poisoning the air in inner cities and the children who breathed it, and we are still fighting to end lead poisoning from every source. We are striving to end unsafe incineration and landfilling, which can contaminate the water people drink, the land their homes are built on, and the air they breathe. We are working to reduce pesticide use and eliminate the most toxic pesticides, so that people can eat safe food and farmworkers will not be poisoned. This is not to say that there is no room for improvement. The point is that the two movements are not so far apart as to be irreconcilable. The possibility for partnership exists, and not only in the arena of public health, but also in that of conserving natural resources. Many of the ethnic cultures of this country have deep and longstanding traditions of reverence for the natural world and an abhorrence of the exploitative practices that the mainstream environmental groups are fighting. And such partnerships can be enormously effective. The environmental justice movement has vital site-specific information, tremendous organizing ability, and expertise on questions of social justice. The national environmental groups have substantial technical, legal, and lobbying experience in environmental advocacy. The combination of these complementary skills can create a powerful synergy. Some recent examples from NRDC's experience: Joint efforts with the Mothers of East Los Angeles and Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles effected the cancellation of plans to build California's first large-scale toxic waste incinerator in a low-income, primarily Hispanic community. Our work with West Harlem Environmental Action regarding foul odors emitted by a nearby sewage plant has helped build press attention to the problem, and we expect soon to file a lawsuit. With the Cree nation of northern Quebec and with other organizations, we are beginning to articulate to the MARCH/APRIL 1992 of environmentalism in its totality, and of humankind itself. The fact of disproportionate impact means that different communities experience the environment in different ways-and therefore have differing insights and objectives. To the degree that our staffs are limited in their economic, cultural, and ethnic origin, the perspectives they bring to their environmentalism will also be limited. Our work is the poorer for it. Second-but by no means second in priority-the national groups must listen to the environmental justice activists and engage them as partners. Their priorities and perspectives must be among the factors shaping our agenda. The issues of racism, poverty, and environmental degradation are intertwined, and we cannot solve one without addressing the others. What this means is that the mainstream environmental movement must learn from those who have experience in social justice issues where we are novices. Moreover, we must come to recognize and respect the traditions of reverence for the Earth that so many communities of color have fostered, and learn from them to enrich our own perspective. And we must support the continuing growth of the environmental justice movement by sharing our resources in technical analysis, legal work, lobbying strength, and fund-raising capability. And so our most urgent need is for dialogue. It is critical that the national environmental groups listen to people of color on their own terms. Correspondingly, my plea to the environmental justice movement itself is for continued communication and participation in this dialogue. We stand ready to work with you. We have made mistakes and no doubt we will continue to make them, but we are willing to learn and trying to change. If our two movements can join forces effectively on our common issues, we will be a formidable force for genuine and lasting protection of the human environment. O Expanding the Dialogue An Environmental Justice Office is Needed by Deeohn Ferris The environmental justice such as the Gulf Coast Tenants Association, the Southwest Organizing Project, the Panos Institute, the United Church of Christ, and other grass-roots organizations impels governments, environmental groups, and social justice organizations to question the effects of their programs and policies on people of color. EPA should not only join this dialogue but, in partnership with these groups, assume a leadership role in correcting the status quo. Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Consider the example of Richmond, The keystone of this quest for justice community where nearly 400 Whether or not government programs are intended to foster disproportionate impact on people of color, the results are the same. EPA should recognize that harm perpetuated by benign inadvertence is as injurious as harm by purposeful intent. Regardless of guilt, blame, or politics, EPA should seek justice by initiating an Agency-wide priority investigation to reveal which practices, programs, and policies nurture inequality. Based upon these findings, the Agency can establish a major effort to remedy data gaps, establish long-term plans to minimize levels of exposure in communities of color, and institute environmental protection for everyone. (Ferris is Director of Environmental Quality for the National Wildlife Federation.) industrial facilities store and release Last summer, a railway-car herbicide Louisiana residents located in the were built up and down the river beginning in the 1950s. The water is contaminated soup, the air is fouled, ailments and disease levels are high. Since many residents depend on the companies for their livelihood, they suffer the combined consequences of exposure both inside and outside the plants. For decades, this dual environmental contamination has threatened their quality of life without respite, but government has paid no attention. Across the nation, similar circumstances continue unabated. Clearly, EPA and other federal agencies need to form a partnership to address the relationship between pollution and minority communities-from lead risks associated with paint, drinking water, and combustion to those risks