Three days before Donald Trump returned to office, the Environmental Protection Agency approved a nearly $20 million grant to Thomasville, Georgia, to fix aging infrastructure in the city’s low-income neighborhoods that left the residents exposed to hazardous waste, radon, lead paint and polluted air.
In grant application documents, locals described “sewer backup in toilets and tubs or the smell of sewage” in their neighborhoods over the years. At the local Harper Elementary School, 12% of students have been diagnosed with asthma, the documents say. The school’s nurse believes that figure is a severe undercount.
Then came Trump’s DOGE.