Environmental injustices

A Los Angeles Times article last month brought attention to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent efforts to expose the environmental injustice that exist in low-income communities. The agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council held a meeting in late July to create national guidelines and ways of implementing these changes in areas that are at risk. It wasn’t too long ago, during the Clinton-era, when environmental injustice was receiving national media attention after Clinton implemented the Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.

The Executive Order stated that it would:

1. Promote enforcement of all health and environmental statutes in areas with minority populations and low-income populations
2. Ensure greater public participation
3. Improve research and data collection relating to the health of and environment of minority populations and low-income populations
4. Identify differential patterns of consumption of natural resources among minority populations and low-income populations.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, Environmental Justice is:

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people should bear a disproportionate risk…that people have the opportunity to participate in decisions and activities that may affect their environment and/or health…the decision makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration did not take into consideration any of these guidelines nor did they pay attention to the mandate of Clinton’s executive order. The Bush administration allowed hazardous waste recycling plants to dispose of more than 1 million pounds of toxic waste without repercussions. To add to the already wretched fact, several of these sites were located in communities largely populated by people of color and low-income folks.

Even though Obama and his administration have made an effort to reinstate the Clinton’s 1994 executive order, environmental injustice is still occurring across the national. Counterpunch released an article by Gregory V. Button, a professor at the University of Tennessee, titled The Search for Environmental Justice in Perry County, Alabama on July 16th of this year. In December of 2008 the Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant had a coal ash spill disaster in Kingston, Tennessee. Without the knowledge of the citizens of Perry County, higher level officials made the decision to approve the disposal of three millions tons of coal ash waste in this county. Keep in mind, ash coal waste contains significant levels of 14 toxic substances including arsenic, lead, mercury selenium and radioactive elements. These cancerous toxins would be moved to a county that is the second poorest in Alabama where the median income is around $24,000 and the demographic is 70% African-American. States official say they made the decision to approve the dumping in order to provide more employment in the county. The short term benefits do not cancel out the long term impact the waste will have on the environment and the health of Perry County residents.

Although Perry County has not followed through with the dumping of coal ash waste, this does not mean that shipment of toxic waste to other areas has not already happened. Waste recycling plants already exist only a few hundred yards from schools and residential areas, for example the Los Angeles times mentioned that a hazardous waste transportation company in Wilmington, CA just twenty five feet form a residential area.  The Baltimore City Paper printed an article last month that covered a story on toxic gases seeping from the ground and the fact that it was news to many of the impoverished residents. Families have the right to know what is going on in their communities and have the right to know that they are able to make these decisions. Several of the residents in these communities were unaware of the hazardous waste that was located so close to their homes and contaminating their soil, endocrine systems, and ground water. It is important for us to stay aware of the changes that are going on close to our homes and remind people that preserving and respecting our health is a human right.

By Leticia Contreras, Community Mobilization Program Intern