US Capitol's Carbon Offsets Do Nothing for Nearby River Terrace

George Gurley has been fighting environmental racism in southeast Washington DC's River Terrace for 30 years. I met him on Saturday while on a "Toxic Tour" of DC offered as part of the youth climate summit called Powershift. What he had to say put today's WaPo story on carbon offsets for the US Capitol in a very different light.

On its face, it was significant climate news, if only for symbolic value. The House cut a check for $89,000 to buy carbon offsets -- atonement for the coal-burning power plant that sends 30,000 tons of carbon into the air in order to power the building. Deep-sixing the plant entirely hasn't been possible. Coal-state lawmakers are protecting it, and others are questioning the expenditure on the offsets. The continuing drama of the climate debate in Congress.

Contrast that reality with River Terrace -- a predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood on the east side of the Anacostia river. It's the part of DC invisible from the Capitol. There, across the street from the elementary school, is the Benning Road power plant and the Kenilworth Maintenance Yard. The power plant dates from 1906 and provides power to DC on very cold and very hot days. When it kicks on, it spews an average of 1000 tons of carbon in a single day, blanketing the neighborhood with smog and particulates. "People of River Terrace are 3 to 5 times more likely to have cancer, asthma or bronchitis than any other group of people in the city," Gurley says.

From 1972 - 1996, there used to be an incinerator here too, that burned trash. Gurley finally succeeded in getting that shut down, but the trash maintenance facility took its place. It processes 1250 tons of trash a day and is home to countless rats. And then there's the hydrogen fueling station they didn't want, and that's a mere 100 feet from the school. The kind of concentration of facilities -- unhealthy and undesireable -- that you'll find in poor neighborhoods of color in cities across the country.

Gurley is a retired military man and a Vietnam vet, and the best dressed man in the crowd that morning.

This is a low income neighborhood, we're people of color here. I don't think they would do this if it were Georgetown or west of Rock Creek Park. I'm gonna tell it like it is.

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