r/EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Administration And
Resources Management
(PM-211D)
EPA 220-B-92-024
September 1992
Innovative Management
Strategies
Environmental Equity
LEADERSHIP
•-I!'
Printed on Recycled Paper
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ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY
SEPTEMBER 1992
EPA Headquarters Library
Information Management and Services Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
RoomM2904 PM-211A
401 M Street, SW
Washington, CD 20460
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
5. library (Pt-i2J)
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INTRODUCTION
ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY
As awareness and concern about inequities in the distribution of environmental hazards
increases, traditional environmental interests are evolving. Now, an environmentalist may be
a member of a small, grass-roots organization concerned about the effects of a waste disposal
site in the community, or a minority activist who draws attention to the siting of waste facilities
in low-income and minority neighborhoods. Issues such as these, focusing on social justice as
well as environmentalism, fall under the heading "Environmental Equity."
As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to improve its approach
to environmental protection, the Environmental Equity Workgroup was formed to review the
evidence that racial minority and low income communities bear a disproportionate environmental
risk basis. The Environmental Equity Workgroup published its findings in Environmental
Equity: Reducing Risk for all Communities which is available from the Public Information
Center. The March/April 1992 issue of the EPA Journal is dedicated to environmental equity,
including information on steps the EPA has taken in response to equity concerns.
Another step the U.S. EPA has taken to address the environmental equity issues is the
formation of an Environmental Equity Staff, headed by Dr. Clarice Gaylord. Dr. Gaylord
provided guidance in the compilation of this bibliography. An Environmental Equity Cluster has
also been established to help develop agency policy.
Environmental Equity is divided into an introductory section comprised of general
overview articles, and some of the classic studies of the correlation between race, income, and
environmental risk. Summaries of books and articles relating to a specific group will be found
in the following sections: African American Issues, Native American Issues, Border and
Hispanic Issues, and Asian and Pacific Islander Issues. Within these sections, the documents
are organized by source type: journal articles, law reviews, books and reports, and newspaper
articles. The final section, Federal Response to Environmental Equity, lists items representing
EPA action on environmental equity.
Environmental Equity was compiled using the following commercial databases:
LEXIS/NEXIS, Sociological Abstracts, InfoTrac, Magazine Index, Public Affairs
Information Service (PAIS), Enviroline, MEDLINE and TOXLINE. Database sources of
summaries are given in parentheses at the end of the abstracts. Those without a source were
written by library staff.
Environmental Equity contains selected resources available through the EPA Library
Network. Copies of the articles cited in the bibliography may be requested from your local EPA
Library. Call numbers are given for those books and reports held in EPA libraries. For further
assistance, contact the Headquarters Library at 260-5921.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. OVERVIEW 1
II. AFRICAN AMERICAN ISSUES 14
III. NATIVE AMERICAN ISSUES 16
IV. BORDER AND HISPANIC ISSUES 21
V. ' ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER ISSUES 29
VI. FEDERAL ACTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY 31
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EPA Headquarters Library (PM211 A) WSM2904 202-260-5922
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OVERVIEW
JOURNAL ARTICLES
New environmentalists rise from threatened communities.
Edwards, Bob
CUA Magazine 4(1) Winter 1992, pp!4-16
A new breed of environmental activist is emerging and joining groups that focus on
specific local problems. Around the country, small groups of working-class, often minority,
people are sprouting up to fight the dumping of toxic waste in their neighborhoods. While
traditional environmentalist groups stressed endangered species, rain forest depletion, or
global warming, the new grassroots activists are concerned about how toxic wastes affect
their lives. This emerging coalition recognizes that people of color and working-class
communities have borne more than their fair share of environmental degradation and its
attendant health risks. Instead of focusing on the "big picture," the grass roots
environmental activist's main aspiration is to be able to live in uncontaminated communities
that are free of life-threatening environmental hazards.
Environmentalism and racism. (Column)
Arrandale, Tom
Governing v5(l) Feb. 1992, p63
Sixty percent of American Hispanics and Blacks live in neighborhoods where
hazardous wastes are dumped. Minority environmentalists are becoming increasingly strident
in seeking policy changes, and the environmental movement must learn to accommodate their
demands. (Magazine Index)
Organizing against Environmental Racism: Strategies for the 1990s.
Bullard, Robert D.
Association Paper, American Sociological Association, 1991
Race is an important variable that explains sociospatial arrangements,
including residential housing patterns, street and highway configuration, commercial
development, and the location of municipal landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste
facilities. It is argued that institutional racism creates and perpetuates environmental
inequities among the various racial & ethnic groups in the US. Environmental racism is a
combination of outgroup prejudice and the power to implement decisions and policies that
defend, protect, and enhance the social positions of whites at the expense of people of color.
Although only minimally involved in the mainstream environmental movement, African
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Americans in the urban ghettos and rural blackbelt "poverty pockets," Latinos in the
barrios, and Native Americans on reservations have begun using indigenous organizations
to challenge government and private industries that would turn their communities into the
nation's dumping grounds. A growing number of the indigenous groups have formed
alliances with nationally based environmental groups. These alliances have redefined
environmentalism to include the goals of social justice and environmental equity and have
adopted many of the strategies used in the civil rights struggle. (Sociological Abstracts)
Black and green: The birth of 'eco-racism.'
Rees, Matthew
The New Republic 206(9) March 2, 1992, ppl5-16
Minority environmental activists are calling attention to the problem of eco-racism,
which is typified by the location of waste facilities and other environmentally dubious
projects in low-income neighborhoods. They also charge mainstream environmental
organizations with ignoring their concerns. (InfoTrac)
Environmental racism: Why is it always dumped in our backyard? Minority groups
take a stand.
Meyer, Eugene L.
Audubon 94(3) Jan-Feb, 1992, p30
Civil rights activist Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. coined the term 'environmental
racism' in 1982. He realized that toxic waste dumping occurred in primarily African
American communities. He continues to mobilize groups to fight both EPA and state waste
disposal policies. (InfoTrac)
What can we do about environmental racism?
Steinhart, Peter
Audubon 93(4) May 1991, p!8
This essay examines environmental racism in terms of both pollution in minority
neighborhoods, and in the lack of minority representation in environmental groups. A brief
history of the environmental movement is presented as an explanation for the second
manifestation of environmental racism. Traditionally, pollution and health issues are often
seen as inner city concerns, while suburbanites focused on wildlife and conservation. Recent
developments such as acid rain and ozone depletion are changing these dividing lines. The
author suggests that continued effort is needed for suburbanites and city dwellers to
understand each others' concerns and work together effectively.
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Ethnic minorities—An environmental issue?
