Summary

These two sources are from local news and the website of Super District 7 Commissioner, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson. She is running for reelection in December of 2022 and the release of this article was September 2021. This was probably not a PR stunt for reelection. The article on Lorraine Cochran-Johnson’s website was written by Zach Hansen. This story has also been covered by the AJC if you want to find more material. 

The story: a concrete recycling plant called Metro Green is trying to build an industrial facility close to residential neighborhoods in Stonecrest. After successfully beginning construction in 2017, they have temporarily halted construction because of protests by citizens which led to a court ordered construction stop(Common Ground News, 2020). The odd part of the story is the way that Metro Green got approval to begin construction. They were denied by city council leaders on the basis that these leaders did not have the authority to grant approval. Then they went to Dekalb county which denied them approval on the basis that they could not comply with the Dekalb Waste Management Plan(Hansen, 2021). However, after going back to Stonecrest officials Metro Green allegedly got approval(Hansen, 2021). Which begs the question; what happened? How did a company that could not comply with Dekalb’s waste management plan get approval? And why did they have the confidence to begin construction? One conclusion, Metro Green fully expected to get away with this construction. I make this conclusion on the basis that they sunk all of this money into beginning construction. Additionally, Stonecrest is almost 90% Black but middle income. The ability of companies to target Black neighborhoods as building sites is a mechanic in creating the gap in exposure to toxic waste and TRI facilities.