopardizing a much-needed and long-awaited community development in the underserved Sharswood community.”
Activists and volunteers gather at a homeless encampment at Ridge Avenue and Jefferson Street in North Philadelphia on Aug. 18, 2020. Photo: Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
The proposal would provide immediate housing for the 120 or so people who have been living at the encampment outside the PHA headquarters and another near the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway since early June. (Protesters are also occupying a loosely organized site near the Philadelphia Art Museum.) But, the organizers caution, it lacks a long-term solution for the city’s broader houseless population, and it also does little to address the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s waitlist, which currently has more than 40,000 people after closing in 2013 due to a major backlog.
“The whole point was to make sure everybody had a house,” said Sterling Johnson, a camp organizer and local activist with the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative. “And we didn’t get that. So, it’s alright. But we’re going to continue to fight.”
They demanded community ownership of properties, so people can live freely and safely without being pushed around by PHA police or facing violence while sleeping outside.
The protest camps had formed as a way to protect one another from violence individuals experience while living on the street, Johnson said, particularly queer and transgender people. “Talk about Black Lives Matter: We’re talking about Black disabled people, we’re talking about Black drug users, we’re talking about Black sex workers, and we’re talking about Black women.”
“It’s the elderly, we have a lot that’s disabled — most of those who are in wheelchairs, who are mentally and severely physically disabled,” said Irvin Murray, a homeless resident and another organizer leading the encampments.
At the core of protesters’s concerns is the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which they say eats up properties, displaces families, and leaves homes to sit empty before selling them to developers to take over and transition units into the market. That’s why they demanded community ownership of properties, Johnson said, so people can live freely and safely without being pushed around by PHA police or facing violence while sleeping outside. “People are pushed around that are unhoused all the time,” they said. “We’re not looking for the most efficient way or the best way to save money. You need to spend money on people.”
Photo: Akela Lacy/The Intercept
Properties designed for low-income people and paid for with tax dollars are going to corporations across the country, and Philadelphia is no different, said Stephanie Sena, professor and Anti-Poverty Fellow at Villanova University Law School who helped organize a lawsuit by protesters seeking to block the city from evicting them last month. Sena is also the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unity of Philadelphia, an initiative by local students to house people in the city. PHA “is one of the biggest gentrifiers in our city,” she said.
PHA is currently undertaking a $52 million revitalization plan in the city’s Sharswood neighborhood, including 1,200 new mixed-income units, a sorely needed grocery store, a bank, and other shops, at the site of the Ridge Avenue encampment. PHA confirmed that some, but not all, units are classified as affordable or low-income.
In order to create the new development, the city seized 1,300 parcels in North Philadelphia in 2015. That included 1,000 vacant lots, most of which had no owners, tenants, or businesses occupying them, Tillman said. “The parcels were acquired because PHA knew, as soon as the public housing high-rise towers came down, the community would feel the economic pressures from Fairmont, Francisville, North Central (Temple), and Brewerytown. Having the parcels owned by PHA guarantees preservation of affordable housing. This strategy was not executed in other areas upon demolition of high rises and the neighborhoods became quickly unaffordable.”
Organizers say that PHA made decisions about the project without truly consulting the community and that many of the properties seized were privately owned or occupied by businesses, not vacant as PHA claims. They want the housing authority to release control of properties because they’ve let them fall into disrepair, said Jennifer Bennetch, an organizer with Philadelphia Housing Action who’s been leading the camps. “Some of the facts around PHA I think are important, and why we want the properties transferred and just not housing from them. … They leave their properties to just sit in blight and draw trash and rodents. And then they used that to seize 1,330 properties in North Philly back in 2015,” she said, referring to the units taken over for the Sharswood development. “And all those properties are all just sitting boarded up now after they moved the homeowners and business owners out.”
“For poor Philadelphians who go to the auction … they can’t afford 25 properties, nor do they want 25 properties. So the people who make money off of those sales and auctions are big developers.”
PHA disputes protesters’ claim that the agency has allowed properties to deteriorate for the purpose of selling them to developers and said it’s in the business of providing affordable housing, not privatizing buildings. The agency operates almost entirely on federal funding “with no state or city dollars provided,” Tillman said. Nationwide, Tillman said, public housing agencies suffer from “a serious and ongoing underfunding by the federal government,” which the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates at about a $70 billion backlog in necessary funds for maintenance and repair of the nation’s public housing units. The agency has tried to pit the neighborhood’s residents against the people living in the camps, claiming that residents “are significantly impacted by the encampment.” Protesters say this is their second summer camping in Sharswood, and that PHA does not speak for the community, which they are a part of.
The agency provides housing for 80,000 low-income Philadelphians with an average income of $15,000, who pay an average monthly rent of $370, according to PHA. But PHA-administered properties are often still out of reach for the city’s poorest residents, Sena said, particularly because you often cannot buy an individual property at PHA auctions. The city agreed earlier this summer to a nine-month moratorium on PHA sales and auctions, part of protesters’ demands from the first iteration of camps last summer. “If PHA has like 25 units that it wants to sell, it’ll go up in auction. And PHA bundles them together so that you cannot buy a single property, you can only buy all 25 of them together. What that means is for poor Philadelphians who go to the auction — and there are many who do, who are looking to buy a property — they can’t, because they can’t afford 25 properties, nor do they want 25 properties. So the people who make money off of those sales and auctions are big developers,” she said. “It’s another way in which PHA housing is being sold to developers instead of the community and people who need it — which is why we’re paying taxes for it, to help those people.”
Demonstrators block the entrance to the Municipal Court during a protest against evictions in Philadelphia on Sept. 3, 2020. Photo: Rachel Wisniewksi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The tentative agreement between Occupy PHA and Philadelphia Housing Action on one side, and the city and Philadelphia Housing Authority on the other, came after months of eviction threats by the PHA, with protesters refusing to vacate until the city provided them with immediate, permanent housing amid a looming national eviction crisis made worse by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Organizers with Philadelphia Housing Action have moved more than 50 people, including 13 families, into vacant city properties since March, when shelters were at capacity amid the pandemic. City officials have said those people won’t be evicted, but pending contracts on some properties, some may have to eventually be relocated. Another local group, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, has been moving families into vacant and abandoned homes for more than 30 years, providing a blueprint for groups leading protest camps.
“No one would disagree that blighted, empty property is a problem not just throughout Philadelphia, but throughout Rust Belt cities,” Mayor Jim Kenney’s spokesperson Mike Dunn said in a statement to The Intercept. “In a City like Philadelphia, with a high poverty population, the resources for redevelopment or even demolition are unequal to the need. We hope that the protesters and advocates will join us in advocating to get the federal funds needed to provide a home for every Philadelphian — so we can end homelessness.” Dunn said the city’s Office of Planning and Development is working to find resources to repair and redevelop housing stock, and pointed to the development of Philadelphia’s first housing action plan in 2018.
“We can’t work on housing and not talk about homelessness at the same time.”
Earlier this month, PHA agreed to make up to 300 properties available in the near future for acquisition by nonprofits and community land trusts, and after much back and forth, said they were willing to work with protesters to help establish their own trust. The city also said PHA and others would use newly available federal funds to create between 900 and 1,400 long-term housing units for people experiencing homelessness, and opened two Covid-19 prevention sites with 260 beds and on-site meals and services for those who are elderly and chronically ill. At least 142 campers so far have accepted emergency and temporary housing, and residential treatment, according to the mayor’s office, which includes development of an individualized housing plan. After negotiations with protesters, the city’s Office of Homeless Services also launched a rapid rehousing program that has enrolled 25 people so far and referred people over the age of 65 and or with chronic health conditions to hotel rooms with services and meals provided as part of the city’s Covid-19 Prevention Spaces.