Agyeman, Julian
Ecos 9(3) Summer, 1988, p2
Participation in environmental organizations by ethnic minorities is low due to their
recognition of prejudicial hostility around them, their desire to conserve their efforts for
survival-related tasks, and an immigrant mentality, or belief, that they will return to their
country of origin. Non-participation is also linked to minorities' perception that "no one will
listen anyway," and cultural norms which preclude involvement in white society. It is
suggested that efforts to abate environmental racism be made, possibly through initiatives
such as the introduction of Asian, African, and Caribbean plants to the United Kingdom,
which would encourage intercultural participation.
Race, poverty and the environment: The disadvantaged face greater risks.
Mohai, Paul; Bryant, Bunyan
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992, pp6-8
Awareness and concern about inequities in the distribution of environmental hazards
have been steadily increasing. Attention was first focused on the issue in 1982 when officials
decided to locate a PCB landfill in predominantly black Warren County, North Carolina.
Protests led to an investigation the following year by the General Accounting Office (GAO)
of the socioeconomic and racial composition of communities surrounding the four major
hazardous waste landfills in the South. This study, and a nationwide study by the United
Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice indicated that the race and income of a
neighborhood are related to the likelihood that a hazardous waste facility will be located
nearby.
The authors of this article conducted their own study of the commercial hazardous
waste facilities in the Detroit metropolitan area to determine if poverty, rather than race
affects the distribution of environmental hazards. They conclude that race is a better
predicator of residents' proximity to hazardous waste facilities than class and that further
monitoring of the distribution of environmental hazards is needed.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson: Fighting for the right to breathe free. (Interview)
Lapp, David
E Magazine 3(5) May-June 1992 plO
Jesse Jackson believes that if our planet is not safe and habitable, other issues are
relatively moot. Justice, for all in our society must include the right to breathe clean air and
drink clean water. Jackson discusses the alliance between government and corporate
polluters. (InfoTrac)
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From toxic racism to environmental justice.
Grossman, Karl
E Magazine 3(8) May-June 1992, p28
People of color are far more likely to be affected by pollutants and hazardous waste
sites, according to a report by the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of
Christ. The study stated that minorities and the poor must demand an end to environmental
racism. (InfoTrac)
The right to a clean, safe environment.
Hair, Jay D
National Wildlife August-September, 1991, p26
There is a correlation between race, poverty, and pollution. The National Wildlife
Federation needs to form partnerships with minority communities to promote environmental
justice. (InfoTrac)
The four stages of environmentalism.
Morris, David
The UTNE Reader March-April 1992, p!59
Environmentalism has undergone four stages of development since the start of wildlife
conservation movements in the late 19th century. The present stage seeks to combine
sustainability with global equity in addressing the problem of global warming and other
environmental concerns. (InfoTrac)
A whiff of discrimination? (racism and environmental policy)
Satchell, Michael
U.S. News & World Report vl!2(2) May 4, 1992, p34
Many minorities live in polluted areas, causing some people to believe that ecological
and environmental planners are exhibiting racism. Others claim that poverty and other
factors, rather than racism, lead to pollution. (Magazine Index)
Black marks for Greens.
The Economist 321(2) October 26, 1991, pA29
American Africans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders and Indian activists met in
Washington DC to emphasize discrimination in environmental policy and in the leadership
makeup of the main environmental groups. Leaders of these white-led groups were not
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delegates but were allowed to observe at later sessions. (InfoTrac)
Nexus of a new environmentalism. (inaugural feature on environmental justice, which
combines the concerns of social justice and environmentalism).
Goodwin, Ellie
Christianity and Crisis v52(3) March 2, 1992, p54
Traditional environmentalism must begin to include issues of social justice to address
the needs of more than just the white mainstream. Environmental groups who would rather
deal with issues such as deforestation have little influence with minority groups, women
or the urban poor. Environmentalism and social justice are important, and a consensus would
strengthen all parties involved. Events such as the First National People of Color
Environmental Summit will serve to emphasize this.
Activists of color are confronting 'environmental racism.' [Southwest Network for
Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ)]
Burbank, James
National Catholic Reporter October 11, 1991, p7
Government agencies and corporations often target minority-inhabited communities
for polluting facilities and toxic waste disposal sites. SNEEJ hopes to end these practices,
and create greater environmental consciousness in minority communities. (InfoTrac)
People of Color Summit condemns 'environmental racism.'
Vidulich, Dorothy
National Catholic Reporter November 8, 1991, p5
The First National People of Color Leadership Summit on the Environment presented
speeches by several nonwhite environmental activists. They protested the 'targeting' of their
communities for toxics disposal and dangerous industry. (InfoTrac)
The integrity of justice.
Lee, Charles
Sojourners February-March 1990, pp22-25
This article examines the environmental injustices that African, Hispanic, Asian and
Native Americans face, as well as environmental inequities in the Third World. The United
Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice study on demographic patterns associated
with the location of hazardous waste sites found that the racial composition of a community
is the single variable best able to explain the existence or non-existence of commercial
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hazardous waste facilities in that area.
The growing involvement among racial minority communities in environmental issues
is encouraging. However, the author argues that the environmental movement needs to
undergo a transformation similar to that which took place in the peace movement, toward
becoming a just environmental movement.
The toxic doughnut. (Toxic wastes in minority neighborhoods)
Ervin, Mike
The Progressive 56(1) January 1992, p!5
People for Community Recovery is a southside Chicago, Illinois activist group
seeking to clean up industrial waste sites which they say tend to be located near minority
neighborhoods. Founder Hazel Johnson calls the practice 'environmental racism.'
(InfoTrac)
Dumping on minorities.
Tarshis, Lauren
Scholastic Update April 17, 1992, p!6
Hazardous waste sites tend to be located near minority communities. Experts believe
that poor people are too preoccupied with the struggles of living and desire for jobs to get
involved in opposing waste sites. The movement for environmental equity requires more
minority leadership. (InfoTrac)
Fighting environmental racism.
Head, Louis; Guerrero, Guerrero
New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy Spring 1991,
p38
Focuses on instances of exposure of people of color to hazardous chemicals and
wastes, in the US and southwest; in particular, hearings conducted by the Southwest
Organizing Project (SWOP). (PAIS)
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LAW REVIEWS
Environmental racism: The causes, consequences, and commendations.
Colquette, Kelly Michele; Elizabeth A. Henry Robertson
Tulane Environmental Law Journal 5(1) December 1991 pp!53-207
Unlike other members of the environmental movement, African-Americans and other
minorities such as Native Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asians did not embark on a
struggle against the environmental problems in their communities until the early 1980's.
Minority groups are now fighting for environmental protection much in the same way they
fought for equal protection in education, employment, and housing. Based on the premise
that all citizens deserve to live in unpolluted environments, the struggle for environmental
protection and social justice have merged.
Environmental racism: Minority communities and their battle against toxics.
