The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday it is opening an investigation into Mississippi’s role in Jackson’s water crisis, including whether state agencies have discriminated against the majority-black capital city in not funding improvements to the city’s failing water system.
In a letter (pdf) in response to a complaint filed on Sept. 27 by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the EPA said it will investigate whether the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi State Department of Health had “discriminated against the majority Black population of the City of Jackson on the basis of race in the funding of water infrastructure and treatment programs and activities,” and whether the agencies have any safeguards to protect against discrimination….