In a never-ending quest to make their research relevant enough to assure government grant renewal, scientists at MIT’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences set out to show that when wind turbines are used to reduce air pollution from fossil fuel power plants, white people benefit more than black people.

MIT News reports:

“Wind power that was associated with state-level policies improved air quality overall, resulting in $2 billion in health benefits across the country. However, only roughly 30 percent of these health benefits reached disadvantaged communities.”

Using sophisticated atmospheric chemistry models environmental justice scientists searched for strategies that would shift air pollution away from racial minorities toward the more affluent, thereby increasing equality. Alas, while everyone benefitted under all simulated scenarios “communities of color and low-income communities still experienced smaller health benefits than more well-off communities.”

“We got to the end of the road and said, there’s no way we can address this disparity by being smarter in deciding which plants to displace.”

Further taxpayer supported research using ever more complex mathematical models is clearly required to eliminate the horrors of systemic windmill racism.