Russell, Dick
Amicus Journal 11 Spring 1989 p22
Grass-roots minority groups are springing up nationwide to fight diverse forms of
pollution in their communities. Throughout the urban and rural US, environmental
conditions for minorities are posing severe public health problems. Radioactive wastes have
been dumped on Native American lands; lead poisoning endangers the health of nearly 8
million inner city, largely black and Hispanic, children. Until recently, the voices of low-
income minorities have not been raised. The roots of the recent upsurge of minority
environmental activism are traced to Warren County NC, where in 1982, the state planned to
put a PCB disposal site with federal Superfund money. Although the mostly black residents
lost their protest, the alarm was sounded for other communities. Evidence of environmental
racism, where toxics are emitted or disposed of in minority communities, and examples of
growing minority activism nationwide are cited. (Enviroline)
Remedying environmental racism.
Godsil, Rachel D.
Michigan Law Review 90 1991 p394
Examines equity issues that arise in the placement of commercial hazardous waste
facilities. (PAIS)
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BOOKS AND REPORTS
Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality.
Bullard, Robert, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990
Region 7 Library HC107.A13B85
This study of five Southern communities argued that waste-disposal plants and other
unwanted environmental hazards follow the path of least resistance, and fueled the
environmental equity debate. In the South, these invariably are black neighborhoods with
little political sway. "This is not random siting," Bullard believes. "Minority communities
are deliberately targeted as sacrifice zones." (U.S. News & World Report)
Siting of hazardous waste landfills and their correlation with racial and economic status
of surrounding communities.
U.S. General Accounting Office, June 1, 1983
EPA Headquarters Library HW TD 811.5.S564 1983
This report provides information on the racial and economic characteristics of
communities surrounding four hazardous waste landfills in three southeastern States. It also
describes Federal Criteria for siting landfills and provides data on public participation and
how the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed hazardous waste facility permit
changes will affect it.
Toxic wastes and race in the United States: National report on the racial and socio-
economic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites.
Commission for Racial Justice, United Church of Christ, 1987.
EPA Headquarters Library HW TD811.5.T695 1987
This report is one of the seminal studies on environmental equity. In January 1986,
the Commission for Racial Justice initiated two cross-sectional studies to determine the extent
to which African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders,
Native Americans and others are exposed to hazardous wastes in their communities. The
study found: (1) race was the most significant variable in association with the location of
commercial hazardous waste facilities, (2) communities with the greatest number of
commercial hazardous waste facilities also had the highest composition of racial and ethnic
residents, and (3) race was a more significant variable in the location of commercial
hazardous waste facilities than socio-economic status.
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The truth about where you live: An atlas for action on toxins and mortality.
Chapter 6 Environmental Justice
Goldman, Benjamin
EPA Headquarters Library RA566.3G65 1991
This chapter provides evidence that certain parts of the country are disproportionately
threatened by toxins and mortality. According to the author, poor, black, Latino, and native
American communities are consistently hit more severely by pollution and death. In the
counties that rank the worst across all of the industrial toxins measures, minorities comprise
more than twice the percentage of the population than the average for the rest of the country.
The chapter included demographic maps showing areas with the highest percentage of
people of color, African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans,
income, mean value of owner-occupied homes, single-mother families, families in poverty,
education, and health services.
Environmental quality and social justice in urban America.
Smith, James Noel (editor) The Conservation Foundation: Washington DC, 1974
EPA Region 9 Library HC110 E5 C66
This series of essays resulted from a conference by the same title that addressed how
the goals of the environmental movement are relevant to movements seeking social justice
and equality of opportunity.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Pollution's Chief Victims: The Poor.
Kennedy, Robert F.; Rivera, Dennis
The New York Times A19 August 15, 1992
*--
This editorial points out inequities in the flow of wastes to communities debilitated by
social unrest, high illiteracy and unemployment, and low voter registration. The authors call
for environmentalists and labor organizations to support the growing environmental justice
movement by sharing with it technical, legal, lobbying and financing resources.
Minorities, low-income groups most at risk.
Sheridan, Patrick
Waste Tech News August 10, 1992
Summarizes the U.S. EPA's report, Environmental Equity: Reducing Risks for All
Communities. The report found that not all racial groups are affected by exposure to
environmental hazards equally, and that minority and low-income groups experience higher
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than average exposure to environmental pollutants. Recommendations are given for how the
EPA and state agencies should address these inequities, including efforts to involve minority
and low-income groups in policy-making. At the EPA, an Environmental Equity Cluster and
an Environmental Equity Office have been established.
The environmentally disenfranchised (poor ethnics usually suffer worst environmental
dangers).
Knickerbocker, Brad
The Christian Science Monitor v84 p. 11 May 14, 1992
It's becoming clearer that minority and indigenous people around the world most
often bear the brunt of environmental degradation of all kinds. Whether it's African
Americans living along a strip of oil refineries and petrochemical plants between Baton
Rouge, La., and New Orleans, known as "cancer alley," or Penan tribal people barricading
logging roads on the Malaysian island of Borneo, race and relative political power play an
important role.
Are minorities victimized by pollution? EPA task force determined to find out.
Associated Press
Houston Post A2 February 25, 1992
Is the culprit environmental racism or just poverty? The Environmental Protection
Agency is grappling over whether minorities are being unfairly victimized by pollution - and
whether the agency should offer them special protection.
Back-yard battle: Minorities, environmental groups joining to combat racism.
Koenenn, Connie
Los Angeles Times 7E January 2, 1992
Summarizes the evolution of the movement against environmental racism, beginning
with Robert Bullard and the creation of grass-roots groups to the current nationwide network
of activist organizations.
"Environmental racism" rankles: Minorities fight dumping on poor.
Roman, Nancy E.
The Washington Times Al June 25, 1992
An overview of efforts to stop environmental racism, including quotes from Robert
Bullard, author of Dumping in Dixie and Richard Moore, co-chairman of the Southwest
Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.
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EPA's 2 voices on pollution risks to minorities.
Weisskipt, Michael
The Washington Post A15 March 9, 1992
The "Environmental Equity Communication Plan," drafted by EPA Associate
Administrator for Communication, Education and Public Affairs, Lewis Crampton, shows
how government often speaks in two voices: one modulated for public consumption, the
other turned up internally for political damage control. The plan deals with pollution risks to
minorities. (Newspaper and Periodicals Abstracts)
Fighting pollution in poverty.
Durbin, Kathie
The Oregonian Dl March 15, 1992
Environmentalists should help save people, not just ancient forests says a lawyer who
represents black communities in a number of environmental racism cases.
Minister focuses on ecology.
Schleifstein, Mark
New Orleans Times Picayune B8 March 27, 1992
Includes an interview with Reverend Ben Chavis, head of the United Church of
Christ's Commission for Racial Justice. Chavis said that for the past 10 years he has
documented how poor, minority communities always seem to be located in the midst of
environmental hazards.
People of color find niche in conservation.
Shatzkin, Kate
Seattle Times Fl March 15, 1992
Minority communities historically have felt increasing tension between economy and
environment, weighing the jobs brought by landfills and heavy industry against their less-
visible impacts. ECO, the Environmental Careers Organization, is working to involve more
minorities in environmental organizations.
