Overview

• President Trump issued an executive order canceling a $26 million federal initiative aimed at rebuilding Lowndes County's failing sanitation infrastructure, labeling it 'illegal DEI.'
• The Biden administration had allocated the funds following a 2023 DOJ investigation that identified environmental racism in the majority-Black, low-income Alabama county.
• Decades of underinvestment, impermeable soil, and costly septic systems have led residents to rely on 'straight piping' human waste, causing raw sewage backups and severe health risks, including hookworm infections.
• Only three septic systems were installed with an initial $1.5 million before the program's termination, leaving hundreds of families exposed to hazardous living conditions.
• Activists, including Catherine Coleman Flowers, continue to push for solutions, emphasizing the historical and cultural ties that keep residents rooted in the county despite the crisis.