Opinion Editorial | |
| Wednesday, October 21, 1998 | |
The Environmental Injustice Movement |
One of the dirty secrets about environmentalism has long been the lily-whiteness of the movement. As University of Colorado historian Patricia Nelson put it, "Environmentalism has clearly been a white middle- and upper-class movement." The fact is that very, very few blacks or other minorities belong to organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation. For example, in Prince George's County, Maryland -- an area in which more than half the residents are black -- there is not a single minority on the board of the local Sierra Club. Being good liberals for the most part, environmentalists were embarrassed by the mono-racial caste of their movement and they sought ways to reach out to minorities. But they had a problem. People who were poor and living the inner city weren't especially keen on saving the Spotted Owl or creating more national parks out West, where they are mainly enjoyed by middle class white people. Minorities were more interested in what environmentalists would do to improve their immediate environment, the one in which they were living. In the early 1980s, environmentalists hit upon the idea of "environmental justice." The notion was that governments and big corporations were using minority neighborhoods as dumping grounds for toxic waste and other pollutants. Here, finally, was an environmental issue that resonated in the inner city, where it fed into both paranoia and legitimate concerns about health and safety. Soon there was a vigorous grass roots movement devoted to environmental justice, pleasing to both environmentalists and those with other political agendas. In an important new book, "The Promise and Peril of Environmental Justice," Brookings Institution fellow Christopher Foreman, Jr. examines the growth of the environmental justice movement and what it means for minorities. He finds that the movement is less about the environment than about politics. The term "environmental justice" has become an empty vessel into which just about every conceivable grievance can be thrown. It is thus a movement without a definable goal, and therefore one that is unlikely to achieve success, however measured. If the environmental justice movement were just a waste of time, it would not be a matter of much concern. But unfortunately for minorities, it is much more than that. Foreman is most concerned that it is diverting limited attention away from more serious and solvable health problems that plague minority communities, many of which, like smoking, are behavioral in nature. By leading minorities to believe that their health problems are due to evil governments and corporations, they are led away from actions they could take that would improve their living conditions. Another big problem is that lawsuits based on environmental justice claims reduce job opportunities for minorities. Just recently, for example, the Shintech Corporation canceled plans to build a plastics factory in a predominantly minority area in Louisiana, opting for a predominantly white area after local activists tried to block the plan on environmental justice grounds. This meant a loss of 255 good jobs in an area that desperately needed them.
Not surprisingly, the Clinton Administration has pressed the environmental justice issue with great vigor. Earlier this year it issued "interim guidance" for enforcing environmental justice claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under these rules, the Environmental Protection Administration could basically stop any industrial project dead in its tracks on the flimsiest of evidence that minorities were suffering disparate impact. Fearing that this would end industrial development in minority areas for all time, some black leaders such as Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer are challenging the EPA rules. They will find support from black scholars such as Mr. Foreman. Source: Bruce Bartlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis, October 21, 1998. Home | Support Us | All Issues | Social Security Debate Central | Contact Us |