Protesters say the latest negotiations are a start, but that they need more than 50 units of permanent housing, with guarantees that it would be run by the community. They also say the city still needs a clear plan to provide housing for extremely low-income people in a city where a quarter of families live below the poverty line.
“We don’t have any plan for low-income housing in the city,” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. “That’s not a thing. They keep doing mixed-used, mixed-rate properties. But none of it focuses on low-income housing. So when we start taking down low-income housing and we don’t replace it, where are people supposed to go? And that’s a reality that we have missed.”
The action at the camps has shined a light on not just the homelessness crisis, but “the housing crisis that we have in the city,” Brooks said. “We can’t work on housing and not talk about homelessness at the same time. I think it’s part of the same conversation, and people try to separate it.” The city’s lack of low-income housing or a clear plan to improve it, she said, “is the problem that gets us to homelessness.”
Update: Oct. 6, 2020
On Monday, October 5, encampment leaders and PHA came to an official agreement to clear the camp across from agency headquarters, as well as to move forward with the creation of a community land trust for permanent low-income housing. Residents of the camp vacated the site Monday, according to a PHA press release, and the city says it will begin planned construction of the mixed-use Sharswood development. The agreement does not include plans to disband the Parkway camp, but Mayor Jim Kenney said he hoped it would lead to a resolution there too, according to PHA.


theintercept--2020-09-29--Did the White House Stop the EPA From Regulating PFAS?

linked to cancer , reproductive and developmental harm , liver problems , and immune dysfunction .
They stay in the body for years — and persist in the environment indefinitely .
And they ’ ve contaminated thousands of sites around the country , including hundreds where the military used firefighting foam laced with the chemicals .
Yet somehow the industrial compounds PFOS and PFOA — part of a family of chemicals called PFAS — are not hazardous , according to the Trump administration .
Trump ’ s Environmental Protection Agency promised to designate the two chemicals as hazardous substances more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ completed its work on the policy change in September of last year , according to agency insiders .
But the proposed change to the law , which would help hold polluters liable for billions of dollars of costs of cleaning up the toxic chemicals , has stalled at the White House .
At a summit on the PFAS chemicals held on May 22 , 2018 , EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt pledged that the agency would designate PFOS and PFOA as “ hazardous substances.
” While seemingly a mere technical tweak , the change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which were used for nonstick coatings and in firefighting foam and have contaminated industrial areas and military sites , would help “ to get accountability , ” as Pruitt noted at the time .
Pruitt also said that the EPA would develop toxicity values for two other PFAS chemicals , GenX and PFBS , which were introduced as sustainable substitutes for PFOA and PFOS , respectively , but have since also been found to have contaminated water around the country and present many of the same health dangers as the chemicals they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and PFBS values , a critical step toward regulating the chemicals , was already underway and “ should be done by December of this year , ” Pruitt said back in 2018 .
While Pruitt resigned amid a swirl of ethical scandals three months after speaking at the summit , both commitments made it into the PFAS Action Plan , which the agency issued in February 2019 under the leadership of Pruitt ’ s successor , Andrew Wheeler .
At the time of the plan ’ s release , the agency said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ development process for listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances.
” Wheeler described the 72-page document as “ the most comprehensive cross-agency plan it has ever undertaken to address a chemical , ” according to a CNN report , which explained that action items were “ expected to take months to implement.
” Yet almost two years later , the Trump administration has not finalized the hazardous substances designation for PFOA and PFOS , released the toxicity standards for the two chemicals , or taken several other steps promised in what it continues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address PFAS pollution .
“ This administration hasn ’ t taken a single action to reduce the ongoing emissions of PFAS , to clean up legacy PFAS pollution or any take any meaningful action to require water utilities to take PFAS out of the drinking water , ” said Scott Faber , senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group .
“ The PFAS Action Plan was just a plan to plan.
” Asked about the delayed action on PFAS , a spokesperson for the EPA referred me to statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he delivered at the American Enterprise Institute last week .
“ The PFAS family of chemicals have been around since at least the 1950s and no administration ever took them on , ” Wheeler said to the audience at the right-wing think tank .
“ In 2019 EPA took the historic step of creating a PFAS Action Plan that uses all our program offices to deal with this emerging chemical of concern.
” While several policy promises remain unfulfilled , some of the work necessary to make those changes was completed long ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jim Woolford , who was director of the EPA ’ s superfund program from 2006 until retiring in April , said that he and his colleagues began work on the rule that would have designated PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances in the late spring of 2019 .
“ I can ’ t tell you how many hours my staff put into that , ” said Woolford , who described several months of late nights during which his team pulled together scientific research that provided the justification for the hazard designation and coordinated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ After several rounds of edits , his team handed in their final draft of the proposed regulation in September 2019 .
“ Then it just sat there , ” said Woolford .
While the Trump EPA has openly expressed its derision for climate protections , the agency has fashioned itself as aggressively leading the fight for PFAS-polluted communities across the country .
Yet even as the Trump administration is racing to finish some of its work in other areas , it is slow-walking promised changes to clean up PFAS contamination , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as hazardous substances is a central focus of their criticism because it would be hugely consequential for polluted communities that have been unable to get polluters to pay to clean up the chemicals left behind from firefighting foam and industrial processes .
If a chemical is deemed hazardous , its discovery automatically triggers an investigation and possible cleanup .
Despite the fact that PFAS have been shown to persist indefinitely in nature and to cause multiple diseases , including cancer , PFAS still lack the designation , which gives agencies discretion over whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Critically , the hazardous substance designation would permit polluted communities to sue for cleanup costs .
In Oscoda , Michigan , near the Wurtsmith Air Force Base , PFOS-laden foam floats on lakes , and the fish are too contaminated to eat .
Yet the Air Force has argued that , because the chemical isn ’ t officially a hazardous substance , “ the federal government is immune ” from a state law that would have required them to clean up the highly polluted base to the state ’ s legal standard .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , ” said Anthony Spaniola , an attorney and activist with Need Our Water in Oscoda .
While Spaniola waits for the EPA to make good on its pledge to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous , he has been trying to devise other strategies to compel the military to clean up the pollution .
“ But even when the Air Force treats you like dirt , suing them is really difficult , ” he said .
“ And every time we think we find a new legal avenue , it always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We just can ’ t get past it.
” The military has pointed to the fact that PFAS aren ’ t yet officially hazardous in justifying their decisions not to clean up the chemicals in other recent cases .
In New Mexico , the Air Force challenged a state permit that defined PFAS as hazardous substances last year .
And the Air Force defended its decision not to clean up PFAS pollution that was beyond the boundaries of three bases in Georgia because the chemicals aren ’ t regulated .
Asked about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Georgia , Air Force spokesperson Mark Kinkade emailed a statement that said , in part , “ The Air Force is part of the communities where we serve , and we share community concerns about this issue .
The Air Force has aggressively tackled PFOS/PFOA contamination of drinking water , and will continue to take action to protect drinking water.
” While the statement acknowledged that the Air Force has already begun to address the releases of PFOS and PFOA “ attributable to Air Force mission related activities , ” it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet in the part of the process when determinations are made concerning risk and the need for and standards to be used for cleanup .
Consequently no decisions concerning cleanup have yet been made .
