Transcript Environmental Justice Are there adequate safeguards in place to protect disadvantaged communities from industrial by-products?

Environmental Justice
Are there adequate safeguards in place
to protect disadvantaged communities
from industrial by-products?
Environmental Racism in the U.S.
Background
Studies and Reports





1897-1992 James Hamilton
1997 Los Angeles, Hazardous waste
facilities
2007 University of Colorado,
Boulder
1993 Seema Aurora and Timothy
Carson
1987, 2007 United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice
2007 Report Findings

National Disparities for location of commercial
hazardous waster facilities




Host neighborhoods = 56% people of color
Non-host neighborhoods = 30% people of color.
Neighborhoods with Clustered Facilities Neighborhoods with hazardous waste facilities
clustered close together have populations with
69% people of color, while neighborhoods without
clustered facilities have populations with 51%
people of color.
State Disparities - Out of 44 states that have
hazardous waste facilities, 40 of these states have
disproportionately high percentages of people of
color living within 3 kilometers of the facilities.
Prominent Examples of Environmental
Hazards






Lead
Waste Sites
Air Pollution
Pesticides
Wastewater (City Sewers)
Wastewater - (Agricultural Runoff)
Warren County
1982 - Warren County PCB Landfill
Commission for Racial Justice
http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/WarrenPhotoEssay.html
Close to Home

http://rogersroad.wordpress.com/
History of Legislation

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides the
theoretical legal basis


fair treatment and meaningful involvement of
all people regardless of race, color, national
origin, or income
A 1994 Presidential Executive Order
directed every Federal agency to make
environmental justice part of its mission
by identifying and addressing the effects
of all programs, policies, and activities on
"minority populations and low-income
populations."
Just because exposure occurs does
not mean that there are not
safeguards to protect the community
Clean Air Act


address the public health and welfare
risks posed by certain widespread air
pollutants
Programs under the act work to:




reduce concentrations of air pollutants that
cause smog, haze, and acid rain
reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants that
are known/thought to cause cancer serious
health effects
phase out production and use of chemicals that
destroy the ozone layer
Section 112: emissions of hazardous air
pollutants

“maximum achievable control technology”
Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water

Safe Drinking Water


Standards for disposal of waste
underground to avoid contamination of
drinking water (Injection Systems)
Clean Water Act


specify the maximum allowable levels
of pollutants that may be discharged
Similar to the CAA, do not require use
of a specific technology
Knowledge is Power
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
This law is designed to help local communities protect public health,
safety, and the environment from chemical hazards.

ensure that state and local communities are prepared to
respond to potential chemical accidents


MSDS reporting requirements specifically provide
information to the local community about mixtures and
chemicals present at a facility and their associated hazards


Emergency training and system reviews
“A local emergency planning committee, upon request by any
person, shall make available a material safety data sheet to the
person’
inventory of routine toxic chemical emissions from certain
facilities
Chemical Incident Prevention




the facility must rigorous, step-by-step hazard
analysis of processes, equipment, and procedures
to identify each point at which an accidental
release could occur
audits must be completed every three years and
reported to the EPA
Human and mechanical errors are the most likely
to cause faults – require maintenance and
employee continued education
Compliance check sheets are distributed to the
community to ensure the industry is following the
rules if they feel that the checks done by EPA and
OSHA are not frequent enough
Economics is a driving force behind
decision making
…Zoning Out…




first instated in New York City during the
industrial times
residential, commercial, industrial, and
agricultural
a system of land use regulation that
governs the size, shape and types of
activities that are allowed for lots and
structures
Industry regulations often include: proper
waste disposal, “dead area” around the
factory, and barriers to mark the land
Industry’s Innovations
Responsible Care
 “voluntary initiative of the global chemical
industry to safely handle our products from
inception in the research laboratory, through
manufacture and distribution, to ultimate
reuse, recycle and disposal, and to involve the
public in our decision-making processes”
 to improve environmental and safety
performance of CMA members and thereby to
improve public perception
 changing collective behavior
 provide a forum for the transfer of valuable
information
Sensationalism and Responsibility





Bhopal
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Reverse discrimination
Not In Anybody’s Backyard (reprise)
Accountability
Underlying issue is that toxic wastes are produced.
There need not be a victim or a party in the wrong.
Environmental Racism
v.
Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice


Environmental justice - beyond the procedural and
distributional equity to a more general anti-toxins
effort concerned with the clean-up of abandoned waste
sites, and now with the actual production and use of
hazardous chemicals.
Anti-toxins effort








Love Canal (Niagara Falls, New York)
Stringfellow (Riverside, California)
Times Beach (Missouri)
National Environmental Policy Act (1970),
Federal Clean Air and Water acts (1970 and 1972),
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976),
Community Right-to- Know Act (SARA Title III)
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)



Should the quest for environmental
justice merely stop with an equitable
distribution of negative externalities?
All have an equal opportunity to be
polluted--or the flip side--protected from
pollution, however ineffectively.
Environmental justice demands more
than mere exposure equity - must
incorporate democratic participation in
the production decision itself.


Move beyond cosmetic change in the distribution
of environmental problems across communities
and dares not challenge control of the decision to
pollute, and thus produce, in the first instance.
Powerful vested production interests define the
political agenda in an "either/ or" manner, where
we are given a choice of race or class
discrimination, jobs or environment, health or
economic development.
Environmental Justice Groups



Citizens Clearinghouse for
Hazardous Waste (CCHW)
Greenpeace
the Southwest Network for
Environmental and Economic Justice
Discussion



What would be an ideal world with
“justice for all”?
Who is willing to make sacrifices to
take action? What sacrifices need to
be made?
Who is ultimately responsible?
Government? Industry?
Shareholders?

What are their responsibilities?