WASHINGTON Joseph R. Biden, as a candidate for president and then as a candidate, promised to address the inequal burden that people of color bear from environmental hazards.
The White House’s new strategy to address this problem is colorblind.
Administration officials stated that they are creating a system to assist communities of color, even though they have not defined them as such.
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 the on-the ground impacts that people are feeling. I believe that we can do this based on race-neutral criteria.
This is the result of a decades-long battle over what role races should play in public policy and what is allowed by 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 rejected the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive loans to minority farmers as part a $4B program that was intended to address a long history in farming injustice. An additional legal challenge is pending against the Biden administration. It is alleged that it is giving preference to Covid relief funds for restaurant owners who are women or minorities.
In an election year where some Republicans are trying to exploit white grievance, using race in decision-making could cause political problems for Democrats. Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, made a comment about President Biden’s recent announcement that he would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
Biden’s administration will identify neighborhoods and towns that need environmental assistance. This will be done based upon dozens of data points, including household income, unemployment rates, air quality levels, and proximity to Superfund sites and incinerators. 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 which would see at least 40% of federal investments in climate mitigation, clean energy, environmental cleanup and clean energy in disadvantaged communities.
Ms. Mallory stated that she believed the strategy would take the government to the same places a race-based approach would: communities of color.
Some legal experts agree with the administration’s strategy and call it a pragmatic approach that will yield the desired results.
But advocates are not so sure.
If you want to predict where there is most industrial pollution, then race is the strongest predictor. Robert Bullard is a Texas Southern University professor of urban planning and an environmental policy pioneer. Not income, and not property values but race. How can you fix this if you are leaving your race out?
Research has proven that people most affected by environmental hazards are often poor and non-white. This is despite decades of research.
New studies also suggest that fine particulate material, which is one of the most dangerous types of air pollution, is more harmful to Black Americans than non-Hispanic whites.
Fine particulate matter, which is found in exhaust tailpipes, smokestacks, and fires, can be absorbed deep into the lungs. This can lead to respiratory and heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, fine particulate matter can cause between 85,000 to 200,000 premature deaths each yr. A study Published last year in Science Advances.
Research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency last year found that exposure to pollution was more affected by race and ethnicity then income. People of color were 2.4x more likely to be exposed to heavy polluting than whites with different income levels.
Christopher Tessum, assistant professor of environmental engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the lead author of the study, stated that if one only looks at income, it is difficult to understand the impact of air pollution on communities.
Some studies show that Black Americans have not had the political power necessary to block 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 lumber waste, sometimes coated with lead paint, and other fuel.
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. cited the example a pollution control board that allowed white residents testify before the public comments period, but denied Black residents the same opportunity. They also stationed armed guards at one hearing, which was against 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 stated that a fair discussion on environmental justice must acknowledge the fact that race is a factor. He stated that any other explanation is disingenuous.
It’s almost like trying solve housing discrimination but not saying who is, Dr. Bullard said. He was part of a legal challenge that used the 1964 Civil Rights Act to combat the construction of incinerators and landfills in predominantly Black neighborhoods of Houston.
Dorothy A. stated that the Biden administration should not be stopped by fear of being sued. Brown is a professor of law at Emory University School of Law.
They will be sued, regardless of whether they take into account race, she stated. There is no colorblind method to address environmental racism. 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. Either you are willing to help Black people, or you are not. But don’t be afraid to do it.
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 before he was elected president in 2020, and after a summer of protests over racial injustice, Mr. Biden said he would work to reduce the pollution burden that communities of color entail. 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 called for all federal agencies and 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 has been difficult to rectify historical wrongs such as racist zoning and housing policy that placed polluting highways and industries in communities of color.
Cecilia Martinez, Mr. Biden’s top environmental justice advisor, resigned last week, claiming that she felt burnt out after years of working to make this issue a top priority for the government. 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’s dumping of 120 million pounds soil contaminated with polychlorinated bephenyls in Warren County. Warren County is a predominantly Black community.
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, there was 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 no one is disputing the historic framework or practices that led to our current situation.
However, if the administration used race to decide policy or funding for environmental programmes, it would be caught in court, according to constitutional law scholars.
According to Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, the Supreme Court has ruled that race-based classifications should be scrutinized closely to ensure that the government has exhausted all race neutral remedies.
The Supreme Court is hostile to any attempt at using race to give benefits, Mr. Chemerinsky stated. He stated that the administration has a greater chance of preserving its environmental justice policy without being explicit.
He said that they can achieve what they want, but they must do so in a way that is not race-neutral because of the correlation between poverty and race in our society.
Toni M. Massaro from the University of Arizona was also in agreement.
She said that the intention was to address some of these longstanding disparate hurts. Then comes the hard work to implement it. They must follow the case law when they do this.
Ms. Massaro explained that there is campaign talk and then there is 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 that this is a top priority. We are going to make every effort to get this done as quickly as possible and in a way that is successful.
