(WASHINGTON) — Two key members of the far-right Proud Boys group testified Tuesday hoping to prove their innocence in the seditious conspiracy case against them for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, while admitting some of their actions were wrong.
Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola both acknowledged their wrongdoing when they breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, during the riot.
“I basically trespassed through all the breaches,” Pezzola testified, describing how he pushed his way through multiple police lines before entering the building.
Pezzola, who also goes by the nickname “Spaz,” admitted to using a police officer’s riot shield to smash a Capitol building window and then trespassing in the building for more than 20 minutes.
Asked by his attorney why he decided to take the stand, Pezzola said, “to take responsibility” for what he did on Jan. 6 and explain that his co-defendants were not involved in many of his actions.
Pezzola and Rehl, along with three other Proud Boys leaders, are charged with seditious conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and actual obstruction of the 2020 election certification, as well as assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and destruction of government property.
Pezzola faces an additional charge of robbery for allegedly stealing the riot shield he used to smash the window. He denied the allegation on Tuesday, saying he got the shield from someone else.
Federal prosecutors seeking to discredit Rehl, president of the group’s Philadelphia chapter, presented video evidence that they suggested showed Rehl macing police at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Over the course of his own testimony, Rehl repeatedly said under oath that he did not assault officers. He is not charged with assaulting officers with a chemical spray.
Asked directly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson if he was “spraying at police officers,” Rehl responded: “Not that I recall.”
Kenerson showed the jury multiple camera angles of a person wearing what he suggested was identical attire to Rehl moving through the crowd. Rehl said he could not confirm the person was him. Images of the person were obscured and low resolution as Kenerson moved frame by frame through the sequence.
“It’s a really grainy video,” Rehl said, adding at one point that he could not “confirm or deny” the person was him.
Rehl has been testifying over the past week in the seditious conspiracy case against him. The jury trial has dragged on for months with a variety of tedious procedural hurdles since jury selection began in December.
Responding to questions from his attorney Carmen Hernandez last week, Rehl cast the Proud Boys as a rowdy social club — a stark contrast from prosecutors’ characterization of the group as a far-right militia intent on overthrowing the U.S. government.
“Yeah, we’d party … we’d go get lit,” Rehl said in reference to social gatherings the group had after attending a protest.
The parties at times were unrelated to any protests, Rehl said, referring to the group’s occasional travel to Las Vegas.
“We go out there and we just get trashed all weekend,” Rehl said. “We get drunk. We gamble. We meet other guys from other chapters. It’s a great time.”
To close out his testimony, Rehl apologized to members of the jury, “if you believe I did anything wrong that day.” He acknowledged he should not have entered the Capitol building and said it was a mistake to have smoked a cigarette in the building.
“It was a terrible day,” Rehl said. “A lot of bad stuff happened.”
(BOWDOIN, Maine) — A 34-year-old man has been arrested in connection to the deaths of four people who were found dead inside a home Tuesday, according to Maine State Police.
Police announced Tuesday evening that Joseph Eaton has been charged with the murder of the four victims.
“Investigators will be working throughout the night processing multiple scenes and continuing to interview people involved with this incident,” police said in a statement.
Eaton was sent to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset and is expected to make an initial court appearance later this week, police said.
Four people were first found dead inside a home in Bowdoin, and a short time later, around 10:30 a.m., three people were shot while driving south on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, police said. Authorities said the incidents were connected.
Maine State Police previously said there’s no threat to the public.
The interstate victims have been hospitalized. One person is in critical condition, police said.
The cause and manner of death of the four people found dead in Bowdoin have not yet been determined, according to police.
Netflix announced Tuesday that it would be sending its last red envelope on Sept. 29, 2023, ending its DVD mailing service after 25 years.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” the company said in part of a statement shared with ABC News.
The now-ubiquitous streaming company began sending rented DVDs by mail in April 1998. Nearly a decade after its first disc was shipped out in a red envelope (that movie was Beetlejuice, by the way), the company introduced its online streaming and video service in 2007.
Since then, Netflix says it has sent over 5.2 billion mailer DVDs and accrued more than 230 million paid memberships for its streaming services. The company is currently valued at around $150 billion.