We recognize people have many concerns about potential contamination , and we will continue to partner in good faith with local communities , state regulatory authorities , federal interagency partners , and Congress to address unacceptable risks posed by PFOS/PFOA.
” Kinkade ’ s statement also noted that “ the Air Force looks to the Department of Defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be used as potential cleanup levels.
” A statement from the Department of Defense in response to questions for this story said , “ DoD has taken action to quickly address PFOS and PFOA in drinking water from DoD activities .
No one is drinking water above the Environmental Protection Agency ’ s lifetime health advisory level where DoD is the purveyor of the water .
DOD continues to work closely with the EPA and other partners to gain a better understanding of PFAS , including support for EPA establishing objective , science-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law.
” The Navy has taken a similar tack in Horsham , Pennsylvania , where it halted the removal of contaminated soil from the former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove in June 2019 .
“ There is no requirement to take the soil out , ” Gregory Preston , director of the Navy ’ s Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission ’ s Program Management Office East , said by way of explaining the decision .
“ There are no limits , there are no regulations.
” Two suits filed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Pennsylvania whose water was contaminated by PFAS-containing firefighting foam were dismissed in January because the chemicals aren ’ t officially considered hazardous .
The Navy pays when PFOA and PFOS are present in drinking water at levels above 70 parts per trillion — a nonbinding health advisory level the EPA set in 2016 .
But even though many experts feel that level is not low enough to protect health , the Navy and other branches of the military won ’ t pay for providing clean water when there is contamination that doesn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ districts that do remove lower levels of the chemicals are often left shouldering the burden of those costs .
“ In this community alone , the townships went out of pocket $ 15 million , ” said Mark Cuker , an attorney who represented one of the families who sued the military over the contamination near the Pennsylvania base .
Dozens of private well owners also had contamination that fell below the federal cutoff .
“ If it were a hazardous substance , they could have forced the Navy to provide bottled water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their well , or connect them to public water , ” said Cuker .
Instead , part of the cost of addressing the water contamination was covered by a $ 10 million grant from the state — a solution Cuker said let the Navy off the hook .
“ Why are the Pennsylvania taxpayers having to subsidize the cleanup of pollution that the Navy put into our community ?
” he asked .
A spokesperson for the Navy referred The Intercept to the Department of Defense response .
The thousands of sites polluted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of billions of dollars to clean up , according to experts .
And the massive liability at stake both for the military and the chemical manufacturers is likely at the root of the failure to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances , said the Environmental Working Group ’ s Faber .
“ No one believes PFAS pollution is something that should remain in our soil and water , ” said Faber .
“ The only dispute is over who should pay for it .
Should it be the companies that knowingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades ?
Or should it solely be the taxpayers ?
” Meanwhile , residents of contaminated communities across the country have expressed feeling powerless over polluters , and the companies that stand to lose if the change is finalized have the administration ’ s ear , according to Faber .
“ I ’ m confident that many of the industries who helped create the PFAS contamination crisis are also big donors to the campaign to reelect Donald Trump , ” he said .
Although corporations are barred from contributing to federal candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies liable for pollution is clearly of great interest to many large and influential corporations .
3M , DuPont , Chemours , and Daikin Industries were among the chemical manufacturers that lobbied on the PFAS Action Act , which was introduced in the House in 2019 and passed in January 2020 .
The bill calls for making PFOS and PFOA hazardous substances along with other steps to regulate the chemicals .
While there are questions about whether chemical manufacturers may dodge liability for PFAS pollution by using an exemption to the Superfund law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies are likely to find themselves on the hook for cleanup costs if PFOA and PFOS are deemed hazardous .
Oil companies , which have used firefighting foam to put out fires at refineries and rigs , may also face costly suits .
Royal Dutch Shell , Phillips 66 , BP , Exxon Mobil , and the American Petroleum Institute were among dozens of companies and trade associations that lobbied on the bill .
The EPA hasn ’ t officially backed away from its plan for the hazardous designation , but in January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the PFAS Action Act , saying that it “ would create considerable litigation risk , set problematic and unreasonable rulemaking timelines and precedents , and impose substantial , unwarranted costs on Federal , State , and local agencies and other key stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.
” Some of the resistance in taking steps to regulate PFAS comes from the Department of Defense , according to Betsy Southerland , who worked at the EPA for 30 years and most recently served as director of science and technology in the Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of industry influence over the agency in 2017 .
The Defense Department reacted badly to the EPA ’ s release of a drinking water health advisory for PFOA and PFOS in 2016 , according to Southerland , who oversaw the work on the health advisory .
“ DOD knew they had all this contamination , so they were furious , ” she said .
According to Southerland , those tensions influenced guidance for the cleanup of groundwater near contaminated sites , which the EPA committed to at the 2018 summit .
Such guidance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ values to guide monitoring and standard cleanup as well as a third higher emergency threshold , which allows the EPA to immediately step in to protect people from dangerous drinking water .
But the groundwater guidance the EPA released at the end of 2019 didn ’ t include the crucial number that would allow the agency to take emergency action .
While it has issued a provisional toxicity value for PFBS to be used at Superfund sites , the EPA has yet to finalize the assessments of PFBS and GenX , which it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House Office of Management and Budget in November 2018 .
The delay sets back the process of setting binding limits on the chemicals under the Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water Act , which are built on these toxicity values .
Emily Donovan , who lives in Wilmington , North Carolina , where drinking water is polluted with GenX , has been eagerly anticipating those numbers for years .
While she has been waiting , scientists have identified four other PFAS compounds from the same local plant that have been found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the blood of people who drink that water .
While the EPA hasn ’ t finalized the GenX value , it has yet to even announce plans to assess the toxicity of these newer compounds , which has infuriated Donovan .
“ We are continually seeing our neighbors get sick and the EPA can ’ t even figure out if the four new compounds in our blood in North Carolina are harmful , ” said Donovan , who dismissed the commitments made in the EPA ’ s action plan as “ propaganda.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ finalizing the GenX and PFBS standards can be explained by additional scientific requirements the Trump administration has imposed on them , said Southerland .
Even though the draft values had undergone extensive peer review before they were issued in November 2018 , the Trump administration sent them “ back to the National Toxicology Program to make sure the studies were appropriate , ” Southerland said .
“ They ’ re looking for opportunities where they can challenge the scientific underpinnings.
” The treatment of the draft assessments was in keeping with the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chemicals , according to Southerland .
“ It ’ s just been a struggle to get anything done on PFAS because [ the Office of Management and Budget ] always tries to see if there ’ s a way to challenge the science , ” she said .
Asked about the delays , a spokesperson for OMB emailed the following statement : “ Your question demonstrates your lack of understanding of the interagency review process .
OMB facilitates interagency review .
Nothing is being ‘ held up ’ and the Administration is executing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agencies than just EPA .
Your view is also likely too narrow.
” The glacial pace at which the EPA is evaluating the toxicity of just these two chemicals bodes poorly for its ability to evaluate the more than 600 other PFAS compounds that are in active use , Southerland said .
“ At that rate , it ’ ll take us generations to do them all , ” she said .
“ If that ’ s the aggressive PFAS action plan that Wheeler touts all the time , then , wow .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @

The chemicals are linked to cancer, reproductive and developmental harm, liver problems, and immune dysfunction. They stay in the body for years — and persist in the environment indefinitely. And they’ve contaminated thousands of sites around the country, including hundreds where the military used firefighting foam laced with the chemicals. Yet somehow the industrial compounds PFOS and PFOA — part of a family of chemicals called PFAS — are not hazardous, according to the Trump administration.