Development and dumping.
Richmond Times-Dispatch A12 March 4, 1992
Summarizes several points of view on environmental equity, including the U.S. EPA,
Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice, and
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Robert Bullard of the University of California (Riverside).
EPA takes first step to end 'environmental racism.'
Tyson, Rae; Kanamine, Linda
USA Today 03A February 25, 1992
Summarizes EPA draft report Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk for all
Communities (February 1992). The report recommends improved communication with
minority communities, studies of affected neighborhoods, and program revisions.
Representative Henry Waxman, D-Calif. and the Reverend Benjamin Chavis, director of the
Commission for Racial Justice, are quoted as criticizing the report.
The battle for 'cancer alley' dumps, factories put near poor, EPA finds 'environmental
racism' charged.
Cheakalos, Christina
Atlanta Constitution B4 February 23, 1992
Describes the effect of chemical plants and hazardous waste dumps on southern
minority towns. In many minority communities, oil and chemical corporations have bought
out homes and relocated families to avoid lawsuits and damage claims. Towns like
Reveilletown, Mississippi have been drastically altered by these corporations, to the dismay
of long-time inhabitants.
Groups allege bias in selection of waste site.
Bronstein, Scott
Atlanta Constitution C2 February 7, 1992
The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People combined forces with leading black legislators to openly
accuse Georgia's Hazardous Waste Management Authority of racism in the selection of a
Taylor County site for a waste incinerator plant.
Environment racism? Crying wolf will hurt real discrimination charges.
Houston Post A14 November 5, 1991
This editorial criticizes the Reverend Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. and Robert Bullard,
claiming that toxic dumps follow cheap land, and that the real issue is poverty, not race.
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Minorities battle environmental bias.
Bee, Jeannie Wong
Sacramento Bee Bl May 24, 1992
Summarizes the controversy surrounding the proposed siting of a landfill in a
predominantly minority neighborhood near Pittsburgh.
Smog affects poor, young nonwhite the most.
Lindgren, Kristina
Los Angeles Times p.8 May 21, 1992
The poor, the young and the non white suffer the most from Southern California's
smog, mainly because they live in low-income areas where pollution tends to be worst,
according to two California State Fullerton economists.
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AFRICAN AMERICAN ISSUES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Ecological inequities and the new south: Black communities under siege.
Bullard, Robert D.
The Journal of Ethnic Studies v!7(4), Winter 1990, pplOl-115
Black, low-income, and working-class persons are adversely affected by pollution &
other environmental hazards, particularly in the southern US. The geographic concentration
of blacks in central cities and rural "poverty pockets" and near old industrial plants all
increase health risks from pollution. These problems are further complicated by the
disparate enforcement of environmental and land-use regulations in black and white
neighborhoods: black communities have become "dumping grounds" for all kinds of toxins,
including hazardous waste. Although blacks comprise only 20% of the region's population,
some 60% of the nation's remaining hazardous waste landfill capacity is located at facilities
in mostly black communities in the South. The 1980s have seen the struggle for
environmental equity take on a civil rights meaning: black social justice advocates &
grass-roots environmental activists have begun to converge around the environmental equity
issue. (Sociological Abstracts)
The quest for environmental equity: Mobilizing the African-American community for
social change.
Bullard, Robert D.; Wright, Beverly H.
Society & Natural Resources 3(4) October-December 1990, p301
Research into grassroots environmental organizations in five Afro American
communities in the South proves that environmental degradation and pollution are
particularly prevalent in these communities. In these communities local movements have
larger followings than mainstream environmental organizations. These local movements are
often based on pre-existing organizations for social justice, and environmental issues often
take on civil rights implications. (Enviroline)
Toxic Waste and the African American Community
Bullard, Robert D.; Wright, Beverly H.
The Urban League Review 13(1-2) Summer-Winter 1989-1990, pp67-75
The location of toxic waste facilities in the US relative to minority
communities is explored using government data. It is argued that an inordinate
concentration of uncontrolled toxic waste sites occurs in African-American & Hispanic
urban communities, while large commercial hazardous waste landfills & disposal facilities are
more likely to be found in rural communities in the southern black belt. The future prognosis
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of the environmental equity movement is discussed. (Sociological Abstracts)
Environmentalism and the politics of equity: Emergent trends in the black community.
Bullard, Robert; Wright, Beverly Hendrix
Mid-American Review of Sociology 12(2) Winter 1987, pp21-37
An overview of environmental issues, their significance for black lower-income
communities in the US, and the responses of these communities to the situation. Supporters
of the environmental movement tend to be white and middle class; yet lower-income people
are more likely to be trapped in polluted environments, because of their limited choice in the
housing market, discrimination in zoning policies, and the politicization of environmental
regulations. Only recently have blacks begun to recognize the fallacy of the jobs vs
Environment argument, and to include environmental issues in their civil rights agendas. It
is argued that minority communities need to become more involved in environmental issues,
and that these communities' institutions should take the lead in this struggle. (Sociological
Abstracts)
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NATIVE AMERICAN ISSUES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
The lands the Feds forgot.
Ambler, Marijane
Sierra (74)3 May/June 1989, pp44-48
Although most of the nation's Indian reservations are far from major industrial
centers, they often experience serious environmental problems. For many years, reservations
were overlooked by environmental regulations because states do not have jurisdiction over
Indian lands. Since most environmental laws of the 1960's and 1970's do not mention Indian
lands, much less say who should be responsible for them, reservations throughout the
country were becoming polluters' havens.
Eventually, provisions were added to the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water
Act, and Superfund which gave Indian reservations the same authority as states: They could
make pollution-control contracts with the EPA, adopt their own water standards and
regulations, and play a larger role in hazardous-waste decisions.
The tribes still face tremendous problems. Some are organizing an intertribal
lobbying effort to seek more congressional support for their environmental programs. Some
are working cooperatively with states. All are taking a hard look at their problems and their
capabilities, often concluding that they cannot realistically seek primacy in every
environmental program.
Health concerns for fish-eating tribes?
West, Patrick C.
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992, ppl5-16
Native Americans may consume much greater amounts of Great Lakes fish than the
general population. This high level consumption is brought about by poverty, tradition, and
the fact that Native Americans are not required to obtain fishing licenses. As a result,
Native Americans in fish-eating tribes may be faced with greater risks from dietary exposure
to toxic chemicals found in Great Lakes fish. Direct studies of on-reservation fish
consumption are badly needed for Great Lakes tribes as well as those in the Pacific
Northwest and elsewhere.
On the reservations: no haste, no waste.
Ambler, Marijane.
Planning 57 N 1991 pp26-9
Legal and environmental issues surrounding use of Indian lands as sanitary landfills.
(PAIS)
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Dancing with wastes.
Warrior, Robert Allen.
Christianity and Crisis: a Christian journal of opinion. 51 Jl 15 1991 pp216-18
Discusses cases of alleged toxic dumping on Indian lands in the US and Canada.
