WASHINGTON Joseph R. Biden was a candidate for the presidency and then for the presidency. He promised to reduce the inequal burden of environmental hazards that people of color are subject to.
The White House’s new environmental strategy for tackling this problem will be colorblind.
Administration officials expressed concern that using race to identify and assist disadvantaged communities could lead to legal challenges that could stymie their efforts. They said that they were creating a system that would help communities of colour, even if they didn’t define them.
Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of White House Council of Environmental Quality which is creating the system, stated that we are trying set up a framework that will survive and connect to what the people are experiencing. I believe that we can do this based on race-neutral criteria.
This approach is the result of a decades-long struggle over what role race should have in public policy and what is allowed under the Constitution.
With its new conservative supermajority the Supreme Court is set to hear this case. It could reverse 40 years of precedent that stated that race could be used to determine college admissions.
Lower courts have rejected the Biden administration’s attempts to forgive loans for minority farmers under a $4 billion program to address a long history racial injustice in agriculture. An additional legal challenge is pending against the Biden administration. It claims it is giving preference to Covid relief funds for restaurant owners who are women or minorities.
Using race in decision-making can also cause problems for Democrats in an election year when Republicans seem to be trying to appeal to white grievance. Ted Cruz of Texas made the comment that President Biden announced that he would nominate the first Black woman for the Supreme Court.
Biden’s administration plans to move away from race by identifying towns and neighborhoods that require environmental assistance based on dozens data points such as household income, unemployment rates and proximity to Superfund sites, Incinerators, and other hazards. But not racial and ethnic demographics.
The Biden Administration’s Environmental Agenda
While President Biden pushes for stronger regulations in the fight against global climate change, he is only on a narrow path.
Justice40 is a plan that would ensure that at least 40% of the benefits of federal investments into climate mitigation, clean energy, and environmental cleanup would be felt in the most disadvantaged communities.
Ms. Mallory stated that she believed the strategy would take the government to the same places a race-based approach: communities for people of color.
Some legal experts agree with the administration’s strategy and call it a pragmatic approach that will yield the desired results.
Some advocates, however, are adamant about this assumption.
Robert Bullard, a Texas Southern University professor and pioneer in environmental justice, stated that race is the strongest predictor of industrial pollution. Not income, nor property values, but the race. How are you going to fix it if you’re leaving out race?
Research over decades has shown that environmental hazards are most severe for those who are not white or poor.
New research has also shown that fine particulate matter, which is the most harmful type of air pollution, is more prevalent in Black Americans than it is in non-Hispanic whites and Asians, regardless their income levels.
Fine particulate matter can cause heart and respiratory disease by getting absorbed deep in the lungs from exhaust tailpipes, smokestacks or fires. Fine particulate matter is responsible for between 85,000 and 200,000 premature deaths per year, according to the CDC. A study Published last year in Science Advances.
The Environmental Protection Agency funded research last year that found that people of color were 2.5 times more likely to be exposed than people of other income levels to heavy pollution.
Christopher Tessum is an assistant professor of environment engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was the lead author of that study.
According to some studies, Black Americans lack the political power to stop polluting facilities. Michigan’s 1992 pollution control board approved a power station in Genesee Township. This was near a predominantly Black community. The power plant burned demolition wood waste and was sometimes coated with lead paint.
The Environmental Protection AgencyMichigan agencies responsible to permitting the power plant were able to make decisions that affected African Americans in a way that made it harder for them and their families to oppose the project. The E.P.A. The E.P.A. mentioned the example of a pollution board that allowed white residents access to the public comment period but denied Black residents the same opportunity. It also noted the stationing of armed guards at one hearing in an area dominated by Blacks, which was contrary to its usual protocol.
Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice-president of environmental justice at National Wildlife Federation, stated that you can be a person or color in a middle income community and still be disproportionately impacted.
Dr. Bullard said that an honest discussion about environmental justice must recognize the role of race in determining environmental justice. He said that anything else is disingenuous.
