Chalk up another victory for the pro-oil-spill and anti-environmentalist elements on Mississippi’s
Gulf Coast.

The State Court of Appeals on February 13 ruled against a number of Black community
organizations, public interest groups and environmental protection advocates in favor of allowing the
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board to follow through on granting the
Port Authority of Gulfport the right to issue port expansion and building permits that have were
declared environmentally hazardous to an historically important local Black community.

The ACLU and EarthJustice, the former legal arm of the Sierra Club, acting on behalf of the
Gulfport-based Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization (EEECHO),
presented their oral arguments before the Appeals Court on November 1, claiming that the permit
board improperly issued a water quality certification to the Mississippi Port Authority. That permit
would allow the construction of a military facility near the historically Black Turkey Creek
community in addition to allowing in environmentally unfriendly businesses that would pose a
number of serious threats to the continued health of this community. The lawsuit said the community
would also face the threat of toxic exposure from contaminated soil and water, and increased flooding
of nearby neighborhoods.

The Court of Appeals ruled against the complainants because they had not submitted comments
and given public notice in a timely manner.

“MDEQ notes that the Appellants had the opportunity to submit comments to the proposed
findings of fact and conclusions of law but failed to do so,” the court wrote in its conclusion. “Due to
the deficient public notice, any public involvement was meaningless, as the public could not be said to
have been meaningfully informed, as required for environmental justice reviews.”
They decided for the MDEQ and the Port Authority.

Rodrigo G. Cantú, Senior Attorney for the EarthJustice Gulf Regional Office  decried the
community’s exposure to the military weaponry and possible accidents from ammunition explosions.
“We are extremely disappointed with the court’s decision,” Cantu said. “This allows the Permit
Board to endanger the health and safety of a historically Black community by ignoring the possibility
of storing explosive ammunition in a residential area. There are better alternatives for this type of
facility. The fight is far from over, and we will be with the North Gulfport community every step of
the way.”

TURKEY CREEK

Gulfport’s Turtle Creek community, established in 1866, is the oldest independent Black,
community on the Mississippi Coast. The community sued the Permit Board for allowing major
threats to the community to move ashore after Hurricane Katrina wrecked a number of large
businesses and storage facilities on Gulfport’s waterfront in 2005. The proposed quick solution to the
problem was to elevate and expand the port area and allow a chicken processing plant and its storage
bins into the predominantly Black Turkey Creek.

The Turkey Creek residents cried foul and demanded that the courts bar the bins of rancid and
rotten chicken residue from being deposited in their neighborhood, a section of the Gulf Coast that is
noted for its wetlands. Organizing under the name of Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate
and Health Organization (EEECHO), and supported by a strong legal from ACLU and Earth Justice,
,they won a stay initially. But the Port Authority simply called on their friends at the pro-business
MDEQ State Permit Board and got the go-ahead again.

“Before a state agency grants a permit to build a military installation that may include
high explosives in your community, you deserve adequate notice, not only as a matter of
justice and fairness, but also as a matter of law,” said ACLU Attorney Joshua Tom. “Adequate
notice was not provided. For that and other reasons, we are disappointed that the Court of
Appeals has upheld the grant of this permit. We continue to explore all of our options onbehalf of our clients.”

MANY CASES

ACLU Mississippi President Jarvis Dortch pointed to this case as one example of the many
environmental racism and injustice battles currently in the court system across the nation. In too many
areas, large chemical plants in collusion with uncaring government agencies find it easy to dump their
dangerous chemicals and waste materials in or near Black and Brown communities.

“The residents of Gulfport are arguing that the Mississippi State Permit Board failed in its duties
when it rubber stamped the Port Authority’s plan to build a military facility near a Black community,
allowed unresolved concerns about the potential for explosives storage near their homes, and ignored
demands for more suitable locations for the military port facility,” Dortch said. “The residents also
argue that an environmental justice review is necessary to protect their historic connections to Turkey
Creek,” Kathy Egland, EEECHO’s co-founder and associate executive director, says they are facing an
all-too-familiar scenario where the Port Authority of Gulfport usually takes a stand unfavorable to the
Black community.”

“The Port of Gulfport is proposing a 24-hour military staging operation in the heart of the
African American community,” Egland says. “It’s like we’re at war with our own country. This has
been going on since 2019. MDEQ granted the permit in 2019 and we have been fighting against them
ever since. We had several delayed decisions due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In our first appeal, we
had to appear before the MDEQ hearing officer. So, we lost in that hearing. The next challenge was in
the chancery court. And we didn’t find justice in chancery either. With ACLU and Earth Justice
coming to our aid, we are now standing before the State Court of Appeals.”