(PAIS)
An Indian policy at EPA.
Lewis, Jack.
EPA Journal. 12 January/February 1986 pp23-26
Substance of the Environmental Protection Agency's policy and its impact on the
environmental quality of U.S. Indian reservations. (PAIS)
Dammed Indians: The Pick-Sloan plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944-1980.
Lawson, Michael L.foreword by Vine Deloria, Jr.
University of Oklahoma Press, 1982
Dam construction projects which resulted in the flooding of five Indian reservations.
(PAIS)
Native Americans stand their ground: From the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, native
Americans are locked in a struggle to defend their land; if they lose, so will the earth.
Durning, Alan Thein.
World Watch 4 November/December 1991 pplO-17
Explores the relationship between intact Indian communities and undisturbed
ecosystems. (PAIS)
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LAW REVIEWS
EPA and Indian reservations: Justice Stevens' factual approach.
Siy, Peter W.
Environmental Law Reporter: news and analysis 20 October 1990 pp!0429-10437
Implications of US Supreme Court cases on zoning authority and on criminal
jurisdiction for the implementation of environmental statutes on reservations. (PAIS)
Native American control of tribal natural resource development in the context of the
federal trust and tribal self-determination.
Allen, Mark.
Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review: a quarterly of law and science 16
Summer 1989, pp857-95
The history of trust and federal-tribal relations is examined in relation to the current
era of federal policy which encourages tribal self-determination. Recent amendments to
environmental protection statutes that permit tribes a new role are considered along with the
role of the US EPA in facilitating tribal self-regulation. Problems affecting tribal natural
resource development under the auspices of the federal government are explored. These
include the Reagan Administration's budget cuts and the government's tacit approval of
corporate economic domination over tribes. Suggestions are provided for improving tribes'
self-determination through increasing tribal control over reservation resource development.
(300 refs) (Enviroline)
Who should control hazardous waste on native American lands? Looking beyond
Washington Department of Ecology v. EPA.
Allen, Leslie.
Ecology Law Quarterly. 14 no 1 1987 pp69-116
Washington was the first state to request jurisdiction to apply its hazardous waste
program to reservation lands within the state. The request was denied by EPA. In
Washington Department of Ecology v. EPA, the Ninth Circuit upheld EPA's decision,
declaring that "RCRA does not compel the EPA to delegate Federal authority to regulate
Native American lands to states." The author uses this decision "as a point of departure for
an inquiry into how a state could and should frame a proposal under its police power to
regulate hazardous wastes on reservation lands."
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Sacred lands: caring for the earth.
Johnson, Trebbe.
Amicus Journal 13 Winter 1991, pp22-7
How Hopi Indians in Arizona may be forced to revise ancient tenets of land use and
land protection as they come under increasing pressure to "care" for the land in more
commercial ways.
When worlds collide: law, development and indigenous people.
Cycon, Dean E.
New England Law Review 25 Spring 1991 pp761-94
Argues that large-scale, capital-intensive, ecologically-insensitive development models
being pursued by many nations are often antithetical to the continued cohesion of indigenous
cultures; case studies from Brazil, Peru, and Panama.
BOOKS AND REPORTS
Environmental activities on Indian reservations FY 91.
U.S. EPA Office of Federal Activities, May 1992
EPA Headquarters Library EPAX 9105-0017
This report provides an overview of EPA efforts to establish environmental regulation
on Indian lands. It measures the amount of workyears (the equivalent of one person working
full time for a year) and funding that EPA Headquarters and each region expended to
implement environmental laws (i.e., Clean Air Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act) on Indian lands. Reports are available for previous years as well.
Environmental risk in Indian country.
U.S. EPA Office of the Administrator, July 1992
EPA 171-R-92-014 PB92-182393
Environmental risks for American Indians are different than those experienced by the
majority of Americans due to a variety of factors. Based on an examination of population,
health, economic, and social and cultural characteristics, the following sources and impacts
of such risks are described:
- risks to health from poverty and unique exposure pathways, such as consumption of
contaminated fish;
- risks to a land based economy, stemming from the economic impacts of environmental
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degradation to subsistence and natural resource based economies;
- risks from lack of environmental infrastructure due to inadequate tribal resources,
expertise, and planning mechanisms to deal with increasing pressure for economic
development;
- future risks to reservation environments, based on young and quickly growing populations
on a limited land base; and
- risks from nonlndian lands which impact reservations through cross-boundary air and
water pollution, and through direct impacts on off-reservation sacred sites.
The paper argues that EPA's current methods for assessing risk are inappropriate for
Indian lands because (1) they represent a "snapshot" of a particular point in time and do not
capture cumulative or future risk; (2) they are population-based, and therefore tend to
overlook the distribution of environmental risk, an issue central to environmental equity
concerns; and (3) they focus primarily on health risks, and do not address the cultural and
economic impacts of environmental damage on Indian tribes. The paper concludes that EPA
should amend its risk analysis process to take these factors into account, and that tribes
should be allocated additional resources to bring their environmental management capabilities
up to the level of the states.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Environmental plight of reservations spurs Indians, EPA to seek solutions.
Harmon, John
Atlanta Constitution A3 May 20, 1992
Despite living in some of the most remote areas of the United States, American
Indians on reservations face serious environmental problems that threaten not only their
health but their culture.
Conference to unite Native peoples in common goal.
Bankers, Clarice
The Oregonian 'E03 March 25, 1992
The conference featured 35 native and non-native speakers speaking on the
preservation of native cultures and global survival. Many of the native speakers work in the
fields of health care, social work, law and environmentalism.
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BORDER and HISPANIC ISSUES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Health status among Hispanics: Major themes and new priorities
Furino, Antonio and Eric Munoz
JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association 265(3) January 9, 1991, p255
Health problems of Hispanics living at the border are those attendant with poverty,
pollution, and deprivation that characterize life in the colonias on either side. Nonetheless,
while cross-border comparisons reveal some dramatic examples of inadequate medical
assistance and a high prevalence of certain communicable diseases, favorable data on infant
mortality and birth weight may paint a different picture about the demographic dynamics of
the border regions.
Health issues at the US-Mexican border.
Warner, David C.
JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association v265 n2 Jan 9, 1991, p242
As result of pressure due to population growth on both sides of the border between
the US and Mexico, the border communities face special health problems. These are
reviewed and evaluated. Ten million people currently live near the border, in communities
that stretch across it: Tucson, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico; San Diego, California and
Tijuana, Mexico; Mexicali, Mexico and Imperial County, California, are examples.
Unincorporated colonias house more than 100,000 people, and often lack septic tanks,
running water, and indoor toilets. Statistics are presented concerning mortality (which is low,
because of the relatively young population), fertility (high, but declining), infant mortality
(low on the US side, considerably higher on the Mexican side), infectious diseases (a
significant health problem at the border), and environmental health (very problematic; several
binational agencies and commissions have been established to regulate this). The US and
Mexican health care systems are described and compared. Cross-utilization of the systems by
border residents is common. The only large US border city with a public hospital is El Paso,
and many people, unable to pay for health care, are forced to forego it.