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency promised to designate the two chemicals as hazardous substances more than two years ago. And staff completed its work on the policy change in September of last year, according to agency insiders. But the proposed change to the law, which would help hold polluters liable for billions of dollars of costs of cleaning up the toxic chemicals, has stalled at the White House.
At a summit on the PFAS chemicals held on May 22, 2018, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt pledged that the agency would designate PFOS and PFOA as “hazardous substances.” While seemingly a mere technical tweak, the change in the official categorization of the chemicals, which were used for nonstick coatings and in firefighting foam and have contaminated industrial areas and military sites, would help “to get accountability,” as Pruitt noted at the time.
“The PFAS Action Plan was just a plan to plan.”
Pruitt also said that the EPA would develop toxicity values for two other PFAS chemicals, GenX and PFBS, which were introduced as sustainable substitutes for PFOA and PFOS, respectively, but have since also been found to have contaminated water around the country and present many of the same health dangers as the chemicals they replaced. The development of the GenX and PFBS values, a critical step toward regulating the chemicals, was already underway and “should be done by December of this year,” Pruitt said back in 2018.
While Pruitt resigned amid a swirl of ethical scandals three months after speaking at the summit, both commitments made it into the PFAS Action Plan, which the agency issued in February 2019 under the leadership of Pruitt’s successor, Andrew Wheeler. At the time of the plan’s release, the agency said that “EPA has already begun the regulatory development process for listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances.” Wheeler described the 72-page document as “the most comprehensive cross-agency plan it has ever undertaken to address a chemical,” according to a CNN report, which explained that action items were “expected to take months to implement.”
Yet almost two years later, the Trump administration has not finalized the hazardous substances designation for PFOA and PFOS, released the toxicity standards for the two chemicals, or taken several other steps promised in what it continues to tout as an aggressive plan to address PFAS pollution.
“This administration hasn’t taken a single action to reduce the ongoing emissions of PFAS, to clean up legacy PFAS pollution or any take any meaningful action to require water utilities to take PFAS out of the drinking water,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. “The PFAS Action Plan was just a plan to plan.”
Asked about the delayed action on PFAS, a spokesperson for the EPA referred me to statements EPA administrator Wheeler made in a speech he delivered at the American Enterprise Institute last week. “The PFAS family of chemicals have been around since at least the 1950s and no administration ever took them on,” Wheeler said to the audience at the right-wing think tank. “In 2019 EPA took the historic step of creating a PFAS Action Plan that uses all our program offices to deal with this emerging chemical of concern.”
While several policy promises remain unfulfilled, some of the work necessary to make those changes was completed long ago, according former EPA staff members.
Jim Woolford, who was director of the EPA’s superfund program from 2006 until retiring in April, said that he and his colleagues began work on the rule that would have designated PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances in the late spring of 2019. “I can’t tell you how many hours my staff put into that,” said Woolford, who described several months of late nights during which his team pulled together scientific research that provided the justification for the hazard designation and coordinated with other offices within the EPA. After several rounds of edits, his team handed in their final draft of the proposed regulation in September 2019.
“Then it just sat there,” said Woolford.
Aggressive Delays
While the Trump EPA has openly expressed its derision for climate protections, the agency has fashioned itself as aggressively leading the fight for PFAS-polluted communities across the country. Yet even as the Trump administration is racing to finish some of its work in other areas, it is slow-walking promised changes to clean up PFAS contamination, according to environmental advocates.
The designation of PFAS as hazardous substances is a central focus of their criticism because it would be hugely consequential for polluted communities that have been unable to get polluters to pay to clean up the chemicals left behind from firefighting foam and industrial processes. If a chemical is deemed hazardous, its discovery automatically triggers an investigation and possible cleanup. Despite the fact that PFAS have been shown to persist indefinitely in nature and to cause multiple diseases, including cancer, PFAS still lack the designation, which gives agencies discretion over whether or not to clean them up. Critically, the hazardous substance designation would permit polluted communities to sue for cleanup costs.
In Oscoda, Michigan, near the Wurtsmith Air Force Base, PFOS-laden foam floats on lakes, and the fish are too contaminated to eat. Yet the Air Force has argued that, because the chemical isn’t officially a hazardous substance, “the federal government is immune” from a state law that would have required them to clean up the highly polluted base to the state’s legal standard.
“DOD will just not comply with it,” said Anthony Spaniola, an attorney and activist with Need Our Water in Oscoda. While Spaniola waits for the EPA to make good on its pledge to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous, he has been trying to devise other strategies to compel the military to clean up the pollution. “But even when the Air Force treats you like dirt, suing them is really difficult,” he said. “And every time we think we find a new legal avenue, it always leads back to the hazardous substances designation. We just can’t get past it.”
Read our complete coverage Bad Chemistry
The military has pointed to the fact that PFAS aren’t yet officially hazardous in justifying their decisions not to clean up the chemicals in other recent cases. In New Mexico, the Air Force challenged a state permit that defined PFAS as hazardous substances last year. And the Air Force defended its decision not to clean up PFAS pollution that was beyond the boundaries of three bases in Georgia because the chemicals aren’t regulated.
Asked about the pollution in Michigan, New Mexico, and Georgia, Air Force spokesperson Mark Kinkade emailed a statement that said, in part, “The Air Force is part of the communities where we serve, and we share community concerns about this issue. The Air Force has aggressively tackled PFOS/PFOA contamination of drinking water, and will continue to take action to protect drinking water.”
While the statement acknowledged that the Air Force has already begun to address the releases of PFOS and PFOA “attributable to Air Force mission related activities,” it pointed out, “We are not yet in the part of the process when determinations are made concerning risk and the need for and standards to be used for cleanup. Consequently no decisions concerning cleanup have yet been made. We recognize people have many concerns about potential contamination, and we will continue to partner in good faith with local communities, state regulatory authorities, federal interagency partners, and Congress to address unacceptable risks posed by PFOS/PFOA.”
Kinkade’s statement also noted that “the Air Force looks to the Department of Defense to determine if the standards are to be used as potential cleanup levels.”
A statement from the Department of Defense in response to questions for this story said, “DoD has taken action to quickly address PFOS and PFOA in drinking water from DoD activities. No one is drinking water above the Environmental Protection Agency’s lifetime health advisory level where DoD is the purveyor of the water. DOD continues to work closely with the EPA and other partners to gain a better understanding of PFAS, including support for EPA establishing objective, science-based regulatory standards under the federal clean up law.”
Part of a filtration system designed to filter out PFAS from the drinking water supply in Horsham, Pa., on Aug. 22, 2019. Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Navy has taken a similar tack in Horsham, Pennsylvania, where it halted the removal of contaminated soil from the former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove in June 2019. “There is no requirement to take the soil out,” Gregory Preston, director of the Navy’s Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission’s Program Management Office East, said by way of explaining the decision. “There are no limits, there are no regulations.”
Two suits filed by families living near the same base in Pennsylvania whose water was contaminated by PFAS-containing firefighting foam were dismissed in January because the chemicals aren’t officially considered hazardous. The Navy pays when PFOA and PFOS are present in drinking water at levels above 70 parts per trillion — a nonbinding health advisory level the EPA set in 2016. But even though many experts feel that level is not low enough to protect health, the Navy and other branches of the military won’t pay for providing clean water when there is contamination that doesn’t meet that threshold. Some districts that do remove lower levels of the chemicals are often left shouldering the burden of those costs.