Mark Lee, minister of the Anointed Temple AOH Church of God says, “We’re very annoyed
about the situation because every time something happens, they want to bring it into our community.
We’ve been there since 1998.We’ve built a church, paid for it and now we’re being invaded by a
company trying to come in and is causing all kinds of environmental problems that are a threat to our
continued existence here.”

The biggest threat to his church and the surrounding community in North Gulfport is that of
increased flooding, Lee said. He complains that the wetlands and the natural flood relief zones will be
filled in and only disaster will ensue as a result.
Egland says the proposed military facility will be a disservice to the many veterans who live in
the Turkey Creek area.

“There’s a number of veterans with us today who served their country,” she said. “And now our
country is going to be doing a disservice to them by locating this military staging operation in their
neighborhood.

“This fight is against locating the military facility on the site of a former fertilizer plant that’s
contaminated with lead, arsenic, and with radiation 66 times greater than the EPA limit. Once they
come in and disturb that soil to construct this facility, first of all you’re going to disturb all of those
toxins that are going to go into the air, and they’re going to contaminate the water tributary. Then
they’ll fill in the wetlands which will exacerbate the flooding in the nearby communities. Pastor Lee’s
church is already showing signs of being impacted by the floodwaters.”

John Johnson, a member of EEECHO and one of the veterans Egland spoke of, lives in North
Gulfport and is a member of the North Gulfport Land Trust. He pointed out that Turkey Creek and the
North Gulfport community are older than the City of Gulfport, saying he was hopeful that the court of
appeals would take the side of the threatened community in this fight.

A SPECIAL PLACE

Also anxiously awaiting the appeals panel decision is Gulfport’s Ward 3 Councilwoman Ella
Holmes-Hines, who attended the brief hearing last Wednesday.
“Turkey Creek has a special place in history,” Hines says, “It is older than the City of Gulfport.
And Gulfport has just celebrated a hundred and twenty-five years. Turkey Creek is one of the few
communities where you can find a continuous group of people who are all related. The African
Americans are all related, and that’s what’s so exciting.”

The Thomas and Melinda Benton House featured in the Smith Robertson Museum in Jackson
describes the essential role of the earliest Black investors and entrepreneurs in the Turkey Creek
legacy, she said. The Benton family, for instance, was a major boon for the early economic
development of the Gulfport area, bringing businesses and farmers into the area over 100 years ago,
long before the City of Gulfport began to develop.

Hines’ family also has deep historic roots in Turkey Creek and in the North Gulfport community
that she represents.

“What we’re concerned about is that the fertilizer plant that was closed over 50 years ago but was
never mitigated, poses a major threat. Many of the toxic contaminants are still in the ground and when
you unearth them, they’re going to be hazardous to the citizens with asthma and other diseases. When
it rains it’s going to get into the drinking water because we have pictures showing how the storm
water runs off into the Turkey Creek tributary ,” Hines said “This is a very unsafe practice. If the Department of Defense is trying to do this, I think they need to take another look.”

Hines says the military can establish its base in the industrial seaway in Gulfport, on the Naval
facility, or they can locate it on the port, which has the right properties for this.
“We believe in good jobs,” she said. “But it’s about location, location, location. And this is the
wrong location.”

Gulfport’s Ward 3 Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines, was also hopeful that the court would rule
in the community’s favor.

“Turkey Creek has a special place in history,” Hines says, “It is older than the City of Gulfport.
And Gulfport has just celebrated a hundred and twenty-five years. Turkey Creek is one of the few
communities where you can find a continuous group of people who are all related. The African
Americans are all related, and that’s what’s so exciting.”

The Thomas and Melinda Benton House featured in the Smith Robertson Museum in Jackson
describes the essential role of the earliest Black investors and entrepreneurs in the Turkey Creek
legacy, she said. The Benton family, for instance, was a major boon for the early economic
development of the Gulfport area, bringing businesses and farmers into the area over 100 years ago,
long before the City of Gulfport began to develop.

Hines’ family also has deep historic roots in Turkey Creek and in the North Gulfport community
that she represents.

“What we’re concerned about is that the fertilizer plant that was closed over 50 years ago but was
never mitigated, poses a major threat. Many of the toxic contaminants are still in the ground and when
you unearth them, they’re going to be hazardous to the citizens with asthma and other diseases. When
it rains it’s going to get into the drinking water because we have pictures showing how the storm

water runs off into the Turkey Creek tributary ,” Hines said
“This is a very unsafe practice. If the Department of Defense is trying to do this, they need to take
another look.”

Hines says the military can establish its base in the industrial seaway in Gulfport, on the Naval
facility, or they can locate it on the port, which has the right properties for this.
“We believe in good jobs,” she said. “But it’s about location, location, location. And this is the
wrong location.”