The move comes as the streaming giant continues to make its foray into producing and investing in original content. In March, Netflix won six major Oscars at the 95th Academy Awards, including best international feature for All Quiet on the Western Front and best animated feature film for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
“We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday, in part.
Netflix released its Q1 earnings report on April 18 at 6 p.m. ET.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Tyre Nichols’ family plans to sue the city of Memphis, Tennessee and its police department over his death following a violent traffic stop in the city, their attorneys said.
Nichols, 29, died three days after he was beaten by police during a Jan. 7 traffic stop. Body camera footage of the altercation showed officers striking Nichols repeatedly.
His family’s attorneys — Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci and local counsel, retired Judge Earnestine Hunt Dorse — said they will announce the filing of a civil lawsuit against the city and its police department on Wednesday.
The attorneys also plan to sue Memphis police for “intentional infliction of emotional distress for lying to his mother,” Crump’s office said in a statement.
Members of Nichols’ family will be attending a Wednesday afternoon press briefing outside the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office in Memphis to announce the filing, Crump’s office said.
ABC News has reached out to the city of Memphis for comment on the pending litigation.
All five officers who were directly involved in the beating have been charged with second-degree murder. The officers all pleaded not guilty in their first court appearance on Feb. 17.
Seven other police officers were terminated following the incident, according to city of Memphis chief legal officer Jennifer Sink.
The incident has also sparked a Department of Justice review of the Memphis Police Department’s use-of-force and de-escalation policies.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — The Orlando-based import export company Metalhouse LLC touts itself as a “highly reputable global trading partner for steel products” but federal prosecutors said the company’s president was anything but reputable.
The U.S. Department of Justice arrested businessman John Can Unsalan on charges that he aided in a three-year scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against oligarch Sergey Kurchenko, a Ukrainian national who made his fortune selling natural gas.
According to the indictment, Unsalan provided Kurchenko with more than $150 million in return for steelmaking materials.
“The arrest of John Can Unsalan should serve as a warning to those who seek to do business with sanctioned individuals or entities that endanger the security of the United States and our allies,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The Justice Department is relentlessly pursuing those whose seek to evade sanctions imposed against the Russian regime and whose crimes enable the regime to continue its unjust, illegal war in Ukraine.”
Kurchenko was sanctioned in 2015 for his role in misappropriating state assets of Ukraine.
He controlled two sanctioned companies — Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans, OOO, based in the Russian Federation, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis based in the Russian-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia — which were sanctioned in 2018 for acting on behalf of and providing material support to the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in the separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.
Unsalan engaged in trade with these sanctioned individuals and entities to procure steelmaking equipment and raw material despite knowing that Kurchenko, Gaz-Alyans and Vneshtorgservis were subject to U.S. sanctions that prohibited Unsalan from doing business with them, the indictment said.
The Florida businessman is charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, 10 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and 10 counts of international money laundering.
He faces up to 20 years in prison.
“As highlighted by this arrest, we are firmly committed to enforcing the sanctions imposed by the United States against Russia for its malevolent military invasion of Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg said.
The investigation was led by the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, which has been seizing assets of sanctioned oligarchs and cracking down on people who allegedly help them evade sanctions.
(WASHINGTON) — The Air Force on Tuesday said it has begun its own investigation into how a young airman allegedly was able to access possibly hundreds of highly classified documents he’s accused of posting on the internet.
Top officials also announced that the unit 21-year-old Airman 1st Class Teixeira was assigned to — Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts — has been removed from its intelligence mission and its work is now being done by other units.
“I’ve tasked our inspector general to go look at the unit and anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong from the point of view of implementing our policies — to see what things allowed this to happen,” Secretary of the Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
An Air Force statement explained that the IG’s review would “investigate overall compliance with policy, procedures, and standards, including the unit environment and compliance at the 102nd Intelligence Wing related to the release of national security information.”
“The 102nd Intelligence Wing is not currently performing its assigned intelligence mission,” said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokesperson. “The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force.”
“There is a full court press going on about this,” Kendall told senators. “We’re all disturbed by it and we’re working very very hard to get to the bottom of it and take corrective action.”