Medication is purchased in Mexico by more than one quarter of the poor border
residents of the lower Rio Grande Valley, according to one survey. Programs have been
established to refer patients from the US to Mexico for certain tests or for sterilization at
lower cost. Mexico has a national health system, but many poor people face problems similar
to those in the US. The US services are used by the wealthy, by those who are employed in
the US who have health insurance, and by those who want their children to be born in the
US or who need emergency care. Improvements in border health care will be made only
when both sides are motivated to make them. Three sets of proposals have been formulated:
one by public health officials from both countries, one by the American Academy of
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Pediatrics (whose members come from both countries), and one by the Pan American Health
Organization and the US-Mexico Border Health Association. Universities, too, show signs of
involvement with border health issues. The continued integration of the economies of the US
and Mexico may depend on improving the health of border residents. (MEDLINE)
A permanent US-Mexico border environmental health commission.
Council on Scientific Affairs.
JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association vol.263(3) June 27, 1990, p3319
Public health officials, physicians, and politicians have long been aware of the squalid
environmental conditions existing along the US-Mexico border. Some attempts have been
made to improve the environmental pollution and causes of human disease, beginning as
early as the 1930s with the Inter Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), established in
1889. More recent agreements and legislation have called for US and Mexico cooperation by
way of each nation's corresponding environmental agency (ie, the EPA and Mexico's
SEDUE) and their agencies of foreign affairs (ie, the IBWC). Nevertheless, environmental
monitoring and disease incidence data continue to point out that public and environmental
health along the border-the result of uncontrolled air and water pollution and lack of disease
vector control—is rapidly deteriorating and seriously affecting the health and future economic
vitality on both sides of the border. Many prominent public health professionals and
environmental organizations are concerned that the present working relationship between the
United States and Mexico is not functioning well and cannot adequately cope with existing
environmental conditions; for one thing, the efforts of the EPA and SEDUE are reviewed no
more frequently than once a year by a staff quartered in Washington and Mexico City. Some
projects to improve these conditions have been undertaken by the EPA and SEDUE and the
IBWC; at present, the prospects for success do not appear promising. Consequently, these
individuals and organizations have urged creation of a US-Mexico border environmental
health commission. Congress did see fit last year to give responsibility for the environment
to the IBWC in the form of Public Law 100-465. This law, however, does not address the
full severity of environmental and public health degradation along the border; it does not
address the pollution of the New River, Agua Prieta, the San Pedro River, or the Pacific
Ocean, neither does it offer remedial control of hazardous waste sites, rabies, and other
disease vectors. Moreover, the IBWC is only a deliberative body, not an implementing one.
(MEDLINE)
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Occupational Health Risks for Mexican Women: The Case of the Maquiladora
along the Mexican-United States Border
Hovell, Melbourne F.; Sipan, Carol; Hovell, Melbourne P.; Sipan, Carol;
Hofstetter, C. Richard; DuBois, Barbara C.; Krefft, Andrew; Conway, John; Jasis,
Monica; Isaacs, Hope L.
Graduate School Public Health San Diego State U, CA 92182
International Journal of Health Services 18(4) 1988, pp617-627.
International reports of morbidity among female workers in Mexico's border
zone have raised concern about the occupational health of female workers in
maquiladora plants (foreign-owned border industries with special tariff benefits).
Commentators have suggested that US industries may be exploiting workers by
transferring work to nations with less stringent health & safety regulation through the
maquiladora program. Using data from a larger evaluation study & a specially
developed questionnaire, this study investigated the extent to which female maquiladora
workers (N- = 38) reported higher morbidity rates than women with other employment &
women not employed outside the home (N = 29 & 41, respectively) in colonias
(communities) in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Results show essentially no
difference in many short-term self-reported symptoms of illness among maquiladora workers
& the other 2 groups. Women who worked exclusively in the home reported the greatest
number of symptoms. Findings suggest that additional primary care services may be
needed for women who have primarily domestic responsibilities. Additional research is
needed to assess the risks for long-latency morbidity. 4 Tables, 27 References.
(Sociological Abstracts)
Poisoning the border: Many American-owned factories in Mexico are fouling the
environment, and their workers aren't prospering
Satchell, Michael
U.S. News & World Report May 6, 1991 p37
U.S. companies began relocating to northern Mexico 25 years ago under a program
called maquiladora, that provides U.S. companies with cheap labor and tax breaks and
Mexican workers with steady jobs. Now, close to 2,000 plants employing about half a
million people are operating along the U.S.- Mexico border. However, free from the
restraints of the U.S. EPA, these companies are creating more pollution there than they
would in the United States. A report by the American Medical Association described the
region as "a virtual cesspool and breeding ground for infectious disease."
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Fighting for water in the Colonias; a Texan teaches Mexican Americans the
uses of Chicago-style political activism. (Pearl Caesar)
Woodbury, Richard
Time v!32 October 17, 1988 p!2
Pearl Ceasar is an organizer for the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization
(EPISCO) working to mobilize low-income families in the quest for clean drinking water.
Ceasar's outrage stems from the fact that 28,000 people in the El Paso area live without
water, and some 53,000 live without sewer systems. Many of these people are first-
generation Mexican Americans who speak little English and are wary of Government.
Ceasar, who is also a Catholic nun, has been successful in motivating volunteers, gathering
signatures, and mapping recruitment drives.
Health issues at the US-Mexican border
Warner, DC
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin 78713.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 1991 Jan 9; 265(2): 242-7
With a rapidly growing population, increasing manufacturing activity, and increased
interdependence, health issues on the US-Mexican border are demanding greater attention. It
is unlikely that any other border in the world separates two nations having such variety in
health status, entitlements, and utilization. Binational initiatives in the areas of environmental
health and sanitation are clearly needed. Further cooperation between the United States and
Mexico in provision of health services is warranted and will probably require enhanced
federal funding or subsidies to be successful. (MEDLINE)
Ambient air arsenic levels along the Texas-Mexico border.
Shields, J, University of Texas School of Public Health, San Antonio.
J-Air-Waste-Manage-Assoc. 41(6) Jun 1991, pp827-31
The Texas-Mexico border region is one of the most rapidly developing areas in the
state. Unprecedented economic and demographic growth is placing stress on a system already
overburdened with air, water, waste, and public health problems. This paper reports the
results of an initial survey of the past and present ambient air levels of arsenic along the
Texas side of the border. Ambient air arsenic levels have increased over time, exhibit
seasonal variations, and are higher in specific areas when compared to the rest of the state.
Five of the 20 areas in Texas having the highest 24-hour levels of arsenic are found along
the border. In areas where emissions have been significantly reduced at the source, arsenic
levels remained high in the environment for over two years. This provides a potential
continuum for human exposure. The results of this study emphasize the need for bi-national
development and implementation of air quality control programs along the Texas-Mexico
border. (TOXLINE)
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Farm workers: Among the least protected.
