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Come for the environmental racism, stay for the mute politicians, opaque permit process & Black homeowners' (futile?) fight to keep the latest industrial development from destroying their property values. A
@MLK50Memphis w/ @southerlymag @FirstArai https://mlk50.com/byhaliaconnectionpipeline-a59447d7f922?source=social.tw
@MLK50Memphis w/ @southerlymag @FirstArai https://mlk50.com/byhaliaconnectionpipeline-a59447d7f922?source=social.tw
Tomorrow is the deadline to submit a public comment about the proposed Byhalia Connection pipeline route, which would cut through a neighborhood that's 99% Black with a high % of homeownership.
A rep for the pipeline developer was asked why this route and he said...
A rep for the pipeline developer was asked why this route and he said...
“We took, basically, a point of least resistance,” said Wyatt Price, a supervising land agent for Plains.
The black circles show where the pipeline (yellow line) would begin and end and where it connects to two other pipelines (purple lines.)
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that would take the pipeline through whiter and more affluent neighborhoods.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that would take the pipeline through whiter and more affluent neighborhoods.
Boxtown - which got its name from the scraps from train boxcars that freed slaves used to build homes - is 99% Black. Half of households make less than $25K/year. Yet homeownership rates are 61% - higher than the nat'l average for Black folks. That's a good thing.
Many of these houses have stayed in the family for generations. These families could lose their homes to eminent domain. They worry that they'll be coerced into deals to sell the property - or that the property will be worth nothing if they refuse.
Most Black families build intergenerational wealth through homeownership. This pipeline threatens that, and also the water supply.
Boxtown is already home to more than its share of industrial facilities. Some residents believe the pollution made them sick and even caused their cancers.
So how did this happen?
1. The companies - subsidiaries of Plains All American Pipeline and Valero - took advantage of a controversial fast-track permitting process.
1. The companies - subsidiaries of Plains All American Pipeline and Valero - took advantage of a controversial fast-track permitting process.
2. The elected officials who represent Boxtown ignored residents' concerns and didn't attend the meeting the neighborhood association convened.
Who are those representatives? I'm glad you asked.
Who are those representatives? I'm glad you asked.
Reporter @FirstArai asked for comment from:
State Rep. Barbara Cooper. She deferred to a paid local consultant paid by the pipeline, who deferred to a pipeline employee.
State Rep. Barbara Cooper. She deferred to a paid local consultant paid by the pipeline, who deferred to a pipeline employee.
The father-son duo - Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Sr. and Shelby County commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. didn't respond at all.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen did respond (thanks for that), but basically said he trusts the reviewing process. 
IT GETS WORSE.
You might expect the local NAACP chapter @NAACPMemphis to rally to Boxtown residents' side but you would be disappointed.
Guess who got a $25,000 grant from the Byhalia Connection pipeline project?
Guess who got a $25,000 grant from the Byhalia Connection pipeline project?
The local consultant to whom Rep. Cooper deferred is also the immediate past president of @NAACPMemphis.
This consultant was paid by the pipeline developer which also gave money to the Memphis NAACP chapter, which has been silent on the pipeline.
Do with that what you will.
This consultant was paid by the pipeline developer which also gave money to the Memphis NAACP chapter, which has been silent on the pipeline.
Do with that what you will.
But it's not over!
The @uofmemphis is home to the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER). https://caeser.memphis.edu/
Memphis sits on the New Madrid Fault and a CAESER researcher was like yeah, the pipeline folks need to figure out what a quake might do to this pipeline.
But guess who just got $250,000 from the Byhalia Connection pipeline project?
No, seriously. Guess.
No, seriously. Guess.
Plains gave CAESER $250,000 for groundwater education.
Other activists/organizers who in normal times would have been all over this have been focused on the pandemic and police violence and the federal influx of crime-fighting forces (including U.S. Marshalls who shot the wrong guy last month) and just surviving.
Anyway, it's all very sad. I don't think about environmental injustice enough and this was a needed reminder of how all these systems interact to amass wealth for some and make it near impossible for others to do the same.
Kudos to @southerlymag @lyndseygilpin @FirstArai @notarolemodel @maiden_memphis @andreamorales @PeggyMcKenzie1 for their work.
It takes a LOT of womanpower and resources to do this work. We need your support to do more.
Give to Southerly here: https://southerlymag.org/donate/
It takes a LOT of womanpower and resources to do this work. We need your support to do more.
Give to Southerly here: https://southerlymag.org/donate/