Members of the congressional panel expressed disbelief that Teixeira allegedly had been able to leak information on to the Discord website for months without being detected.
“How could this guardsman take this information and distribute it electronically for weeks, if not months, and nobody knew about it?” said the subcommittee’s chairman, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
“It appears that this was going on for many months without the airman allegedly being caught. And when he was caught, it was because of investigative journalism, not the controls within the Air Force,” said GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. “That is equally disturbing.”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown told the committee that the Air Force has procedures in place to protect classified information but “obviously in this case this process fell apart.”
Brown provided the first indications that while Teixeira had a highly classified TS-SCI (Top Secret – Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearance he did not have a “need to know” access to the documents as part of his job as a IT specialist.
“The aspect of this particular airman, for his particular job he had access to information, but he didn’t necessarily have need to know for some of the information,” said Brown.
“Because of his duties he had access to some aspects based on his job as a cyber administrator. He took advantage of that access,” said Brown.
Brown also said the Air Force would put in place a service-wide review of security procedures to take place over the next 30 days within each Air Force unit.
“The focus of the standdown will be to reassess our security posture and procedures, validate the need to know for each person’s access, and emphasize to all Airmen and Guardians the responsibility we are entrusted with to safeguard this information and to enforce and improve our security requirements,” said the Air Force statement.
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Andrew Lester, the suspect in the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, has been released from custody after posting a $200,000 bond, authorities said.
Lester surrendered at the Clay County Detention Center on Tuesday and was released a few hours later after posting bond, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said.
Lester, an 84-year-old white man, was charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree and one count of armed criminal action, also a felony, Clay County prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson said during a press conference Monday evening.
Ralph Yarl was shot Thursday night by a homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri, after he accidentally went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings, police said on Sunday.
“He knowingly caused physical injury to [Yarl] by shooting him,” Thompson said, adding that the first count is a class A felony with a sentence of up to life in prison, while the second count is an unclassified felony and carries a range of punishment of 3-15 years in prison.
In his statement to police, Lester said he “had just laid down in bed when he heard the doorbell ring,” according to the probable cause statement.
Lester told police he picked up his gun, a .32 Smith & Wesson 1888 revolver, and went to the front door, which consists of an interior main door and exterior glass storm door, both of which were locked, the statement reads.
“Lester stated he opened the interior door, and saw a black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle. He stated he believed someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door,” the statement reads.
Lester told police he had never seen the man before and that “no words were exchanged during the incident and the male had not said anything prior to pulling on the door handle,” according to the probable cause statement.
The suspect told police “it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was ‘scared to death’ due to the male’s size,” his own age, and his “inability to defend himself,” the statement reads.
Police conducted an informal cursory interview with Yarl at Children’s Mercy Hospital on Friday, according to the probable cause statement. Yarl told police he parked in the driveway, went to the front door, “pressed the doorbell and waited outside the front door,” the statement reads. Yarl told police the man inside “took a long time but finally opened the door holding a firearm,” and then “he was immediately shot in the head and fell to the ground,” according to the statement.
Yarl told police he got up and “ran away to keep from being shot,” and that the man allegedly said “don’t come around here,” according to the probable cause statement.
Yarl told police he went to multiple residences to ask for help and tell people to call the police, the statement reads.
Attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the Yarl family along with attorney Ben Crump, told ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis in an interview Monday that the family is “relieved” that charges have been filed.
“Because of the national outpouring, because of the community of Missouri that stood up, because of all the national organizers and people who have lent their voice — it seems that the prosecutors and law enforcement agencies on the ground are taking the case more seriously,” Merritt said.
The case garnered national attention over the weekend, and the White House confirmed to ABC News that President Joe Biden spoke with the Yarl family on Monday.
“This evening, the president spoke by phone to Ralph Yarl and shared his hope for a swift recovery,” the White House said Monday night.
“Ralph just got off the phone with the president of the United States today, who assured him that, you know, that he was and the rest of the nation was invested in justice for him,” Merritt told ABC News.
Ralph’s aunt Faith Spoonmore told ABC News Live Prime in an interview Monday before charges were announced that Ralph was shot in the head through a glass door and then in the arm and suffered a traumatic brain injury and an injury in his arm.