“In this community alone, the townships went out of pocket $15 million,” said Mark Cuker, an attorney who represented one of the families who sued the military over the contamination near the Pennsylvania base.
Dozens of private well owners also had contamination that fell below the federal cutoff. “If it were a hazardous substance, they could have forced the Navy to provide bottled water, pay for a filtration system on their well, or connect them to public water,” said Cuker. Instead, part of the cost of addressing the water contamination was covered by a $10 million grant from the state — a solution Cuker said let the Navy off the hook.
“Why are the Pennsylvania taxpayers having to subsidize the cleanup of pollution that the Navy put into our community?” he asked.
A spokesperson for the Navy referred The Intercept to the Department of Defense response.
Tens of Billions at Stake
The thousands of sites polluted by military and industrial activity will cost tens of billions of dollars to clean up, according to experts. And the massive liability at stake both for the military and the chemical manufacturers is likely at the root of the failure to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances, said the Environmental Working Group’s Faber.
“No one believes PFAS pollution is something that should remain in our soil and water,” said Faber. “The only dispute is over who should pay for it. Should it be the companies that knowingly and secretly contaminated our water and soil for decades? Or should it solely be the taxpayers?”
Meanwhile, residents of contaminated communities across the country have expressed feeling powerless over polluters, and the companies that stand to lose if the change is finalized have the administration’s ear, according to Faber. “I’m confident that many of the industries who helped create the PFAS contamination crisis are also big donors to the campaign to reelect Donald Trump,” he said.
Although corporations are barred from contributing to federal candidates’ campaigns, the idea of holding companies liable for pollution is clearly of great interest to many large and influential corporations. 3M, DuPont, Chemours, and Daikin Industries were among the chemical manufacturers that lobbied on the PFAS Action Act, which was introduced in the House in 2019 and passed in January 2020. The bill calls for making PFOS and PFOA hazardous substances along with other steps to regulate the chemicals.
“No one believes PFAS pollution is something that should remain in our soil and water. The only dispute is over who should pay for it.”
While there are questions about whether chemical manufacturers may dodge liability for PFAS pollution by using an exemption to the Superfund law for manufacturers of useful products, other companies are likely to find themselves on the hook for cleanup costs if PFOA and PFOS are deemed hazardous. Oil companies, which have used firefighting foam to put out fires at refineries and rigs, may also face costly suits. Royal Dutch Shell, Phillips 66, BP, Exxon Mobil, and the American Petroleum Institute were among dozens of companies and trade associations that lobbied on the bill.
The EPA hasn’t officially backed away from its plan for the hazardous designation, but in January, the White House weighed in against the PFAS Action Act, saying that it “would create considerable litigation risk, set problematic and unreasonable rulemaking timelines and precedents, and impose substantial, unwarranted costs on Federal, State, and local agencies and other key stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.”
Some of the resistance in taking steps to regulate PFAS comes from the Department of Defense, according to Betsy Southerland, who worked at the EPA for 30 years and most recently served as director of science and technology in the Office of Water. Southerland resigned in protest of industry influence over the agency in 2017. The Defense Department reacted badly to the EPA’s release of a drinking water health advisory for PFOA and PFOS in 2016, according to Southerland, who oversaw the work on the health advisory. “DOD knew they had all this contamination, so they were furious,” she said.
According to Southerland, those tensions influenced guidance for the cleanup of groundwater near contaminated sites, which the EPA committed to at the 2018 summit. Such guidance typically includes three numbers — two lower values to guide monitoring and standard cleanup as well as a third higher emergency threshold, which allows the EPA to immediately step in to protect people from dangerous drinking water. But the groundwater guidance the EPA released at the end of 2019 didn’t include the crucial number that would allow the agency to take emergency action.
“When I saw that,” Southerland said, “I thought: DOD won.”
Regulatory Foot-Dragging
While it has issued a provisional toxicity value for PFBS to be used at Superfund sites, the EPA has yet to finalize the assessments of PFBS and GenX, which it released in draft form and shared with the White House Office of Management and Budget in November 2018. The delay sets back the process of setting binding limits on the chemicals under the Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water Act, which are built on these toxicity values.
Emily Donovan, who lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, where drinking water is polluted with GenX, has been eagerly anticipating those numbers for years. While she has been waiting, scientists have identified four other PFAS compounds from the same local plant that have been found both in the local drinking water and in the blood of people who drink that water. While the EPA hasn’t finalized the GenX value, it has yet to even announce plans to assess the toxicity of these newer compounds, which has infuriated Donovan. “We are continually seeing our neighbors get sick and the EPA can’t even figure out if the four new compounds in our blood in North Carolina are harmful,” said Donovan, who dismissed the commitments made in the EPA’s action plan as “propaganda.”
Part of the two-year delay in finalizing the GenX and PFBS standards can be explained by additional scientific requirements the Trump administration has imposed on them, said Southerland.
Even though the draft values had undergone extensive peer review before they were issued in November 2018, the Trump administration sent them “back to the National Toxicology Program to make sure the studies were appropriate,” Southerland said. “They’re looking for opportunities where they can challenge the scientific underpinnings.”
The treatment of the draft assessments was in keeping with the Trump administration’s foot-dragging approach to the chemicals, according to Southerland. “It’s just been a struggle to get anything done on PFAS because [the Office of Management and Budget] always tries to see if there’s a way to challenge the science,” she said.
Asked about the delays, a spokesperson for OMB emailed the following statement: “Your question demonstrates your lack of understanding of the interagency review process. OMB facilitates interagency review. Nothing is being ‘held up’ and the Administration is executing on its PFAS plans across many more agencies than just EPA. Your view is also likely too narrow.”
The glacial pace at which the EPA is evaluating the toxicity of just these two chemicals bodes poorly for its ability to evaluate the more than 600 other PFAS compounds that are in active use, Southerland said. “At that rate, it’ll take us generations to do them all,” she said. “If that’s the aggressive PFAS action plan that Wheeler touts all the time, then, wow. That’s very disappointing.”


theintercept--2020-09-29--Unredacted FBI Document Sheds New Light on White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement

“ Having personnel within law enforcement agencies has historically been and will continue to be a desired asset for white supremacist groups seeking to anticipate law enforcement interest in and actions against them , ” the report notes in a section that was previously redacted .
The unredacted version of the first document sheds further light on the FBI ’ s concerns , as early as 2006 , about “ self-initiated efforts by individuals , particularly among those already within law enforcement ranks , to volunteer their professional resources to white supremacist causes with which they sympathize.
” A heavily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ previously been published , one of a handful of documents revealing federal officials ’ growing concern with white supremacists ’ “ historical ” interest in “ infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.
” A different internal document obtained by The Intercept in 2017 had also noted that “ domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists , white supremacist extremists , and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.
” The FBI threat assessment report was released by Rep. Jamie Raskin , chair of the House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee , ahead of a hearing about the white supremacist infiltration of local police departments scheduled for Tuesday .
The FBI has long been concerned about the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacist groups and its impact on police abuse and tolerance of racism , the unredacted version of a previously circulated document reveals .
Another previously redacted section warned of “ factors that might generate sympathies among existing law enforcement personnel and cause them to volunteer their support to white supremacist causes , ” which could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and foreign policies “ that conflict with white supremacist ideologies , ” the report warns .
Some redactions do not seem to be justified , for instance , the FBI ’ s conclusion that “ white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement can result in other abuses of authority and passive tolerance of racism within communities served ” — an apparent recognition of the potential harm to the public posed by white supremacist individuals embedded in police departments .
