Environmental Justice in the United States of America

The environmental justice movement in the United States questions inequities in the distribution of toxic waste sites, which activists assert are disproportionately located in minority and other low-income areas. This growing human rights issue deeply affects the people living in these communities, who are faced daily with a diminishing "quality of life," as well as exposure to significant health hazards.

• The environmental justice movement captured national attention in 1982, when a demonstration took place against the siting of a hazardous waste landfill in Warren County, North Carolina, a county comprised of a predominately African-American population.
  
  
• In 1987, the United Church of Christ published a nationwide study (Toxic Waste and Race in the United States), considering the association between hazardous waste facilities and the racial/socioeconomic composition of the communities hosting such facilities.
  
  =>The study reported that while economic status played an important role in the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities, the race of the residents proved to be more significant.
  
  
• In 1992, the EPA-established Environmental Equity Workgroup issued a report (Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk of All Communities), which concluded that racial minorities and low-income people were disproportionately exposed to lead, selected air pollutants, hazardous waste facilities, contaminated fish and agricultural pesticides in the workplace.

• A study released this year further confirmed the environmental inequities, which was sponsored by the Center for Policy Alternatives, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice:
  
  =>The percentage of minorities living in communities with commercial hazardous waste sites rose from 25 percent in 1980 to almost 31 percent in 1993
  
  =>Minorities are 47 percent more likely than others to live near hazardous waste facilities

• A June 1995 report issued by the General Accounting Office reviewed 10 separate studies addressing the demographics of people living near hazardous waste facilities. The GAO summarized that the study results varied. Some concluded that minorities and low-income people were disproportionately represented in these areas, while others did not.

• In response to the increasing concern about environmental justice in the U.S., the EPA and Administration have begun to reexamine policies and practices.
  
  =>In February, 1994, an Executive Order was issued requiring federal agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy for making environmental justice a part of their decision-making and operations.

Sources: United States General Account Office report entitled "Hazardous and Nonhazardous Waste: Demographics of People Living Near Waste Facilities" (June 1995), USA Today article entitled "Community, Waste Plant on Common Ground" (August 25, 1994).

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