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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 11 months

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The White House announced Tuesday that the Biden administration will award $115 million to Jackson, Miss., to upgrade the decaying water infrastructure that has led to multiple water crises in recent years.

In the statement, President Biden credited bipartisan legislation he signed in December for the funds, singling out the work of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who represents most of the Jackson area.

Jackson, once a majority-white city, saw much of its wealthier white tax base leave the city in the mid-20th century following court rulings ending segregation. In recent years, Jackson has seen multiple water crises, including in last August when a rainstorm knocked out a treatment plant and left nearly 200,000 people without potable water. The city was under a state-imposed boil-water notice through Jan. 9 of this year.

This was Jackson’s second water crisis in as many years, after a winter 2021 weather event froze the city’s pipes.

In November, a federal court appointed Ted Henifin to manage the city’s water system. Earlier this week, Henifin announced the city only collects about 56% of water fees it issues, which comes to about $50 million of lost revenue, according to The Associated Press.

In his statement, Biden also pointed to funds in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that would replace all lead pipes throughout the nation.

“While we have made a lot of progress, there is much more work to do to ensure that all Americans have access to clean water. Thanks to my Investing in America agenda, we’re already deploying record resources to communities all across America to replace lead pipes, improve water quality, and rebuild the Nation’s drinking water infrastructure, ensuring it can withstand the impacts of the climate crisis,” he said.

“Until all our children can safely drink water from the tap, our fight for clean water must, and will, continue,” he added.

#us politics #news #the hill #2023 #president joe biden #biden administration #Mississippi #Jackson #water infrastructure #Jackson water crisis #boil water notice #Rep. Bennie Thompson #Ted Henifin #the associated press #infrastructure reform #infrastructure budget #infrastructure bill

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thedreadpiratejames · 2 years

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Of course, this is why they haven't fixed it in the past. Reeves and state Republicans have been denying funds for years, waiting for the system to fail so they can privatize it. And here we are.

#jackson mississippi #jackson water crisis #water is life #water is a human right #mississippi

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personal-blog243 · 2 years

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worldofwardcraft · 2 years

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The cost of culture war.

September 22, 2022

War is always an expensive enterprise. Culture war even more so. Yet, when not otherwise engaged in juvenile name-calling and promoting stupid conspiracy theories, MAGA Republicans are obsessed with arguments over such nonsense as banning women's healthcare, punishing the LGBT community, cleansing critical race theory from classrooms, or making sure children use the right bathrooms and compete on the correct sports teams.

But while crusading against these fabricated culture foes, the GOP has given up entirely on actual governing and any pretense of public service. Their fixation on cultural issues has resulted in many state and municipal governments under Republican control totally neglecting the services they are supposed to provide, thus lowering of the quality of life.

Take, for example, the water crisis in Jackson, MS (which mirrors the earlier one in Flint, MI). The capital of a Republican-ruled state, Jackson suffered from years of underinvestment in its water system, which the city did not have the tax base to deal with. This longtime indifference on the part of the state's GOP has led to 150,000 citizens being burdened with toxic, undrinkable water (pictured above). In fact, the city's residents were warned not to shower with their mouths open. Meanwhile, the Republican legislature was busily passing one of the nation's most draconian abortion bans.

Over in Texas, Republicans for decades ignored necessary upgrades to their state's independent electrical power grid, even as the population and the demand for power grew exponentially. Predictably, during a storm in February 2021, there were widespread outages, leaving more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without power and either directly or indirectly causing the deaths of anywhere from 246 to 720 people. Yet Governor Abbott and his fellow GOPers in the legislature continue fighting mock battles over school books, CRT, guns and who knows what else.

But the prime example of this culture war lunacy is the MAGA Republic of Florida under the iron-fisted rule of tireless culture warrior Ron DeSantis. While he's been waging performative campaigns against trans kids, immigrants, socially responsible companies and "wokeness" in general, Florida's schools are reporting thousands of teacher vacancies. DeSantis's brilliant solution has been to give military vets temporary teaching certificates. He's also suggested waiving the teacher-licensing exam for retired cops, EMTs and firefighters. In addition to granting them $4,000 signing bonuses!

Sadly, it seems Republicans care only about scoring victories in their phony culture wars. And have little to no interest in either the suffering or the needs of their voters. For the GOP that's merely collateral damage.

#culture war #jackson water crisis #texas power grid #teacher shortage

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world-updates · 2 years

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#news #world news #u.s.#jackson mississippi #jackson water crisis #water crisis #water #climate change #climate collapse #politics #blm #updates #world updates

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whatiwillsay · 2 years

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there's a water crisis in mississippi that is rooted in racism and is primarily affecting black folks. check out this thread for ways you can help!

#jackson water crisis

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bdailorsimpofficial · 2 years

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How to help the citizens of Jackson, Mississippi with the water crisis

#twitter thread #Jackson #Jackson water crisis #signal boost

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webntrmpt · 1 hour

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#jackson water crisis

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hayesforprez · 1 year

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The Only State Capital Where You Can’t Drink the Water

#youtube #jackson water crisis

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particularj · 2 years

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This is not just flooding or a boil water warning.

The city of Jackson, Mississippi does not have water.

After primary pumps failed last month from damage from a prior flood, temporary pumps and generators for the water supply operator failed, leaving the city with no way to move water through the system.

