Since 2021, South Tacoma Economic Green Zone (STEGZ) has been driven by the low-income, underrepresented community’s need to move away from heavy industrial pollution and create a new “green” land-use code – to incentivize eco-businesses not only for improved public health, but to protect the South Tacoma Aquifer. According to the EPA, since 1892 improper waste disposal and site activities have contaminated soil and groundwater within the South Tacoma Aquifer area. One of Tacoma’s lowest-income and most racially diverse communities, South Tacoma continues to be disproportionately impacted by heavy-industrial zoning and plagued by some of the worst air pollution and illness/mortality rates in the country, and a mega-warehouse – one of the largest in the world, covering some of the area’s last greenspace – has just begun construction. Undeterred, STEGZ continues the fight for health impact assessments for new developments, updated groundwater protection codes, and a moratorium on development until codes and further studies are conducted.
In a formerly redlined South Tacoma neighborhood, heavy industrial zoning near schools, daycares, hospitals, and homes creates health risks for the area’s diverse residents—58% non-white with 41% of children below the poverty line. Led by Heidi Stephens, the all-volunteer group fights environmental discrimination and for economic opportunity. Originally the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council, STEGZ achieved victory in June 2022 when the Tacoma City Council passed Phase 1A of their land use code amendments protecting groundwater. Beyond battling a mega-warehouse on a partially remediated EPA Superfund site over a Critical Aquifer Recharge Area, STEGZ actively participates in implementing the South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan, advocating for corridor safety improvements, groundwater protection updates, and stormwater management while serving as a vigilant watchdog for their vulnerable community.
In South Tacoma, Bridge Industrial prepares to build a massive warehouse complex on a delisted Superfund site. Residents and environmental activists are concerned about impacts on local wetlands, air quality, the aquifer, increased traffic and pollution in an already burdened low-income community.