Dearborn, Michigan

Dearborn, Michigan Environmental Justice, Industrial Burden, and Community-Led Change Introduction Dearborn, Michigan—particularly the city’s South End and adjacent neighborhoods near the Detroit border—is widely recognized as an environmental justice hotspot in the Great Lakes region. Residents, who are predominantly Arab American, immigrant, and low-income communities, live alongside a dense concentration of steel mills, auto plants, refineries, rail yards, and major freight corridors. This proximity has produced long-standing and disproportionate exposure to industrial air pollution, including sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), placing Dearborn among the most polluted areas in the state.¹² Environmental justice concerns in Dearborn are not accidental or recent. They are the result of decades of discriminatory zoning, redlining, and land-use decisions that concentrated industry near marginalized communities while limiting green space, political power, and regulatory protection.³⁴ Dearborn’s experience illustrates how environmental inequality is built into planning systems—and how residents have mobilized science, law, and advocacy to challenge those systems. Industrial Concentration and Historical Injustice The South End of Dearborn is surrounded by more than 40 industrial facilities, including the Ford Rouge complex and major steel production sites. This industrial concentration is rooted in early 20th-century redlining practices that confined minority and immigrant residents to areas closest to factories and rail infrastructure.³ Urban renewal policies later intensified this pattern by demolishing homes and further reducing residential buffers between industry and neighborhoods. As a result, green space in the South End covers only about 10% of the area, compared to roughly 70% in other parts of Southeast Michigan.¹⁴ These land-use decisions created what residents and scholars describe as a “sacrifice zone,” where pollution burdens are normalized and treated as the cost of economic activity. Dearborn is also connected to the neighboring 48217 ZIP code—often cited as Michigan’s most polluted—which faces similar cumulative impacts from dozens of industrial sources and heavy diesel truck traffic.⁵⁶ Air Quality, Health, and Cumulative Impacts Air quality data consistently show that Southeast Dearborn experiences higher PM₂.₅ levels than 98% of the state of Michigan.¹ Residents report elevated rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and other pollution-related health conditions, especially among children and elders.²⁷ The area has experienced repeated non-attainment or near non-attainment for sulfur dioxide and particulate matter standards, highlighting the gap between regulatory compliance and lived reality.⁴ A key environmental justice issue in Dearborn is that permitting decisions are typically made one facility at a time, without accounting for cumulative exposure from multiple pollution sources. Legal and policy analyses have shown that this approach systematically disadvantages communities already overburdened by pollution, while allowing incremental increases in emissions that collectively produce severe health risks.⁸⁹ Community Monitoring, Youth Leadership, and Research-to-Action In response to limited government monitoring, Dearborn residents and community organizations have played a central role in documenting pollution. Community-led air monitoring, participatory mapping, and storytelling have become critical tools for making pollution visible and legible to regulators and the public.¹⁰ One nationally recognized example is the Environmental Health Research-to-Action (EHRA) Academy, launched in 2018 through partnerships between community groups and academic researchers. The program engages Dearborn high school youth in hands-on air and water monitoring, data analysis, power mapping, and policy advocacy. Over multiple cohorts, EHRA has built an intergenerational, multiracial network focused on translating community science into action and policy change.¹¹ EHRA demonstrates how environmental justice work in Dearborn integrates scientific evidence with lived experience, equipping residents—especially youth—to challenge regulatory systems that have historically excluded them. Policy Reform and Legal Advocacy in Dearborn Dearborn has increasingly turned toward legal and policy reform as a pathway to environmental justice. In late 2024, the City announced a formal partnership with the University of Michigan Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic to review and modernize city ordinances through an environmental justice lens.¹² This effort, led by the City’s Department of Public Health, aims to remove outdated legal barriers to green infrastructure, renewable energy, and climate resilience while embedding health equity into local governance. City leaders have framed this work as part of a broader “health-in-all-policies” approach, recognizing that zoning, planning, and permitting decisions shape long-term environmental and health outcomes.¹² Dearborn’s efforts have received statewide and national recognition, including Michigan Green Communities certification and a U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Award.¹² Statewide Environmental Justice Legislation Dearborn’s struggles have also influenced statewide environmental justice advocacy. In 2024, Michigan legislators introduced the Protecting Overburdened Communities Act (HB 5901), which would restrict permits for new or expanded pollution sources in communities already facing cumulative environmental harm.¹³ The bill responds directly to complaints from communities like Dearborn, where existing permitting frameworks fail to account for cumulative impacts and health disparities. If passed, the legislation would require environmental justice impact assessments, expand public hearings, and shift the burden of proof onto regulators and polluters to demonstrate that permits are not discriminatory.¹³ While the bill would not immediately address existing pollution sources, advocates view it as a critical step toward structural reform of the permitting process. Why Dearborn Matters for Hampton Roads Dearborn’s environmental justice history offers important lessons for communities confronting coal dust and industrial pollution in Hampton Roads. Like Hampton Roads, Dearborn sits at the intersection of heavy industry, transportation infrastructure, and marginalized neighborhoods. Dearborn shows that sustained community documentation, youth leadership, legal partnerships, and media attention can reshape policy—even in regions dominated by powerful industrial interests.³⁴¹⁰ At the same time, Dearborn’s experience highlights the limits of reform when state law constrains local authority. While Michigan’s home-rule framework allowed cities like Detroit and Dearborn to push forward, Virginia’s Dillon Rule presents additional barriers. Still, Dearborn demonstrates that environmental justice is not a single policy victory, but a long-term process of organizing, evidence-building, and institutional change.²⁴¹¹