A group of black residents who live near Dothan’s proposed landfill expansion claim the authorization of the location is discriminatory and is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which approved the permit for the expansion.
The civil rights complaint was prepared Wednesday by Florida environmental attorney David Ludder on behalf of at least nine residents who claim the landfill expansion is discriminatory toward black residents because African Americans comprise 89 percent of the population within 1 mile of the proposed expansion and 79 percent of the population within 1.5 miles.
If the EPA decides to conduct an investigation and finds ADEM was discriminatory in permitting the landfill expansion, the complaint asks the EPA to halt financial assistance to ADEM.