caused by polluting industries, whose operations and discharges cause enormous harm to human health, wildlife, and the environment. EPA can develop a model program, and the time for action is now. The first step is to establish a high-level Office of Environmental Justice with functional responsibilities and a budget sufficient to implement them. EPA spending should match its commitment to parity. As a principal objective, this office. could develop an environmental policy that creates a presumption of justice by requiring equity impact analyses as part of the process for promulgating major regulations, issuing key policies, and conducting programmatic reviews. The Office of Environmental Justice would integrate its theme into EPA's operating guidance and strategic plans, as well as the Agency's research and data collection agendas. The office could spearhead formation of consortiums with academic institutions for people of color, including Historically Black Colleges Everyone's quality of life is at stake. Copyright Sam Kittner. and Universities (HBCUs), focusing on risk assessments, research, and development needs. Widespread changes are needed in EPA's institutional focus. Working closely with community leaders and building bridges to grass-roots groups, the office could facilitate the Agency's progress in relieving the enormously high environmental impact experienced by people of color. Under the auspices of this office, EPA should embark on an aggressive outreach effort centered on education, information exchange, and problem solving. The Environmental Justice Office should also have an active role in states' implementation of delegated programs, reviewing state/EPA agreements to ensure that these relationships will be administered in a socioeconomically race-neutral manner that results in equal protection. Compliance and enforcement initiatives should target facilities and sites that foster the adverse conditions occurring in minority communities. EPA's current guidelines for cancer risk assessment, and the way that they are used in many programs, protect the average white adult male but ignore populations that are more at risk because of increased exposure or special vulnerabilities, such as Native Americans who fish to put protein on the table and nursing mothers. The Agency needs to adopt risk assessment guidelines that consider economic status, cultural factors, synergistic effects of exposure to multiple sources of pollution, and other distinctive characteristics that, cumulatively, can result in disproportionate impact. In the routine course of seeking amendments to improve environmental statutes, EPA can support provisions that ensure adherence to an evaluation process that would preclude any single area from being burdened with an undue share of polluting facilities or sites. Pursuant to these amendments, EPA would authorize only those state programs that are designed to remedy disproportionate effects. An integral component of any Agency plan to execute these changes. in direction is overcoming the perception commonly held by people of color that EPA values corporate interests and white middle and upper classes over the lives of people of color. Inevitably, for example, EPA's response in relocating residents of dioxin-contaminated Times Beach and Love Canal invites contrast to the action taken by the Agency when subsistence anglers in communities of color around this nation were discovered to be eating fish contaminated by dioxin from nearby pulp and paper mills. Instead of becoming directly involved and taking preventive action to end the pollution, EPA adopted a hands-off attitude, deferring action to the states. This laissez faire approach allows states to take actions that are often contradictory and, at best, do no more than simply warn these people not to eat the fish. Integrating the concerns of people of color into the Agency's regulatory process will lessen the sense that EPA pursues a biased approach to resolving risk. A key element of this integration involves recruitment and promoting workforce diversity. Segregation in the EPA workforce fosters bias in decision making. What is ultimately at stake in the environmental justice debate is everyone's quality of life. The goal is equal protection, not equal pollution. Daily, Americans are subjected to harmful contamination-sometimes at highly toxic levels-wildlife is disappearing, and entire ecosystems are being destroyed. In the metaphor of a rapidly sinking ship, we're all in the same boat and people of color are closest to the hole. EPA and other federal agencies must concentrate foremost on saving those around the hole; then, plug the leak and save us all. O Expanding the Dialogue The Need for New Legislation by Representative Ronald V. Dellums find it very interesting that when Americans discuss the issues of the environment, we tend to mean the pristine air of Montana, the beautiful waters of Crystal Lake, and the spiraling mountains of the High Sierras. Still others may think about the impending effects of global warming, the necessity of recycling, or preserving ancient forests as the critical environmental issues of our time. Conspicuously absent from the discussion are the issues that concern minority communities throughout America. African Americans and other minority peoples are now suffering severely from the effects of environmental degradation. Recent studies indicate a sharp rise in health problems caused by polluted air, ingestion of lead, and polluted water; they point to cancers possibly caused by toxic and hazardous wastes. At the same time, minority communities suffer from other environmental problems. The problems of drug abuse and poor housing must be addressed. As America moves into the 21st century, environmental concerns become an imperative for constructive legislative and citizen action. I am dismayed by the fact that, although Americans are very concerned with environmental policy in general, insufficient attention is paid to the environment and its effects on minority communities. In light of these circumstances, last October