Friend,

It happens over and over again in Black and brown communities across the country: corporate polluters treat our neighborhoods like dumping grounds, and rarely face government accountability.

In just the past few months, the multi-billion-dollar corporation Stellantis (which merged with Fiat Chrysler) has violated their air quality permit THREE times, poisoning residents in a majority-Black neighborhood.

Since the facility expanded, people in the neighborhood have been experiencing symptoms such as burning eyes, nausea, persistent coughing, tightening of the chest, difficulty breathing, and migraines. This can’t keep going on: no one should have to live like this.

So I just joined my colleagues in state and local elected office in sending a letter urging the state environmental agency to hold Stellantis accountable for this public health crisis. Can you help draw attention to this issue on social media so we can stop the pollution and protect people’s health?

Click to tweet at Fiat Chrysler/Stellantis to hold corporate polluters accountable for making people sick. We deserve to breathe clean air!

As part of getting a permit to expand the facility in east Detroit, Stellantis planned to offset these increased emissions with reduced emissions at a plant in a whiter suburb. A local activist called that “textbook environmental racism.”

People living in the Detroit neighborhood were already overly exposed to industrial pollution, with high rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases. On top of that, this facility’s increased particulate matter pollution disproportionately burdens an already-marginalized community.

It’s what a number of us warned about years ago after Fiat Chrysler announced the plant expansion. And it’s unacceptable.

After getting calls from residents about the unbearable odor, I went to check it out myself and within 5 minutes I could taste as well as smell it—I quickly got a headache. I urged residents to report odors directly to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) pollution hotline, which is how community members have prompted air quality violation notices from the state agency so far.

However, Stellantis set up an alternate hotline for people to report complaints directly to them, confusing residents and perhaps intercepting residents’ complaints to the state hotline. We want to get to the bottom of this and ensure that people’s voices are actually heard.

I’m going to keep connecting with state officials about this, but the more public and visible this health crisis gets, the more likely we’ll see action. Can you help spread the word?

Please tweet at Stellantis to let the corporate polluter know that people are paying attention and agree that health should always come before profits.

Thank you for taking on corporate polluters and environmental racism, together.

In solidarity,

Rashida