“He is healing. We are taking it one day at a time,” she said, adding that the shooting has also taken an emotional toll on the family.
The charges came after protests erupted in Kansas City over the weekend after Lester, who was unidentified at the time, was taken into custody and then released pending an investigation by the Kansas City Police Department.
“We understand how frustrating this has been,” Thompson said. “But I can assure you that the criminal justice system is working and will continue to work. As with any serious case, we approached this one in an objective and impartial manner.”
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said during a press conference Sunday evening that after the shooting, the suspect was taken into police custody and placed on a 24-hour investigative hold but had since been released while police investigate and present evidence to the prosecutor’s office.
“After consulting with the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office, the homeowner was released pending further investigation due to the need to obtain a formal statement from the victim, forensic evidence and compile additional information for a case file to be presented,” Graves said on Sunday.
Police announced on Monday afternoon that they submitted the case to the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office; prosecutors announced the charges two hours later.
Crump and Merritt said in a statement released Monday evening that the family is “extremely relieved that criminal charges are finally moving forward.”
“‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ We are relieved that charges are finally moving forward but are disappointed in the delay that necessitated national outcry for an obvious crime,” Merritt said in a statement. “We are cautiously optimistic about accountability and justice.”
Merritt said that Ralph was released from the hospital on Saturday and is in the care of his doctors at home. He said that the family now wants to “see this man held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
“Despite of everything, we are grateful that he is alive because considering what he went through, I don’t think the person who did this intended that he will be alive,” Spoonmore told ABC News. “… We are upset, we are angry, but we also understand that it could have been much worse.”
ABC News’ Matt Foster, Justin Gomez and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Dominion Voting Systems, in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit, has accused Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor, in what Dominion claims was an effort to combat concerns over declining ratings and viewer retention. Fox has defended its coverage, dismissing the suit as a “political crusade in search of a financial windfall.”
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 18, 4:55 PM EDT
Fox has ‘admitted telling lies,’ says Dominion CEO
“Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said outside the courthouse following the announcement of a settlement. It was not immediately clear where this admission took place, beyond Fox’s statement that “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false” — or whether Fox News had agreed to a more formal acknowledgement in a public way.
And at the end of the press conference, Davinda Cook, another lawyer for Dominion, might have teased potential future actions when she told reporters, “Thank you … to help expose what we were able to discover over the course of this process.”
“Thank you, and we’ll see you at the next one,” she said.
– ABC’s Lucien Bruggeman
Apr 18, 4:37 PM EDT
Fox to pay $787.5 million in settlement
“Truth matters. Lies have consequences,” said Justin Nelson, an attorney for Dominion Voting Systems, as he announced details of the company’s settlement with Fox News during a press conference following the court’s adjournment.
“Today’s settlement of $787,500,000 represents vindication and accountability,” Nelson said. “Today represents a ringing endorsement for truth and for democracy.”
Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion.
The CEO of Dominion, John Poulos, called it an “historic settlement.”
“Throughout this process, we have sought accountability,” Poulos said. “Truthful reporting in the media is essential to democracy.”
Apr 18, 4:20 PM EDT
Fox News ‘pleased’ with settlement
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems,” Fox News officials said in a statement after an agreement had been reached. “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
“We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues,” the statement said.
Apr 18, 4:11 PM EDT
Settlement reached between Dominion, Fox News
A settlement has been reached in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Judge Eric Davis has announced in the courtroom.
“The parties have resolved their case,” the judge said.
“We wish to express our deepest appreciation” to the court, a Dominion attorney told the judge.
Davis commended both teams, saying, “I’ve been on the bench since 2010 … and I think this is the best lawyering I’ve had, ever.”
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed before court was adjourned.
A press conference was expected to follow.
Apr 18, 3:22 PM EDT
Opening statements delayed
Opening statements were scheduled to get underway at 1:30 p.m. ET, but have yet to begin.
No word has been provided regarding the cause of the delay.
Neither Judge Eric Davis nor the jury are in the courtroom during the delay.
