Hyde Park, Georgia
Hyde Park is a district in the American city of Augusta, Georgia, developed in the 1940s. Due to the low value of the land due to swamp, it was predominantly populated by African American sharecroppers from nearby rural areas. It was the subject of a $1.2 million United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study of the air, groundwater, and soil in the area to determine the health risks from environmental contaminants. The area was divided into five neighborhoods with two of the five finding high levels of arsenic, chromium, and dioxin in the soil and groundwater. Significant levels of PCBs and lead were found in all five neighborhoods. Despite this, officials determined that the chemicals found in the area did not constitute great risk to health. Hyde and Aragon Park Improvement Committee (HAPIC) A Hyde Park committee was created in 1968 to lobby for improved living conditions for the area. This committee secured running water, paved streets, street lights, sewer lines, and drainage ditches for the area. As tests revealed the unsafe levels of chemicals flowing into the area from factories, such as the Southern Wood Piedmont, HAPIC began to focus more on environmental justice. A class action lawsuit filed