Other redactions relate to incidents of compromised intelligence .
The unredacted document notes that “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have acquired a sensitive FBI Intelligence Bulletin on the white supremacist movement that had been posted on Law Enforcement Online and had inadvertently become publicly accessible through a law enforcement Web site .
In addition to identifying the FBI personnel who prepared the bulletin , the document identified the FBI ’ s targeting interests within the white supremacist movement.
” The redactions also include examples of “ strategic infiltration and recruitment campaigns ” by white supremacist groups .
“ Most information about systematic attempts by white supremacist groups to infiltrate law enforcement involves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) during the era of its founder , William Pierce , and in the years immediately following his death in 2002 , ” the document notes .
“ White supremacist infiltration of the federal government , including the FBI , plays a prominent role in Pierce ’ s novels , The Turner Diaries ( 1978 ) and Hunter ( 1989 ) , both widely read works that are sometimes interpreted as practical guidance within white supremacist circles.
” The memo goes on to note that active and retired law enforcement personnel were known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in some cases holding regional leadership roles in the organization , and raises concerns that the group ’ s successful efforts to infiltrate law enforcement would likely benefit other white supremacist groups with which it shared intelligence .
The redacted sections also include two examples of what the FBI refers to as “ white supremacist sympathizers.
” In one , the memo mentions that “ in July 2006 , a former police officer with possible ties to the KKK was charged with civil rights violations involving alleged death threats made against black schoolchildren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In another , the report mentions the case of Shayne Allyn Ziska , a state correctional officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino , California , who was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison .
“ Ziska was convicted on federal racketeering charges for helping the Nazi Low Riders white supremacist prison gang distribute drugs and assault other inmates , and reportedly providing white supremacist indoctrination to an inmate , ” the report notes .
“ Ziska advised he considered himself a government infiltrator consistent with National Socialism ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not clear why the FBI chose to redact those sections .
Markings indicate that officials believed redacted portions of the document would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions , or expose “ substantial internal matters.
” But some of the redacted text appears to refer to incidents already known to the public .
The bureau has for years resisted calls for greater transparency with regard to its knowledge of white supremacist groups .
“ The public deserves to see the truth reflected in this finally unredacted report , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Intercept .
“ The FBI saw long ago the multiple potential dangers associated with violent white supremacy and its efforts to infiltrate local law enforcement with ideas , attitudes , and personnel.
” “ The FBI ’ s continuing refusal to acknowledge and combat this threat , just like its refusal to appear today , constitutes a serious dereliction of duty , ” Raskin added .
The FBI was invited but declined to participate in today ’ s hearing , a spokesperson for the committee said .
“ These newly revealed passages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by white supremacists to law enforcement personnel and the public at large .
That the FBI has continued to withhold this full document , despite enormous public pressure , at a time when the white supremacist threat is rampant again , is indefensible.
” The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment .
In a report published last month by the Brennan Center for Justice , former FBI agent Mike German detailed law enforcement agencies ’ longstanding failure to respond to affiliation with white supremacist and militant groups in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of law enforcement involvement in white supremacist violence .
Since 2000 , law enforcement officials with alleged connections to white supremacist groups have been exposed in more than a dozen states , while hundreds of federal , state , and local law enforcement officials have been caught expressing racist , nativist , and sexist views on social media , “ which demonstrates that overt bias is far too common , ” German noted in the report .
“ Efforts to address systemic and implicit biases in law enforcement are unlikely to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the criminal justice system as long as explicit racism in law enforcement continues to endure , ” German wrote in that report .
“ There is ample evidence to demonstrate that it does .
”

The FBI has long been concerned about the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacist groups and its impact on police abuse and tolerance of racism, the unredacted version of a previously circulated document reveals.
The FBI threat assessment report was released by Rep. Jamie Raskin, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, ahead of a hearing about the white supremacist infiltration of local police departments scheduled for Tuesday.
A heavily redacted version of the 2006 document had previously been published, one of a handful of documents revealing federal officials’ growing concern with white supremacists’ “historical” interest in “infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.” A different internal document obtained by The Intercept in 2017 had also noted that “domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.”
The unredacted version of the first document sheds further light on the FBI’s concerns, as early as 2006, about “self-initiated efforts by individuals, particularly among those already within law enforcement ranks, to volunteer their professional resources to white supremacist causes with which they sympathize.”
“Having personnel within law enforcement agencies has historically been and will continue to be a desired asset for white supremacist groups seeking to anticipate law enforcement interest in and actions against them,” the report notes in a section that was previously redacted.
Another previously redacted section warned of “factors that might generate sympathies among existing law enforcement personnel and cause them to volunteer their support to white supremacist causes,” which could include hostility toward developments in U.S. domestic and foreign policies “that conflict with white supremacist ideologies,” the report warns.
Some redactions do not seem to be justified, for instance, the FBI’s conclusion that “white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement can result in other abuses of authority and passive tolerance of racism within communities served” — an apparent recognition of the potential harm to the public posed by white supremacist individuals embedded in police departments.
Other redactions relate to incidents of compromised intelligence. The unredacted document notes that “a white supremacist leader is known to have acquired a sensitive FBI Intelligence Bulletin on the white supremacist movement that had been posted on Law Enforcement Online and had inadvertently become publicly accessible through a law enforcement Web site. In addition to identifying the FBI personnel who prepared the bulletin, the document identified the FBI’s targeting interests within the white supremacist movement.”
The redactions also include examples of “strategic infiltration and recruitment campaigns” by white supremacist groups. “Most information about systematic attempts by white supremacist groups to infiltrate law enforcement involves efforts by the National Alliance (NA) during the era of its founder, William Pierce, and in the years immediately following his death in 2002,” the document notes. “White supremacist infiltration of the federal government, including the FBI, plays a prominent role in Pierce’s novels, The Turner Diaries (1978) and Hunter (1989), both widely read works that are sometimes interpreted as practical guidance within white supremacist circles.”
The memo goes on to note that active and retired law enforcement personnel were known to have joined the National Alliance, in some cases holding regional leadership roles in the organization, and raises concerns that the group’s successful efforts to infiltrate law enforcement would likely benefit other white supremacist groups with which it shared intelligence.
The redacted sections also include two examples of what the FBI refers to as “white supremacist sympathizers.” In one, the memo mentions that “in July 2006, a former police officer with possible ties to the KKK was charged with civil rights violations involving alleged death threats made against black schoolchildren and a black city council member.” In another, the report mentions the case of Shayne Allyn Ziska, a state correctional officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino, California, who was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison. “Ziska was convicted on federal racketeering charges for helping the Nazi Low Riders white supremacist prison gang distribute drugs and assault other inmates, and reportedly providing white supremacist indoctrination to an inmate,” the report notes. “Ziska advised he considered himself a government infiltrator consistent with National Socialism’s strategy for revolution.”
It’s not clear why the FBI chose to redact those sections. Markings indicate that officials believed redacted portions of the document would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or expose “substantial internal matters.” But some of the redacted text appears to refer to incidents already known to the public. The bureau has for years resisted calls for greater transparency with regard to its knowledge of white supremacist groups.
“The public deserves to see the truth reflected in this finally unredacted report,” Raskin said in a statement to The Intercept. “The FBI saw long ago the multiple potential dangers associated with violent white supremacy and its efforts to infiltrate local law enforcement with ideas, attitudes, and personnel.”