in Washington, DC, the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit was organized to focus specific attention on environmental problems (Dellums (D-California) is Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia and a member of the Armed Services Committee and the House Select Committee on Intelligence.) and their effects on "people of color." The conference was the culmination of work and research that started with the release of the report called Toxic Wastes and Race, published by the Commission for Racial Justice in 1987. As described in earlier articles, this report revealed several startling statistics which indicated that minorities were disproportionately affected by environmental problems. The report, in turn, was followed in 1990 by the published Proceedings of the Michigan Conference on Race and the Incidence of Environment Hazards, which further revealed that little attention was given to the environmental concerns of minorities. The conveners of the conference, known as the Michigan Group, subsequently approached my office to suggest that the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) convene a workshop at its annual Legislative Weekend to discuss problems of the environment and its impacts on the minority community. I agreed, along with Representatives Towns of New York, Conyers of Michigan, and Lewis of Georgia, to sponsor a workshop to begin the process of finding strategies to combat situations that exist in minority communities across America. Simultaneously, the Michigan Group approached EPA, requesting that the Agency establish an initiative to address environmental justice (equity) issues. Upon learning of the Michigan. Group's effort, I joined several of my CBC colleagues in a letter to Administrator Reilly, requesting that he respond favorably to their request. For many years I have expounded my belief that environmental concerns are not solely the interest of white, middle-class America. Toxic waste and pollution, like nuclear weapons, are equal-opportunity killers. Unfortunately, minorities are now coming to believe that the environment is of interest because of the disproportionate impact it is having in our communities. I look at report after report that outlines the health problems faced by minorities because of lead poisoning, toxic and hazardous waste problems, polluted air, and pesticides. I am now encouraged because many efforts to correct the prevailing situation are being undertaken. Grass-roots organizations throughout the country are also raising issues of environmental improvement. EPA's February 1992 report on environmental equity is only a first step toward examining and resolving these critical issues. I believe that Congress must act now to ensure that the disproportionate impact of environmental degradation upon minority communities is addressed. The reauthorization of the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen the country's toxic and hazardous waste law. There are additional proposals that will further strengthen toxic and hazardous waste laws. The Community Right to Know More Act of 1991 would amend RCRA to expand public reporting on toxic chemical use and emissions and require companies to develop use-reduction plans. The Pollution Prevention, Community Recycling, and Incinerator Moratorium Act would amend RCRA to place a moratorium on the construction of new incinerators until waste prevention programs are fully implemented. I support both these bills because I believe that they can help reduce the incidence of environmentally related health problems in minority communities. In addition, I have introduced the Emergency Climate Stabilization and Earth Regeneration Act of 1992. This bill provides a new impetus to develop a U.S. integrated jobs program covering social, pollution, and climate emergencies. It would also reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere through a massive jobs program that would address all areas of pollution in America. I will also consider supporting or introducing legislation to address the issue of the disproportionate numbers of toxic and hazardous waste facilities located in or near communities of color. I am currently in the process of examining several proposals that will suspend the placement of toxic waste facilities in minority communities. We must allocate funds to problems where they are most severe. I support efforts to expand Technical Assistance Grants that encourage the growth and expansion of grass-roots organizations which provide education and information on environmental hazards to communities of color. Grants should also be made available to Historically Black Colleges and Universities to foster research and development in areas of concern and for other purposes. It is imperative that EPA establish a department-level office that can coordinate and enforce the issues of environmental equity. The Agency announced in its recently released report that the issues of environmental equity are a priority. If so, then adequate funds should be requested to set up an office that can be responsible for issues of environmental concern. As I said earlier, the issues of the environment are among the most critical for our nation as we approach the 21st century. We are all familiar with the problems of global warming, climate change, clean air, clean water, and safe drinking water. It is time the nation woke up to the reality that minority communities are suffering greatly at this moment from the adverse effects of pollution, unrestrained development, and false progress. America has a serious job to do if it is to ensure that all of its citizens benefit from efforts to enhance environmental quality. We must begin immediately to address all the problems caused by environmental degradation. I am calling upon all the major environmental organizations to get involved in the environmental justice movement so that we can ensure a healthy, sound America for all citizens. I am hopeful that one day soon the term "environment" will no longer be considered just a term of, and for, white middle-class America. |