Houston’s high concentration of industrial facilities, insufficient zoning, and early litigation around environmental justice made it a perfect location for multiple discussions on EJ at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference. Federal officials and other experts spoke over the course of the multi-day event about the movement’s history and future.
According to EJ Research, the initial EJ research and legal action was triggered by the siting at waste facilities.Robert Bullard was a distinguished professor at Texas Southern University who also co-chaired the National Black Environmental Justice Network. Bullard and his team of graduate students embarked in a unique research project. They searched through archival documents and conducted field tours for a civil right lawsuit by Linda. McKeeverBullard, to stop the Whispering Pines Landfill coming to their middle-class Black community Northwood Manor.
They were eventually successful in findingAll five city-owned landfills were located in predominantly Black neighborhoods. These included six of the eight city-owned incinerators, and three of the four privately-owned landfills. From the 1930s to 1978, 82%, or 25%, of all solid waste disposed in Houston was dumped there.
Whispering pines was the subject of a growing public outcry. The city built a park for residents in 1985 as part of their initial request to halt the project. The class-action lawsuit against Southwestern Waste Management was ultimately dropped in federal court in 1985. Republic Services now owns the landfill.
It is now one of many industrial sites in East Houston, including several closed landfills and an active McCarty Road Landfill (amongst the largest in Texas), which is also owned Republic. According to a 2018 University of Houston reportThis area has multiple census tracts, with residents living below the poverty line, a majority non-White residents, and a high percentage of Hispanic residents. “Social vulnerability index”This was exemplified in the severe effects of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
McCarty Road Landfill
Cole Rosengren/Waste Dive
Bullard acknowledged that the 1985 Whispering Pines court verdict was disappointing, but it was a crucial precedent for what was next.
Bullard said that the case was “progressive” but it led to a new approach, a different design, and a new area of research.
His efforts in HoustonIt coincided with the 1982 protests in Warren County over a hazardous waste dump. North Carolina is a predominantly Black region that is often cited as an inspiration for the environmental justice movement. Bullard continued to expand his environmental justice work, including the publication of “Dumping in Dixie”, and many other books. However the concept was not widely known until the 1990s.
Robert Bullard speaking at SEJ2022 in Houston
Cole Rosengren/Waste Dive
Carlton Waterhouse was the deputy administrator for the U.S. EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management. He described in another panel that when he first started working at EPA Region 4 as an attorney, there was still much debate about the use of the term “environmental justice” or “environmental racist” and whether the issue even existed. President Bill Clinton later signed a landmark 1994 executive orderExperts agree that the federal government should take action on environmental justice issues. However, experts warn that there is much more work to do.
Waterhouse stated, “That’s because it represents an historic reality in our society where race and class have determined where people can live. And pollution is something that depends on where you live.” “So even if there are still racial differences between where people live, in cities and in rural areas, we still see class differences determining who can live next to a landfill or who can live where combined sewer overflows. Who lives where the soot migrates across a fence line and deposits every evening, then we will still see environmental injustices.”
Waterhouse and other EPA officials discussed with Waterhouse how Administrator Michael Regan’s administration and the Biden administration have made environmental justice a priority during that panel. Related executive orders were signed by President Joe Biden. Climate changeAnd racial equityIn early 2021, and The Equity Action Plan was released by the EPAThis month, earlier.
A previously released OLEM componentThis plan contains numerous mentions of waste issues. They include the potential burdens that living near waste facilities can cause. The agency also believes that its national recycling strategy could play a role in reducing the negative environmental impact of waste on communities with EJ concerns.
The EPA panelists explained how the funding from the 2021 Infrastructure Law will be used for Superfund cleanups and brownfield remediation, as well to recycle infrastructure, job training, and other related areas.
They also referred to the way that the agency worked with local officials in order to obtain permits for a proposed Chicago scrap recycle facility (the City). Rejected the permitsHowever, the company appeals the decision), intervened to raise permit questions about an U.S. Virgin Islands oil refineryI led a tour together with the administrator of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” communities. Since the panel took place, the EPA opened a civil rights inquiryExamining pollution in the area, including review of a proposed Formosa Plastics facility.
Waterhouse repeatedly stated why he believes there is a need to continue to work on environmental justice issues. Noting that even when facilities are operating within regulatory limits they can still have adverse effects.
He stated that “people’s lives and quality of life are being degraded daily for permissible and unpermitted discharges as well as historical toxic pollution, some of it in land that people don’t even know about.” It is vital that we protect everyone. Your income, skin color, and language don’t dictate whether you get sick from pollution.
Another sign of federal interest was the inclusion of remarks by Rep. Raul Guilva (D-Ariz.), chaired of the House Committee on Natural Resources about the conference. Environmental Justice for All ActHe is co-sponsoring. Grijalva says that the bill has two goals: to provide protections and rights to affected communities and to amend Civil Rights Act to include the possibility of environmental justice as a legal remedy.
[We’re]It was difficult to incorporate equity into the discussion on environmental burden. This is true for climate as well as for any decisions this government or any other government that has an impact on the lives and livelihoods of people. They should be involved. They need to be involved. And they should have the power to protect themselves,” stated Grijalva. It is time for some balance.Although the Biden administration received mostly positive comments on this issue, at least one area was criticised. In a recent proposalRace was not considered when describing the method by which federal funds will be directed towards underserved communities to address environmental issues (parte of the Justice40 initiative).
Bullard was one speaker that disagreed. Mustafa Santiago Ali (vice president, environmental justice, climate, and community revitalization, National Wildlife Federation) was another.
Ali, a former EPA official, stated that “Race must be a criteria within the decision-making processes.” “When we didn’t or were not serious about properly using it, then we had sacrifice areas.”
Heather McTeer Toney was vice president of community engagement at Environmental Defense Fund and a former EPA regional administrator. She had a similar reaction.
Try to say this now [that]She said that metric has not been an integral part of how communities have suffered due to divestment. This is like saying we are going to talk about Civil War as a dispute between states.”If we are really trying to discuss how were going to find solutions that were restorative then it is time to address the hard issue.
Panelists often made a connection between climate change and environmental justice, often pointing out that these are areas that need urgent action. Particular attention should be paid to marginalized communities. Some panelists expressed concern but also optimism about the future.
Ali said that the 21st Century is not and should never look like the 20th, 19th, or 18th centuries.” We have the chance to do better at this moment.
Although some people in the waste and recycling sector still have questions about the impact of environmental justice on their operations, conference speakers made clear that this topic is not going away.
[In]Bullard stated that 1979, environmental justice was a footnote.”Today it’s a headline.