“The FBI’s continuing refusal to acknowledge and combat this threat, just like its refusal to appear today, constitutes a serious dereliction of duty,” Raskin added. The FBI was invited but declined to participate in today’s hearing, a spokesperson for the committee said. “These newly revealed passages underscore the seriousness of the threat posed by white supremacists to law enforcement personnel and the public at large. That the FBI has continued to withhold this full document, despite enormous public pressure, at a time when the white supremacist threat is rampant again, is indefensible.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a report published last month by the Brennan Center for Justice, former FBI agent Mike German detailed law enforcement agencies’ longstanding failure to respond to affiliation with white supremacist and militant groups in their ranks, as well as the long history of law enforcement involvement in white supremacist violence.
Since 2000, law enforcement officials with alleged connections to white supremacist groups have been exposed in more than a dozen states, while hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials have been caught expressing racist, nativist, and sexist views on social media, “which demonstrates that overt bias is far too common,” German noted in the report.
“Efforts to address systemic and implicit biases in law enforcement are unlikely to be effective in reducing the racial disparities in the criminal justice system as long as explicit racism in law enforcement continues to endure,” German wrote in that report. “There is ample evidence to demonstrate that it does.”


theintercept--2020-09-29--Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s Coronavirus Rhetoric Has Put His Seat at Risk

has spent much of the pandemic playing down the threat of the coronavirus , mocking Democrats and health professionals for overreaction , and broadly using Covid-19 as an opportunity to , as they say , own the libs .
But the outspoken Texas freshman does not serve in a solidly Republican district , and the explosion of cases in his hometown of Houston , along with his dismissal of the threat , has become a critical liability in the last weeks of his reelection campaign .
Sima Ladjevardian , the Democratic candidate running to represent Texas ’ s 2nd Congressional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and western Houston — is out Tuesday with a seven-figure ad buy going after Crenshaw for his handling of the coronavirus and health care .
In mid-July , as the pandemic was ripping through Houston , more than 100 doctors took the extraordinary step of condemning Crenshaw publicly for his reckless refusal to wear masks and his downplaying the crisis to his millions of followers .
The race is one of seven in Texas the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The race is one of seven in Texas the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is one of five in Texas the DCCC is aiming to flip .
Ladjevardian ’ s contest will be more challenging , though , than some others in the Lone Star State ; while her suburban Houston district is the kind that is trending demographically in Democrats ’ favor , Crenshaw has a big fundraising advantage and more name recognition than most elected officials since becoming a national conservative star over the last two years .
His eyepatch and aggressive rhetoric have been ubiquitous on Fox News as he has fashioned himself into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right .
Crenshaw won his election to Congress in 2018 by 7.2 percentage points , but Beto O ’ Rourke lost his Senate race in that same district by just 1 point .
The demographics of the district have only grown more favorable since .
The 30-second spot , which will air between now and Election Day on cable , broadcast , and digital , will be the Ladjevardian ’ s campaign main negative ad buy of the cycle .
Titled “ Doctors , ” it opens with footage of Crenshaw in early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ followed by four doctors expressing frustration and anger over what they see as lies spread by the representative .
“ He ’ s playing politics with people ’ s lives , ” says Dr. Kanene Ubesie , a general surgeon in Houston .
A narrator then says Crenshaw ’ s lies began before the pandemic , when he voted against a House bill that wanted to lower drug costs .
“ Dan Crenshaw is not the leader that we need right now , ” concludes another local physician , Dr. Hina Pandya , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign says it was not expecting Crenshaw ’ s coronavirus pandemic response to play such a major role in their race but that his continued rhetoric and behavior amid the rising death toll in Texas , combined with all the anger they heard from health care leaders , elevated it as a central focus .
When Texas ’ s hospitalization rate started spiking after Memorial Day , Crenshaw dismissed it , claiming the hospitalizations were “ really not a lot .
… We ’ re so far away from being in over-capacity or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s laughable.
” Around the same time when a Harris County judge warned that Texas may be on the brink of a disaster , Crenshaw slammed her for “ fear-mongering.
” Feeling anxious about the congressman ’ s denials , in mid-July , as The Intercept first reported , more than 100 doctors , medical professionals , and emergency room physicians in the Houston area signed their name to a letter condemning Crenshaw for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 .
The Texas coronavirus death rate was rising faster in July than during all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their letter , the doctors blasted Crenshaw for “ undermin [ ing ] the advice of our public health experts at every turn — enabling millions of his followers to the same.
” His mixed messaging , they argued , left health care workers “ handicapped in our mission ” to protect Texans from the start of the pandemic .
One of the letter ’ s signatories — Dr. Bich-May Nguyen — appears in the Ladjevardian campaign ’ s new ad .
Ladjevardian tells The Intercept her campaign felt this was the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Crenshaw who has “ undermined ” doctors ’ authority and “ put them even more at risk and not listened to them when they begged , is very personal to me.
” Ladjevardian wanted to demonstrate she “ respect [ s ] these doctors ” and that “ they are our real heroes.
” She pointed to a GOP event from August , where Crenshaw appeared in photos posted online not wearing a mask .
An Austin resident filed a complaint about the gathering , and Travis County is now investigating it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Express-News that the congressman wore a mask except when he was speaking “ and for a few , brief photos that were taken outside.
” Throughout the pandemic , Crenshaw emerged as one of Trump ’ s most ardent defenders regarding his public health response ; Ladjevardian pointed to Crenshaw ’ s reaction just earlier this month regarding Trump ’ s comments to journalist Bob Woodward in February and March downplaying the coronavirus .
The president “ never uses the right words , let ’ s just be honest here , but it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was very good , ” Crenshaw had said .
“ Do not make people panic.
” In a subsequent interview , Crenshaw told local TV news host Khambrel Marshall that Trump ’ s comments were “ clumsy ” but that his point about minimizing panic reflected what Trump had been saying publicly .
Crenshaw also argued that Democrats , including New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , had been downplaying Covid-19 too .
It ’ s evident that Crenshaw has grasped the political downsides of his Covid-19 dismissiveness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his pandemic response in recent weeks , noting for example that he distributed 50,000 masks and advocated for more funding for testing sites in Houston .
In July , he sent out a mailer where he defended himself against some of Ladjevardian ’ s specific attacks , including claiming that his early March comments about mask effectiveness were just reflecting federal encouragement to reserve them for health care workers .
It ’ s true that at the time many public health officials and news organizations were misleading the public about the efficacy of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Vox reported that “ most health experts ” it spoke with said “ there ’ s no good evidence to support the use of face masks for preventing this disease in the general population.
” Crenshaw , however , continued with that theme for months , ultimately drawing the public rebuke from Houston medical professionals .
In response to the grassroots letter from physicians criticizing Crenshaw in July , a group of 75 doctors organized a counterletter , claiming the congressman “ has been a steadfast partner in our efforts to protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Texas Tribune noted , three signatories are current and former GOP representatives .
Ladjevardian told The Intercept that the counterletter was “ a joke .
”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw has spent much of the pandemic playing down the threat of the coronavirus, mocking Democrats and health professionals for overreaction, and broadly using Covid-19 as an opportunity to, as they say, own the libs.
But the outspoken Texas freshman does not serve in a solidly Republican district, and the explosion of cases in his hometown of Houston, along with his dismissal of the threat, has become a critical liability in the last weeks of his reelection campaign.
