Environmental Justice

What is Environmental Justice?

"Environmental justice," "environmental equity," and "environmental racism" are all terms that describe several alarming and damaging realities in the lives of some minority enclaves throughout the country:

• A disproportionate number of industrial and waste disposal facilities are located in poor communities and in communities populated by people of color.
• These people bear a disproportionately large share of the burden and get few of the benefits of living near industrial and waste disposal plants.
• Environmental laws are sometimes inconsistently applied and are often more slowly enforced in these communities.
• Penalties for violations are often lower in these communities.
• People in these communities often have lacked the power, knowledge and resources to become involved in organized resistance to their plight.

Communities of color and minority communities are frequently the victims of environmentally detrimental health activities practiced where the people live and raise their families. These neighborhoods are the most common victims of toxic landfills, waste incinerators, industrial dumping, uranium mining, and other environmentally detrimental activities. Too often these practices are reinforced by government, legal, economic, political, and military issues. These negative impacts often go beyond unhealthy air and water, occurring simultaneously with high poverty rate, decaying infrastructure, higher incidence of crime and violence and insufficient job opportunities, all of which makes this more than just an environmental dilemma.

Advocates of environmental justice understand that pollutants and other environmental ills transcend geographic boundaries--that contaminated air and water can adversely impact the health and well-being of people at all socio-environmental levels. They also recognize that effective environmental protection is best achieved when stakeholders develop community action leading to appropriate and effective regulatory action. Fortunately, many national and local environmental organizations have embraced the concept of environmental justice, as have federal and state legislatures. In 1980, Congress set aside a "Superfund" of $1.6 million to clean up thousands of hazardous waste sites. The fund was renewed in 1986 and again in 1991.

Responding to recommendations of his Environmental Justice Transition team, President Clinton, in 1994, signed an Executive Order stating how federal agencies should address environmental justice through the National Environmental Policy Act, making it a top priority of government. It is significant that the 103rd Congress has introduced nine environmental justice bills, and numerous complaints relating to the issue have been filed with the EPA's Office of Civil Rights as well as state and federal courts.

Two Superfund Sites in San José

The San José community of Albuquerque was first settled as a farming community in the early 1800s. Today, it has become an industrial corridor that has been designated by the federal government as a "pocket of poverty." The community of about 2,000 people is 86% Latino and has an unemployment rate of 18%. Located in the South Broadway area (bounded roughly by Kathryn Avenue, Gibson, I-25, and the railroad), the San José community hosts two Superfund sites: the South Valley site and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad site.

San José has been designated as the state's highest Superfund priority because of various industries that polluted the groundwater with hazardous chemicals such as benzene, trichlorethlene, and pesticides like DDT. Two city wells were shut down in the late 1970s because they were contaminated. Industries involved include Chevron, Texaco, and General Electric Corporation. Due to pressure by Albuquerque San José Community Awareness Council (ASJCAC), General Electric agreed to pay for clean-up of the water.

Founded in 1988 as a result of citizens' concern about the deteriorating environmental and social conditions in the community, ASJCAC has become an incorporated nonprofit organization recognized by the city and an active partner in the Superfund remediation process.

The goal of ASJCAC is a better-informed, more empowered citizenry to require remediation of the Superfund sites. The concept of partnership is central to the ASJCAC's activities. Its widely published statement declares the following: "As residents of San José, we did not create the situation that we are in. Many people have benefited from industry in San José, but others enjoy the benefits while our community pays the price. We will work with the companies to find solutions, to push for their reinvestment in the community and to hold them responsible for their actions."

San José residents have been refused bank loans for home improvements because their properties, according to some reports, "are in a hazardous waste site of some type." Even residents who live near, but not in, the contaminated area have been denied loans.

SouthWest Organizing Project

Another local organization committed to the empowerment of people in the Southwest to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice is the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). It was founded in 1981 by a group of experienced Latino, Native American, and African-American activists. They have focused most of their efforts in Chicano communities in Albuquerque and throughout the state, and have also worked with Indian organizations and tribal governments from the pueblos surrounding Albuquerque and the Navajo Nation. SWOP offers an Environmental and Economic Justice tour to provide concrete examples of environmental racism within Albuquerque communities and to link issues of environment and economic justice.

Communities of Color

The San José Community story has been repeated in different forms in other communities of color in Albuquerque, the rest of New Mexico, and in other states--from those in the petrochemical corridors in Louisiana to Native American reservations burdened with nearby waste disposal sites. All these places are inhabited largely by people of color who are experiencing unequal protection under environmental laws.

