NAACP leaders say energy policy is civil rights issue
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 2014NAACP leaders Thursday called for policies promoting renewable energy and efficiency programs, saying the issue is more than an environmental one.
Local and national NAACP representatives as well as staff from the Sierra Club were promoting a report from the civil rights group’s national office that backs development of renewable energy projects.
Most African-Americans live near a coal-fired power plant and are disproportionately affected by them, according to the NAACP report. Both their health and their wealth are hurt, the report claims, because the plants do more than emit harmful pollutants.