Sima Ladjevardian, the Democratic candidate running to represent Texas’s 2nd Congressional District — which includes much of northern and western Houston — is out Tuesday with a seven-figure ad buy going after Crenshaw for his handling of the coronavirus and health care. In mid-July, as the pandemic was ripping through Houston, more than 100 doctors took the extraordinary step of condemning Crenshaw publicly for his reckless refusal to wear masks and his downplaying the crisis to his millions of followers.
The race is one of seven in Texas the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting , and Crenshaw’s seat is one of five in Texas the DCCC is aiming to flip. Ladjevardian’s contest will be more challenging, though, than some others in the Lone Star State; while her suburban Houston district is the kind that is trending demographically in Democrats’ favor, Crenshaw has a big fundraising advantage and more name recognition than most elected officials since becoming a national conservative star over the last two years. His eyepatch and aggressive rhetoric have been ubiquitous on Fox News as he has fashioned himself into something of an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the right.
Crenshaw won his election to Congress in 2018 by 7.2 percentage points, but Beto O’Rourke lost his Senate race in that same district by just 1 point. The demographics of the district have only grown more favorable since.
The 30-second spot, which will air between now and Election Day on cable, broadcast, and digital, will be the Ladjevardian’s campaign main negative ad buy of the cycle. Titled “Doctors,” it opens with footage of Crenshaw in early March downplaying the effectiveness of masks, followed by four doctors expressing frustration and anger over what they see as lies spread by the representative. “He’s playing politics with people’s lives,” says Dr. Kanene Ubesie, a general surgeon in Houston. A narrator then says Crenshaw’s lies began before the pandemic, when he voted against a House bill that wanted to lower drug costs. “Dan Crenshaw is not the leader that we need right now,” concludes another local physician, Dr. Hina Pandya, before cutting to Ladjevardian.
(Crenshaw says he supported House bill H.R 19 to lower drug prices, which would make it easier for generic drugs to come to market, but he voted against the Democrat-backed bill to rein in drug prices in December —H.R. 3— which he claimed would hurt innovation for new cures.)
The Ladjevardian campaign says it was not expecting Crenshaw’s coronavirus pandemic response to play such a major role in their race but that his continued rhetoric and behavior amid the rising death toll in Texas, combined with all the anger they heard from health care leaders, elevated it as a central focus. When Texas’s hospitalization rate started spiking after Memorial Day, Crenshaw dismissed it, claiming the hospitalizations were “really not a lot. … We’re so far away from being in over-capacity or even close to it that it’s laughable.” Around the same time when a Harris County judge warned that Texas may be on the brink of a disaster, Crenshaw slammed her for “fear-mongering.”
Feeling anxious about the congressman’s denials, in mid-July, as The Intercept first reported, more than 100 doctors, medical professionals, and emergency room physicians in the Houston area signed their name to a letter condemning Crenshaw for spreading misinformation about Covid-19. The Texas coronavirus death rate was rising faster in July than during all the previous months of the pandemic.
In their letter, the doctors blasted Crenshaw for “undermin[ing] the advice of our public health experts at every turn — enabling millions of his followers to the same.” His mixed messaging, they argued, left health care workers “handicapped in our mission” to protect Texans from the start of the pandemic. One of the letter’s signatories — Dr. Bich-May Nguyen — appears in the Ladjevardian campaign’s new ad.
Ladjevardian tells The Intercept her campaign felt this was the right ad to create because having someone like Crenshaw who has “undermined” doctors’ authority and “put them even more at risk and not listened to them when they begged, is very personal to me.” Ladjevardian wanted to demonstrate she “respect[s] these doctors” and that “they are our real heroes.”
She pointed to a GOP event from August, where Crenshaw appeared in photos posted online not wearing a mask. An Austin resident filed a complaint about the gathering, and Travis County is now investigating it. A Crenshaw spokesperson told the San Antonio Express-News that the congressman wore a mask except when he was speaking “and for a few, brief photos that were taken outside.”
Throughout the pandemic, Crenshaw emerged as one of Trump’s most ardent defenders regarding his public health response; Ladjevardian pointed to Crenshaw’s reaction just earlier this month regarding Trump’s comments to journalist Bob Woodward in February and March downplaying the coronavirus. The president “never uses the right words, let’s just be honest here, but it’s also pretty clear his intent was very good,” Crenshaw had said. “Do not make people panic.” In a subsequent interview, Crenshaw told local TV news host Khambrel Marshall that Trump’s comments were “clumsy” but that his point about minimizing panic reflected what Trump had been saying publicly. Crenshaw also argued that Democrats, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had been downplaying Covid-19 too.
It’s evident that Crenshaw has grasped the political downsides of his Covid-19 dismissiveness, as he’s been touting his pandemic response in recent weeks, noting for example that he distributed 50,000 masks and advocated for more funding for testing sites in Houston. In July, he sent out a mailer where he defended himself against some of Ladjevardian’s specific attacks, including claiming that his early March comments about mask effectiveness were just reflecting federal encouragement to reserve them for health care workers. It’s true that at the time many public health officials and news organizations were misleading the public about the efficacy of masks. In February, for instance, Vox reported that “most health experts” it spoke with said “there’s no good evidence to support the use of face masks for preventing this disease in the general population.” Crenshaw, however, continued with that theme for months, ultimately drawing the public rebuke from Houston medical professionals.
In response to the grassroots letter from physicians criticizing Crenshaw in July, a group of 75 doctors organized a counterletter, claiming the congressman “has been a steadfast partner in our efforts to protect public health throughout this pandemic.” As the Texas Tribune noted, three signatories are current and former GOP representatives. Ladjevardian told The Intercept that the counterletter was “a joke.”


theintercept--2020-09-29--Launch Event: “A Message From the Future II — The Years of Repair”

The Years of Repair ” is an animated short film that dares to dream of a future in which 2020 is a historic turning point , where the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and global uprisings against racism drive us to build back a better society in which no one is sacrificed and everyone is essential .
The film is a sequel to the 2019 Emmy-nominated short film “ A Message From the Future ” with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , and features the art of Molly Crabapple , with the political storytelling of Naomi Klein , Avi Lewis , and Opal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the world includes Tometi , Emma Thompson , Gael García Bernal , and the Nigerian poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey .
Join us for an online event at 3 p.m .
ET on October 1 to celebrate the film ’ s global launch , hosted by Emma Thompson and featuring key members of the team behind the film including : At a time when everyday life feels like an apocalyptic Hollywood movie , this film brings together movement leaders with an all-star cast to imagine something really radical : utopia from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

LIVE: Thursday, October 1 at 3 p.m. ET
“A Message From the Future II: The Years of Repair” is an animated short film that dares to dream of a future in which 2020 is a historic turning point, where the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and global uprisings against racism drive us to build back a better society in which no one is sacrificed and everyone is essential.
The film is a sequel to the 2019 Emmy-nominated short film “A Message From the Future” with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and features the art of Molly Crabapple and directors Kim Boekbinder and Jim Batt, with the political storytelling of Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, and Opal Tometi.
The cast of narrators from around the world includes Tometi, Emma Thompson, Gael García Bernal, and the Nigerian poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey.
Join us for an online event at 3 p.m. ET on October 1 to celebrate the film’s global launch, hosted by Emma Thompson and featuring key members of the team behind the film including:
Nnimmo Bassey, narrator
Naomi Klein, executive producer
Opal Tometi, writer and narrator
Emma Thompson, narrator
At a time when everyday life feels like an apocalyptic Hollywood movie, this film brings together movement leaders with an all-star cast to imagine something really radical: utopia from the ashes.
Watch the short film here:
In partnership with The Leap.