Perfecto, Ivette, and Baldemar Velasquez
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992, ppl3-14
Farm workers and their families are disproportionately exposed to the health hazards
associated with pesticides. The World Resources Institute has estimated that as many as
313,000 farm workers in the United States may suffer from pesticide-related illnesses each
year. The majority of farm members are minorities. Because farm workers are not covered
by OSHA, they must petition EPA, the agency in charge of regulating pesticides. In the
past, EPA has assumed that these chemicals are essential for high productivity in U.S.
agriculture. However, more options are becoming available. As public awareness of the
situation increases, there may be a shift to a new type of agriculture that will be less
dependent on chemicals. This "modern" agriculture will include the health and safety of
farm workers, farmers, consumers, and the environment.
'Environmental racism': It could be a messy fight.
Flynn Siler, Julia
Business Week May 20, 1991, pi 16
Chemical Waste Management Inc. was sued for discrimination after winning approval
to place an incinerator near a mostly Hispanic area. The suit marks one of the first uses of
the civil rights laws to fight a waste facility. If successful, it would give activists another
weapon to attack locally unpopular land uses.
BOOKS AND REPORTS
EPA summary environmental plan for the Mexican-U.S. border area: First stage (1992-
1994).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992
EPA Headquarters Library Intl EPAX 9203-0046
This plan summarizes specific actions that Mexico's Secretaria de Desarrollo Urnano
y Ecologia (SEDUE) and EPA intend to take over the next three years (1992-1994) to
address environmental problems already evident in the border area. Over the next year, the
two agencies propose to invest approximately $230 million in water-related construction
projects to enhance the quality of the border environment. This plan is based on a
fundamental belief that economic and environmental issues are intertwined and that long-term
economic growth is not possible without environmental protection, and long-term
environmental protection is not possible without economic growth. Mexico and the United
States both face a challenge as they work together to balance those related goals.
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Colonias: a third world within our borders: hearing, May 15, 1989.
United States. House. Select Committee on Hunger.
'90, iii+102p, il tables
Measures needed to alleviate substandard social conditions in some
settlements and areas of Texas. (PAIS)
Colonias housing and community development assistance: hearing, September
7, 1988, on H.R. 4606, a bill to establish the United States-Mexico Border Regional
Commission and to assist in the development of the economic and human resources of
the United States-Mexico border region of the United States.
United States House. Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee
on Housing and Community Development.
Mexican American rural families living in small communities along the
southwestern border. (PAIS)
Texas Rural Water Quality Network Project: challenge of the colonias, small
community wastewater management in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Texas Dept. of Agriculture.; National Demonstration Water Project (U.S.)
Austin TX: Texas Dept. of Agriculture : National Demonstration Water Project, 1986
EPA Headquarters Library TD365.T38
Covers sewage disposal, water resources, and water quality management in rural
Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Border plan for cleanup wins praise.
Perez, Janet
The Phoenix Gazette B8 January 24, 1992
President Bush's plan to spend $201 million to help clean up pollution along the U.S.
Mexico border — with $15 million earmarked for the Nogales area — is drawing guarded
praise from politicians.
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Pit privies noted along border: Study identifies lack of water, sewer facilities in rural
Texas.
Dixon, Jennifer, Associated Press
Phoenix Gazette B18 November 23, 1990
According to a study by the General Accounting Office, less than one percent of the
colonias have public sewage disposal systems.
EPA wants more funds for border-area cleanup: Mexico also pledges to boost its effort.
Associated Press
Sacramento Bee B5 January 24, 1992
The proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency budget nearly doubles the
amount of money spent to control pollution along the Mexican border. The increased
spending apparently is part of an effort to woo environmentalists to support the pending
North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.
On Texas border, outlook for air quality is murky.
Kennedy, J. Michael
Los Angeles Times Al November 20, 1991
Summarizes the factors leading to air quality problems in El Paso, the poorest large
city in the United States. The possibility of an increase in air pollution after free trade is
causing concern among city officials and environmentalists who have watched the continued
fouling of El Paso's air despite the implementation of strict air quality laws on both sides of
the border.
Not fit for humans Colonias need help, but bonds are a poor answer.
Editorial
Houston Post A32 October 26, 1991
According to the author, Texas needs to solve the problem of its many polluted
colonias - disease-ridden unincorporated residential areas along the Mexican border that have
no safe drinking or wastewater systems - and do so just as soon as is possible. The Post
urges voters to reject the proposed constitutional amendment and demand that the Legislature
instead propose one including a pay-as-we-go plan that would finance the whole colonias
program out of current revenues.
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£1 Paso's Colonias still awaiting promised improvements.
Associated Press
Houston Post A27 September 9, 1990
Despite state and federal legislation to ease colonia problems, and efforts to bring
water service to the dry villages in El Paso's Lower Valley, change is not evident.
Waste from pollution boom destroying Rio Grande.
Garcia, James E.
Palm Beach Post 21A October 27, 1991
The 1,885-mile Rio Grande - which begins with melting snow in the San Juan
Mountains of Colorado — is rushing toward an environmental disaster. It is being fouled by
household sewage, runoff from cities, toxic chemicals from factories, pesticides from farms
and sediment from mines. In most cases, the waste is the byproduct of the booming
population and industrial revolution along the border. Under a free-trade agreement being
negotiated by the United States and Mexico, environmentalists fear, development will
increase — and so will the destructive pollution.
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ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER ISSUES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Environmental justice for Asians and Pacific Islanders.
Lee, Pam Tau
Race, Poverty & the Environment 3(1) Spring 1992 pi
The major focus of the movement against environmental racism has been on African-
American, Native American, and Latino communities in the U.S. Very little has been
written about Asians and Pacific Islanders. This article reviews the small body of
information that exists.
The majority of Chinese, Philipinos, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Koreans and Laotians
live in overcrowded apartments or public housing in low rent urban areas. These people are
exposed to toxic lead paint and pollution from automobiles. Asians and Pacific Islanders also
live near Superfund sites and factories that spew toxics into the air. Asian workers in the
garment industry are exposed to fiber particles, dyes, formaldehyde, and arsenic used to treat
the fabric, causing high rates of byssinosis and respiratory illness. The author calls for
Asians and Pacific Islanders to be included in organization that can effect change. Thorough
research also needs to be conducted which includes the active participation of the Asian
communities.
Native Hawaiian historical and cultural perspectives on environmental justice.
