MIAMI -- When leaders of Florida's most populous county met in September to pick a site for what could become the nation's largest trash incinerator, so many people went to the government center to protest that overflow seating spilled into the building's atrium.
"MIRAMAR SAYS NO TO INCINERATOR! NOT IN OUR BACKYARD," read green T-shirts donned by some attendees who wanted to stop the new industrial waste facility -- capable of burning up to 4,000 tons of garbage a day -- from being built near their homes.
Residents feared the site would not only sink their property values and threaten the environment, but also potentially harm people's health.
Even more, the locations appeared to have been selected in a way that worried civil rights and environmental advocacy groups. All four sites considered that day were in, or near, some of the region's most diverse communities, and the state is arguing in federal court that race should not be a consideration in permitting industries that pollute the environment.
"Historically, communities of color have suffered the impacts of toxic plants near our cities, affecting our health and well-being," Elisha Moultrie, a 30-year Miramar resident and committee leader with the Miami-Dade NAACP, told the county commissioners.
It's "environmental injustice and racial injustice," she said.