Apr 18, 1:34 PM EDT
Judge authorizes special master over potential ‘discovery issues’
After sanctioning Fox News last week for a delay in turning over evidence, Judge Eric Davis has now officially authorized a special master to investigate Fox News’ potential “discovery issues,” according to a new order from the judge.
The order comes just before opening arguments in the case are scheduled to begin.
According to the order, the investigation by the special master will “include a determination” of whether Fox News and Fox Corp “complied with their discovery obligations.”
The special master, who was previously appointed to oversee discovery in the case, is now “further authorized and empowered” to look into multiple declarations made by Fox attorneys in the case, the order says.
Apr 18, 11:40 AM EDT
You aren’t ‘Dick Tracy,’ judge tells jurors
In his initial instructions to the jury, Judge Eric Davis told jurors not to talk amongst themselves or discuss the case with family or friends.
“You have to fight human nature. This is the hardest thing you’ll have to do during the trial,” Davis said. “You have to refrain from talking about the case with your fellow jurors or a third party.”
The judge also reminded the jurors that they are not Dick Tracy.
“Do not do any detective work,” he said. “You cannot do any independent research about this case.”
Davis told jurors they can bring water or some other beverage into the courtroom, provided it has a cap or lid.
“You can bring some type of drink,” Davis said, jokingly adding, “non-alcoholic.”
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
Apr 18, 11:30 AM EDT
Jury is seated
A jury has been seated to hear the defamation accusations against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems.
The jury is made up of six women and six men who were previously asked about their Fox News viewing habits. Six women and six men were also seated as alternates.
The jurors will remain anonymous for the duration of the trial. Judge Eric Davis had expressed concern about possible jury tampering amid the international attention on the case.
Immediately after the jurors were sworn in, alternate juror No. 3 raised his hand from his seat and told the judge, “Sir I can’t do this. I’ve been up all night. I can’t do this.”
Judge Davis offered to talk with the man off the bench and, ultimately, opted to dismiss him from service.
“I’ve excused alternate No. 3 and we will swear in a new No. 3,” Davis said.
Apr 18, 9:30 AM EDT
Jury selection underway
Jury selection is underway Tuesday morning at Delaware Superior Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The jury is expected to be seated by the end of the morning, with opening statements expected to begin shortly thereafter, according to the judge in the case.
Apr 17, 10:42 AM EDT
Judge says trial will proceed Tuesday
The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News said Monday morning that the trial will proceed Tuesday, saying a delay like this “is not unusual.”
Judge Eric Davis’ remarks in court Monday morning came after an [eleventh-hour delay]} in the case was announced Sunday night before the trial was set to begin Monday morning.
The Wall Street Journal — a publication owned by Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch — reported Sunday night that Fox had made a “late push to settle the dispute out of court,” according to “people familiar with the decision.”
Judge Davis made no mention of potential settlement talks Monday morning.
“It’s a six-week trial, things happen,” he said.
Apr 18, 9:30 AM EDT
Jury selection underway
Jury selection is underway Tuesday morning at Delaware Superior Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The jury is expected to be seated by the end of the morning, with opening statements expected to begin shortly thereafter, according to the judge in the case.
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — A pregnant woman was fatally shot after a group of teenagers allegedly fired at her car in an apparent case of mistaken identity, police said.
Kerisha Johnson, 36, was shot early Sunday while attempting to pick up people from a party in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police said.
Johnson, who was nine months pregnant and “due to give birth within several days,” was found dead inside her car by officers responding to reports of shots fired, according to an arrest warrant.
During their investigation, police found that the event was promoted as an Easter party, attended by mostly teens.
Detectives learned that Johnson was driving toward the party when “several individuals” began firing at her white sedan — believing she was someone who, driving a similar car, earlier shot into the air near the party, according to the warrant.
Johnson attempted to flee but was struck by gunfire, killing her and her unborn child, according to the warrant.
“It was just senseless,” Deanna Williams, a childhood friend of Johnson, told Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ. “She was an innocent person.”
The alleged gunmen were captured on video footage “raising firearms, pointing them at the victim’s vehicle and then firing,” before fleeing the scene, according to the warrant.
