Community members from across Arizona convened in Tucson beginning Sept. 4 for a two-day event called the People’s Hearing. It was the second event of its kind in the U.S. this year focused on communities disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards.
Yolanda Herrera is a fifth-generation Tucsonan who grew up in the city’s southside — where industrial solvents used at nearby military sites caused water contamination and cancer.
“People say water is life. I’ve changed that to say, safe clean water is life,” Herrera said. “Because you can have water and drink it and continue to get sick, and it affects generations.”
Herrera was one of several speakers who talked about long-standing groundwater contamination issues in Tucson — first because of the industrial solvent TCE, and then because of a firefighting foam used at military sites and airports that contains PFAS compounds, which don't break down naturally.
"Our communities are now federal superfund sites poisoned with industrial solvents like TCE and forever chemicals," said Guadelupe Zepeda, another Tucson local."What good is a foundation if the ground beneath it is poisoned?"
The People’s Hearing featured dozens of speakers from major Arizona cities, tribal nations and rural areas who testified about issues like mining, water contamination and air pollution, along with other, more recent developments, like data centers.
The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council was set up in 2021 and brought together communities disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards, and tasked them with making recommendations to federal agencies.
LaTricea Adams is the founder of nonprofit Young, Gifted and Green who was appointed to the Biden-era advisory council.
"Not just focusing on environment in isolation, but thinking about the impact on humans is really important, so that’s the bedrock of environmental justice," said Adams, who heard testimony in Tucson also part of the event's multi-person panel of organizers.
The council released a full report in 2021 with recommendations like electric bus fleets and expanded eligibility for EPA grants to improve water quality. But the initiative and all federal funding for environmental justice was terminated this year by the Trump administration.
Adams said the People's Hearing events held this year aimed to bring communities together to carve out a path forward.
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