Trask, Mililani
Race, Poverty & the Environment 3(1) Spring 1992 p3
This article is a copy of the speech presented by Mililani Trask at the First National
People of Color Environmental Summit in Washington D.C. in October 1991. Among the
incidences of environmental dangers to Hawaiians are U.S. military activities which may
have led to a high incidence of leukemia and other cancers among children in Lualualie on
the Island of Oahu. Tourism has resulted in releases of sewage that damage the reef fish
hunted by Hawaiians. Wells have been closed because of toxification brought about by
herbicides and pesticides. Mililani Trask calls for Hawaiians and all people of color to join
in the struggle to fight for environmental justice and to insure the survival of people of color
and all the species of the earth.
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Endangering lives, contaminating the environment: U.S. burns chemical weapons in the
Pacific.
C. Kijang Kin, Lim Poo
Race, Poverty & the Environment 3(1) Spring 1992 p8
According to the authors, disarmament in Europe means new toxic dangers for Pacific
Islanders. This article describes the dangers associated with the Johnston Plan: the
movement of some 100 tons of U.S. chemical weapons from West Germany to Johnston
Island in the Pacific.
Dangers in the workplace: Asian workers at risk.
Chu, Flora
Race, Poverty & the Environment 3(1) Spring 1992 plO
Recent Asian immigrants work predominantly in the electronics industry,
cosmetology, drycleaning, and clerical jobs. Many of these jobs involve the use of and
exposure to highly toxic chemicals associated with long term chronic illnesses.
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FEDERAL ACTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY
Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk for all communities.
U.S. EPA Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, June 1992
EPA/230-R-92-008
In the context of a risk-based approach to environmental management, the relative
risk burden borne by low-income and racial minority communities is a special concern. A
low-income community wHich is surrounded by multiple sources of air pollution, waste
treatment facilities and landfills, and which has lead-based paint in the residences is clearly a
community that faces higher than average potential environmental risks. A racial or cultural
group whose children commonly have harmful levels of lead in their blood is also living with
a greater environmental risk. In addition, as a result of factors affecting health status, such
communities may be more likely than the general population to experience disease or death
due to a given level of exposure. Poor nutrition, smoking, inadequate health care and stress
can all contribute to an increased rate of health effects at a given pollutant level. Hence, to
the extent these communities are subject to these factors, they are also more likely to actually
experience harm due to these exposures.
This report includes background information, the findings of the Environmental
Equity Workgroup, and recommendations.
Environmental Justice Act of 1992 H.R. 5326 102d Cong. 2d sess.
House of Representatives June 4, 1992
"A bill to establish a program to assure nondiscriminatory compliance with all
environmental, health and safety laws and to assure equal protection of the public health."
Steps at EPA: In the regions.
Martin, Deb
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992 pp54-57.
Includes three articles about how EPA regional offices are working to promote
environmental equity: Innovative Housing in Atlanta, Lead Cleanup in the Midwest, and
Enforcing the Law in California.
Steps at EPA: Helping minorities help the environment.
Gaylord, Clarice E.; Knox, Robert.
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992 pp58-60.
The EPA's Minority Academic Institutions (MAI) Task Force is working to enhance
EPA's interaction with minority institutions and to promote minority involvement as
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scientists and engineers in environmental fields. Descriptions of the EPA Coop-Progression
program, Faculty Fellows program and Environmental Science Management Training
programs are given. The MAI Task Force also plans to assist in strengthening of science
and engineering programs at minority institutions by contributing research dollars and
technical assistance. EPA funded research centers are currently found at Howard University
in Washington D.C., Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta and Southern University in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. Also, EPA has established a National Recruitment Advisory Committee
to establish relationships with minority colleges and encourage minority students to enter
environmental careers.
The U.S. Colonias: A target for aid.
Lewis, Jack
EPA Journal 18(1) March/April 1992 pp61-62
In response to the problems in the Colonias, mainly lack of safe drinking water,
sewage lines, electricity, fire protection, and community services, the EPA relea'sed a plan
for the cleanup of pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border. This article summarizes the
problems of the Colonias and Federal and State efforts to eliminate the health risks facing
these people.
Environmental equity: EPA takes key steps to address issue.
Banks, Dr. Warren
EPA InSight July 1992
This article is an announcement of steps to institutionalize environmental equity
efforts within the Agency, including the establishment of an Environmental Equity Cluster
and an Environmental Equity Staff in OARM, and the release of the Environmental Equity,
Reducing Risk for all Communities.
OSWER initiates projects to tackle environmental equity issues.
Superfund Report September 9, 1992
Outlines the Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response's draft report examining
environmental equity around Superfund sites. The draft, which coincided with EPA's report,
Environmental Equity, Reducing Risk for all Communities, states that OSWER plans to
determine the race, income and age of people living near Superfund sites to learn if some
groups face a disproportionately high risk.
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Residents want 'justice,' the EPA offers equity.
Lawella, Mariannne
The National Law Journal S12 Monday September 21, 1992
This article summarizes criticisms of the U.S. EPA by minority environmental
leaders. Professor Robert Bullard, sociologist at the University of California, Riverside
concedes that the EPA has taken "baby steps" to combat environmental injustices. In
response to this criticism, EPA officials stress that Environmental Equity, Reducing Risk for
all Communities is part of a continuing effort to draw attention to the issue and find
solutions. This issue of the National Law Journal contains a special section on environmental
equity.
EPA official predicts more 'risk mapping' as agency seeks fairness for minorities.
Hazmat News September 15, 1992
Summarizes recommendations of EPA report Environmental Equity, Reducing Risk for
all Communities. EPA activities, including the creation of a new office of "environmental
equity," and calls for state and local governments to become involved in considering risk
equity are described.
EPA talk to focus on equity, minorities' problems to be highlighted topic
Sun Sentinel ISA September 10, 1992
Announces a Conference on Environmental Equity.
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MANAGEMENT BIBLIOGRAPHY SERIES
The following is a list of the most recent management Bibliographies produced by the
EPA Information Access Branch.
1. MANAGING DIVERSITY, June 1992
EPA 220 B-92-020
2. THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION
by Cathy Flanagan, June 1992
EPA 220 B-92-018
3. THE CUSTOMER STRATEGY
by Sigrid N. Smith, March 1992
EPA/IMSD/92-01
4. LEADERSHIP STYLES
by Sigrid N. Smith, December 1991
EPA/IMSD/0/91-019
5. TEAMWORK: EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
by Sigrid N. Smith, September 1991
EPA/IMSD/91-013
6. PUBLIC POLICY MECHANISMS: NON-REGULATORY OPTIONS FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
by Sigrid N. Smith, June 1991
EPA/IMSD-91-006
7. EFFECTIVE CONFERENCE PLANNING
by Sigrid N. Smith, March 1991
EPA/IMSD-91-002
8. CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
by Mary Hoffman and Sigrid N. Smith, January 1991
EPA/IMSD-91-001
9. MANAGING A DIVERSE WORK FORCE
by Anne Twitchell, June 1990
EPA/IMSD-90-007
10. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
by Anne Twitchell, June 1990
EPA/IMSD-90-1990
11. STRATEGIC PLANNING
by Anne Twitchell, March 1990
EPA/IMSD-90-005
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