Baton Rouge police arrested three teenagers in connection with the shooting. Marques Porch, Gregory Parker and Derrick Curry, all 19, were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree feticide, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
They allegedly told detectives they were armed at the time of the shooting, according to the warrant.
“They all stated that they believed the white car was a vehicle from earlier in the night where [an] occupant had fired a round into the air as it drove past the teen party,” the warrant stated.
Porch allegedly told authorities he provided the firearms to the other two teens before the shooting, according to the warrant. He was shot but sustained non-life-threatening injuries while fleeing the scene, police said.
The three suspects were ordered held without bond during a court appearance on Monday, East Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse officials confirmed to ABC News. They are being held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, online jail records show.
Porch was, up until his arrest, a corrections employee with the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office. He was a corrections officer from June to November 2022, before returning as a part-time employee in February as a transportation driver, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson. He was “immediately terminated” on Sunday upon notification of his arrest, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — More than a century ago, an accidental oasis in the California desert created a popular residential and vacation spot for families.
But over the last few decades, environmental experts say climate change and drought in the Salton Sea have led to a destination that’s been plagued with dust bowls, receding waters and other hazards.
“When we came here, from the window of my house [I] could see it. So, I thought it was beautiful where I lived,” Nancy del Castillo, who moved to a community near the sea with her family nine years ago, told ABC News. “But when they told me, ‘Oh let’s go closer to the lake’…I said, ‘Oh God, what is happening?’ There were dead fish.”
As environmentalists and community activists call for more help in the region over this issue, the environment is also at the center of another environmental quandary.
The Salton Sea was created in the early 20th century after an irrigation canal off the Colorado River burst and flooded the Salton Basin. Homes and other properties were built around the oasis and became the go-to location for people in Los Angeles looking for more space and a coastal environment.
But in the last 25 years, the Salton Sea has become California’s most polluted inland lake, and has lost a third of its water. In the last decade alone, the river lost 38 square miles.
Several factors have contributed to this loss, including the state’s drought and the decreasing levels in the Colorado River.
Environmentalists argue that one of the biggest causes was a 2003 water transfer deal that several Southern California water boards signed off on that agreed to significantly reduce the water supply to the Salton Sea and send more water to San Diego.
Ann Cheney, a medical anthropologist for the University of California Riverside, told ABC News that the sea’s dry-up has resulted in the waterbody being filled with fertilizer and other toxic pesticides, which are spread into the air as dust particles.
“When there are wind storms, it picks up the dust and brings it into people’s homes. Children are breathing this in the homes they are living in,” she told ABC News.
The air is so toxic that the asthma rate for the communities around the sea is 22% compared to the national average of roughly 8%, according to Shohreh Farzan, a USC researcher who has been collecting samples from the air particles at elementary schools around the Salton Sea since 2017.
Conchita Pozar, a community advocate who has worked with environmentalists on the Salton Sea’s issues, told ABC News that many of the residents who live near the sea are low-income families and immigrants, and are afraid of speaking out because of immigration fears.
“We are living in a darkness where we cannot say what is happening in fear of deportation. But diseases are winning,” she said.
A ten-year cleanup program is underway to improve the basin and try to clean the air, but the area did not see any of the record rain that hit the area recently.
The California Natural Resources Board has also provided hay bales that act to suppress dust storms, but there are questions about how effective they can be. Luis Olmedo, the executive director of Comite Civico Del Valle Inc, a nonprofit that works to build healthy communities, told ABC News that more work needs to be done.
“We’re basically a sacrifice zone at this point,” he said.
Olmedo added that the community must also be part of the discussions about the future of the area, as California is looking to mine the desert near the basin for lithium, which is a key mineral in the production of EV batteries, by using areas already producing geothermal energy.
A California state report estimates there’s enough lithium here to produce 600,000 tons per year which would be the most produced in the world, and that could mean up to $7 billion per year. A law was signed last year that allowed Imperial County to tax every metric ton of lithium produced.
Olmedo, who sits on the state’s lithium commission board, said the state needed to balance the rewards the community could get from these future projects with the state of its environment.
“So just because we’re enthusiastic doesn’t mean that we’re going to look away from all the potential environmental harm,” he said.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