It’s almost as if you are trying to address housing discrimination, but can’t mention who is being discriminated against, said Dr. Bullard. She was the first to use 1964 Civil Rights Act in order to stop the installation of landfills and incinerators within predominantly Black neighborhoods of Houston.
Dorothy A. said that the Biden administration should not let fear of lawsuits stop them from explicitly trying to address racial disparity. Brown, Emory University School of Law professor of law.
She said that they will be sued regardless of whether or not they consider race. There is no colorblind solution to environmental racism if you want to address it. It would be best to claim that this is remedial work based upon past governmental discrimination. If you want to help Black people in 2022, you will be sued. You can either be supportive of Black people’s efforts or you can choose not to. You can’t be timid about this.
Biden was the first president who made environmental justice, the belief that all people have the right of protection from environmental and other health hazards, a core part the White House agenda.
Two months prior to his 2020 win, and after a summer that saw the country shaken by a series racial justice protests in the summer, Mr. Biden pledged that he would address the extraordinary pollution burden of communities of color. He stated that every American has a fundamental right to a healthy environment.
This basic obligation is not going to come easy for all Americans, especially those who are low-income, white, black, brown, and Native American communities that don’t have clean air or clean water.
He stated that every person is affected by the unrelenting effect of climate change. However, communities of color often bear the brunt of climate change’s effects, which makes it more urgent to pursue environmental justice.
After assuming office, he created a 25-member White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. It was the first such council and asked federal agencies to ensure that disadvantaged areas receive 40% of the federal investments in clean air, water, flood prevention, cleanup Superfund sites, renewable electricity, and other improvements.
Michael, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator. S. Regan visited largely Black communities in the South as part of a Journey to Justice tour and promised to increase inspections and enforcement environmental laws in communities that are affected by polluting industries.
However, it was not easy to rectify historical wrongs committed by racists who located polluting highways and industries in communities of color.
Cecilia Martinez was Mr. Biden’s top adviser on environmental justice. She resigned last month because she felt burnt out after years of working to make the issue a top priority. Some advocates are concerned that the Justice40 screening tool is not on track and is losing momentum.
The environmental justice movement was born in 1982 when civil rights activists fought to stop North Carolina from dumping 120 millions pounds of soil contaminated by polychlorinated Biphenyls (a carcinogen commonly known under the name PCBs) in Warren County. This is a predominantly Black county.
The General Accounting Office, which is now the Government Accountability Office, found that three of four hazardous landfill sites in America’s southeast were located in Black communities. In 1987, a Study of landmarksThe United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice reported that race was the most important factor in predicting the location of such waste sites.
Ms. Mallory explained that when you look at our historical framework, or the historic practices that led us to where are today, it is not clear that anyone is arguing over whether race played a role.
However, if the administration used race to decide policy or funding for environmental programmes, it would be in trouble, Constitutional law scholars stated.
The Supreme Court has ruled that race-based classifications should be scrutinized to ensure that the government has exhausted all race neutral remedies. Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of University of California Berkeley School of Law.
Mr. Chemerinsky stated that the Supreme Court is extremely hostile to any attempt to use racial as a basis to award benefits. He said that the administration has a better chance of preserving its environmental justice policies without having to be explicit.
Given the relationship between race and poverty in our society they can get what they want but in a race-neutral way, he said.
Toni M. Massaro from the University of Arizona was also in agreement.
She stated that the intention is to address some longstanding disparate harms. The next step is to figure out how to make it happen. One constraint is that they must comply with the case law.
Ms. Massaro said that there is campaign talk and then write-the-law talk.
Ms. Mallory indicated that a beta version would soon be available for Justice40 screening tools. She said that the public will be able offer suggestions to improve it.
Ms. Mallory stated, “This is such a high priority for us.” Our efforts now are focused on getting this out the door as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, we also want to be able to do it in a way which will be effective.