MACKINAW CITY, Mich. -- A group of artisans from Lummi Nation is carrying a 25-foot carved totem pole from Washington state to Washington, D.C., and making its last stop in Mackinaw City on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The group, the House of Tears Carvers, is raising awareness about the need to protect sacred sites at risk from development and natural-resource extraction.

The Line 5 dual pipelines run under the Straits of Mackinac and have spilled more than a million gallons of oil into the surrounding waters over 50 years.

Whitney Gravelle, executive council president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, said more than half of Bay Mills citizens rely on the Straits of Mackinac for commercial and subsistence fishing.

"Our Anishinaabe teachings, our creation stories, our history here are all tied to the Straits area," Gravelle explained. "It is literally one of the centerpieces for cultural contact and interaction for thousands of years."

Bay Mills Indian Community, as a signatory of the 1836 Treaty of Washington, reserves the right to fish, hunt and gather in the Straits of Mackinac and the surrounding region. Gravelle argued treaty rights are put at risk by the Line 5 pipelines. The House of Tears Carvers is holding a blessing ceremony at Michilimackinac State Park today.

Gravelle pointed out her community has been engaged in efforts for years against the pipelines, both in legislative and policy arenas, as well as through activism.

"Our tribal citizens have been extremely active and involved in these grassroots organized movements in order to raise awareness," Gravelle recounted. "Not only about Line 5, but on the numerous effects that we're seeing from climate change, pollution or other environmental degradation across the state of Michigan."

Gravelle added the Straits of Mackinac also have great historical value. There are terrestrial and bottomland archeological sites, submerged paleo landscapes, cemeteries and isolated human burials.

She emphasized understanding the culture and history of the area helps us understand where we need to go in the future.

"That's why Bay Mills Indian community continues to do this work, why we're collaborating with other tribal nations, like the Lummi Nation," Gravelle stressed. "To bring awareness to these issues, so that we can preserve and protect everything for the next seven generations."

Chemical plants in West Virginia and other states will be required to curb emissions of toxic, cancer causing pollutants - such as ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other chemicals - under a new Environmental Protection Agency rule.

Hundreds of facilities, most located near low-income or communities of color, will also have to collect air pollution data and submit it to the EPA.

The data will also be made available to communities, which Jeremy Symons - a senior advisor with the Environmental Protection Network - said is an important tool for transparency and environmental justice.

"Not only will this action by EPA reduce these dangerous toxic air pollutants by 96%," said Symons, "but they're also going to require chemical plants to install fenceline air-pollution monitors."

Research has shown that long-term exposure to ethylene oxide and chloroprene can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer and liver cancer.

Children are particularly at risk.

The Biden administration says the rule will slash more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year in affected regions.

Symons, a former EPA advisor, said the rules come after years of work by local community members and environmental organizations that have sounded the alarm on the impact of deadly air pollution.

"There's been especially high cancer rates in these communities," said Symons. "So it's really significant that EPA has taken action and gone into the communities that have not been protected as much as they should be in the past."

A handful of companies in West Virginia - including Chemours, Koppers and Altivia - will have to comply with the new rules.

Investigative reporting published in 2021 by Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica have revealed how toxic chemical pollution has harmed the state's majority Black communities.

People working for environmental justice are rallying today at the downtown Pittsburgh headquarters of U.S. Steel, voicing their concerns to company shareholders about creating a healthier future in the Monongahela Valley region.

Japan's Nippon Steel is buying U.S. Steel for more than $14 billion.

Duquesne Mayor Nickole Nesby, an environmental-justice organizer with the group 412Justice, said the asthma rate in the Mon Valley is four to five times higher than the national average. She pointed out they're being left out of important conversations about the sale and are urging better health protections.

"We are actually gathering to demand a seat at the table," she said. "We -- the communities which have been impacted by the pollutants for decades -- have not had a seat at the table. Our voice needs to be heard."

U.S. Steel has had a presence in the Mon Valley since 1901 and currently employs more than 3,000 workers. Nesby said the sale isn't supposed to affect local employment, as U.S. Steel has said it will keep the contract as it currently exists.

U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works, which includes the Clairton Coke Works, is the biggest coke plant in the country.

NaTisha Washington, communications manager for the Breathe Project, said the plants have a long history of breaking air-quality rules and facing complaints. She added that the plants keep getting fined for exceeding pollution limits - and even have trouble getting new permits.

"There is no transparency with the communities about these air quality days being bad," she said. "No protections, no resources like air filters, or anything that's supporting residents that are affected by these bad-air days."

Washington added that money is being put into a clean-air fund and a Community Benefit Trust. But there has been no visible improvement to community health so far. She noted many Mon Valley residents are feeling the impacts of either poor air or water quality.

Environmental organizations in Virginia have united in opposition to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's picks for the state Environmental Justice Council.

In the last two years, the council has been short several members, unable to reach a quorum or conduct official votes. But critics point out that most of the new appointees have strong ties to the fossil-fuel industries that cause environmental harm.

Tim Cywinski, communications director for the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter, said there's no upside to the new appointments.

"People who are tied to the fossil-fuel industry are not going to be helpful in initiatives that are meant to reduce pollution and improve public health, to make sure that people aren't affected by toxic air from polluting projects, toxic water from polluting projects," he said.

The groups also have said new appointees don't meet certain background requirements to be on the council. They've signed a letter asking the General Assembly to reject the appointees. Instead, Cywinski suggested, Youngkin should appoint the people whose terms expired. He noted that their backgrounds are better suited to recognizing the social and environmental challenges facing some communities.

Projects are already underway in areas sensitive to environmental issues. In Petersburg, a methane pipeline extension and compressor station are being proposed despite the concerns listed in an Environmental Impact Statement. Petersburg already ranks as the "least healthy" place in Virginia.

Cywinski said it's distressing Youngkin hasn't taken up policies protecting these areas.

"I wish we didn't have to have environmental-justice projects," he said. "I wish there was more humanity in the development and planning of energy plants or power plants, or infrastructure projects - but there are not."

Pipeline projects can cause damage to surrounding forests, which means losing valuable water and air filtration. In addition, methane leaks are already common. Based on current environmental impacts, Petersburg residents have a lifespan about a decade lower than the national average.