A drive through South Broadway provides a picture of the social and environmental situation of people of color in the Albuquerque area. Indian, Chicano, and Blacks have historically settled in the valley along the Rio Grande. These Chicano and black communities make up the "pocket of poverty" area in Albuquerque. Here groundwater is only 5 to 30 feet below the surface, making it very susceptible to contamination. Many military and industrial facilities have settled here, and some have created serious pollution problems. There are currently 52 known areas of groundwater contamination in the Albuquerque valley, primarily as a result of industrial dumping.

In the Mountainview neighborhood on Second Street, south of Rio Bravo Boulevard, high levels of nitrates have persisted for at least 30 years. In 1980 an infant almost died from drinking one bottle of formula made with contaminated tap water. For generations people relied on domestic wells for water, but in recent years they have been forced to carry in water or hook up to the city water lines now available. Mountainview also faces many other threats from industry. Local fire station volunteers estimate that as many as 40 industries in the Mountainview area are using hazardous chemicals. This practice has resulted in groundwater contamination, air and noise pollution, and at least three evacuations of the neighborhood in the past six years.

Pattern of Discrimination

Industrial polluters, municipalities, agricultural polluters, and the military have historically imposed their dumps and polluting facilities on working-class, minority, politically weak communities --and continue to do so--using the justification of economic development. People in these communities often feel they must choose between short-term survival and long-term health. Those who demand accountability for the damages caused by these polluters are often threatened with the shutdown of the facility and the loss of much needed jobs.

Options and Opinions

Discussion Questions

1. In many cities, environmentally undesirable facilities are located in poverty areas. Why might this happen? Is this the case in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County?
2. What might be the benefits of organizations such as the Albuquerque San Jose Community Awareness Council (ASJCAC)
3. One possible result of cuts in the federal budget could be that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have less money available for Superfund remediation. Albuquerque has two Superfund sites. How might the people of Albuquerque handle the problem if EPA funds are cut back?
4. What role should people play in solving local social and environmental problems?

Possible Solutions/Opinions

1. The EPA Superfund program is one more example of waste of time and money in federal programs.
2. There have been significant differences between Superfund's treatment of white and minority communities in terms of penalties assessed against polluters, methods of remediation and the response time of EPS.
3. People who live and work in a neighborhood are the real experts about that neighborhood and its problems and should be listened to.
4. An organization such as ASJCAC can play a significant part in increasing public awareness, participation, and education, and that can lead to more satisfactory solutions of local environmental problems.

Activities

1. Place cutouts or symbols on a map of the city (or county) to locate such public facilities as landfills, water treatment plants, composting plants, oil storage tanks, parks, generating plants, slaughter houses, hazardous waste and other recycling plants, libraries, feedlots heavy industry, theaters, manufacturing facilities, hospitals, etc. Then add housing (both single-family homes and multiple-dwelling units) to the map. Study the completed map and discuss questions such as the following:
   • In or near which neighborhoods of your community is each of the different facilities found?
   • What are the ethnic and socio-economic characteristics of residents in each of these different neighborhoods? How do land values compare among the neighborhoods? How is the location of the various facilities determined?
   • What does the term, "environmental justice" mean? Are there examples of environmental injustice in your community? If so, is anything being done about it? Is any legislation, local or national, pending to prevent environmental injustice?
   If there is a current problem concerning the location of a public facility in your community, set up a role-playing situation in your class. Assign such roles as county or city commissioner and other elected officials, planning department director, business person, neighborhood association representative, local senior citizen, local youngster, local adult, and Sierra Club or other environmental activist. Also assign roles as media representatives such as newspaper radio, and television reporters. Conduct a simulated public hearing. If the class comes to any conclusions as result of this activity, have students write a letter to the county or city commission or to the editor of the local paper.

2. Contact ASJCAC (243-4837 or 243-3085) or SWOP (247-8832) to determine the status of Albuquerque's two Superfund sites. If there are current problems requiring discussion and citizen input, invite a speaker from one of these organizations to come to the class and make a presentation. Discuss students' reaction to the problems and decide on possible actions plans.

3. Students might pretend to be newspaper reporters assigned to write feature stories about the South Valley Superfund sites. They can contact ASJCAC or SWOP to learn the present statues of the problems. (Currently SWOP offers a tour of and a printed tour guide.) Questions to be explored might include these:

   • What are the major sources of pollution?
   • How much money has EPA allocated for the Superfund sites? How much has already been spent?
   • To what extent has ASJCAC or SWOP influenced the progress of work to correct the problem?
   • What does the future hold for these sites?
   The best of these feature stories might be sent to one of the daily newspapers.