There’s literally no water pressure and no ability to clean the contaminated water. It is as if the public water and plumbing does not exist, until they can fix the pumps.

It will cost about $200 million. It will take weeks if not months. The city had been under a boil water warning since JULY, after the primary system failed. Even before, the water system had been underfunded, understaffed, and generally in need of improvements, given the risk of failure from flooding among other things.

In America, 2022, after Flint, there is no excuse for any city to be without water. This would not happen in a government system that responds to the need of the populace instead of wealthy interests. And it is not likely to be the last crisis as climate change delivers drought and rapid flash flooding through irregular weather patterns.

UPDATE (Sept. 5): Practically all of Jackson has water restored, temporarily, but is still under a boil water warning. Permanent repairs could run over $1 billion.

#Jackson #Mississippi #water crisis #climate crisis

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fuckyeahmarxismleninism · 2 years

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In 2022, in the richest country the world has ever seen, Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, has no water for drinking, cooking, bathing, flushing a toilet, or fighting a fire. As of this moment, the situation is predicted to continue “indefinitely.” We are calling on President Joe Biden to expeditiously authorize billions of dollars in emergency funds to address both the current humanitarian crisis triggered by the climate crisis-induced flooding and the implementation of long-term action steps to correct decades-long operational neglect of Jackson’s water systems.

#d12 #Ukraine #Jackson #drinking water #Joe Biden #protest #antiwar #imperialism #capitalism #racism #climate crisis #environmental racism #Struggle La Lucha

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ausetkmt · 2 years

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NBC News: Congress investigates Jackson water crisis and Mississippi's use of federal funds

JACKSON, Miss. — Two congressional committees want Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves to explain how the country’s poorest state is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds as its predominantly Black capital city struggles with crumbling water infrastructure.

Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent the request in a letter to Reeves on Monday as part of an investigation by the Homeland Security and the Oversight and Reform committees into a safe drinking water crisis that at its height left thousands of Jackson residents without running water this summer.

The breakdown occurred after Jackson was pummeled by days of heavy rain and the city’s main water treatment plant failed. In the past, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, a Democrat, has argued that the city’s public water utility was poorly positioned to handle threats from climate change because Republican state leaders have provided little financial help for the aging system’s challenges. He has estimated that tackling the city’s water troubles, which stretch back decades, could cost billions of dollars.

Thompson, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and whose district includes almost all of Jackson, has previously expressed concerns about whether enough federal aid allocated by the state is making its way to the city.

In an interview on Monday, he said that withholding the funds Jackson needs to ensure safe drinking water puts lives at risk.

“Mississippi is one of several states that absolutely rely on the generosity of the federal government,” Thompson said. “That means we can’t really do anything for ourself without federal help. In return, the only thing the federal government asks is that you spend those monies in a nondiscriminatory fashion.”

Thompson and Maloney, who chairs the Oversight and Reform Committee, have asked Reeves for details about the racial makeup and population size of communities that have received federal funds or are slated to receive those funds to improve their water systems.

They also want to know why Jackson was the only city the Legislature placed under additional oversight as a condition for receiving money from a water infrastructure improvement program for local governments.

“We urge you to take action to protect the health and safety of Jackson residents and direct funding to Jackson immediately to fix this life and death issue,” Maloney and Thompson wrote.

A spokesperson for Reeves did not directly comment on the letter, and instead referred to a Twitter post by the governor on Monday sharing the state’s plans to address ongoing staffing challenges at Jackson’s water treatment plants through an emergency contract. In the past, the city has struggled to hire enough qualified workers at its water facilities.

Reeves wrote that the proposal, which could bring in additional help, is “the next step in ensuring clean water continues to be delivered to the people of Jackson.”

Jacksonians had been under a citywide boil-water notice for more than a month when water pressure dropped in late August.

Service was restored by the next week, and most Jackson residents no longer have to boil their water, but there are lingering concerns about water quality. For the past six years, the state Health Department has cautioned pregnant people and young children against drinking unfiltered tap water because of the potential danger of lead exposure.

While Reeves has contended that the city’s management of the water system is at the root of the crisis, there are growing questions about whether Mississippi has done enough to help shore up Jackson’s infrastructure.

In September, the Justice Department sent a letter to Lumumba saying both local and state officials “have not acted to protect public health.”

This summer’s outage was the latest crisis to roil the city, which suffered a stretch of low water pressure after a winter storm last year hobbled operations at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. And boil-water notices are common; the city has issued at least 300 of them over the past two years.

Jackson has received some state funding in the past, using money from a loan program administered by the state Health Department to make upgrades. But the state’s decision to limit each municipality’s loan forgiveness to $500,000 leaves Jackson — which has needed to borrow almost $30 million for a single project alone — at a disadvantage compared to smaller, rural communities where requests often dip below $1 million.

Last month, the NAACP asked the Environmental Protection Agency to open a civil rights investigation to determine whether the way Mississippi disperses federal funds meant to keep communities in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act has discriminated against Jackson.

Separately, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General, which is independent from the agency, announced last month that it was probing the water crisis.

#Mississippi #Jackson Mississippi #Jackson without water #mississippi capital without clean drinking water #stolen tanf funds #epa #mississippi state health department #Congress investigates Jackson water crisis and Mississippi's use of federal funds #racial discrimination #voter disinfranchisement

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bumblebeeappletree · 2 years

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