Solid waste 

Solid Waste and Environmental Racism

The capitalist class frequently employs racist practices in order to maintain power and to further capital accumulation. Racism serves to fragment the working class, weakening its solidarity. And racist practices are often cost-minimizing, and hence profit-maximizing.  An example of the latter is the locating of environmentally degrading activities-- such as waste dumps and incinerators-- in underclass, minority communities.

Robert Bullard, a prominent analyst of environmental racism in the U.S., in his landmark book, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (1990), has documented how

...toxic-waste dumps, municipal landfills, garbage incinerators, and similar noxious facilities are not randomly scattered across the American landscape. The siting process has resulted in minority neighborhoods (regardless of class) carrying a greater burden of localized costs than either affluent or poor white neighborhoods. Differential access to power and decision making found among black and white communities also institutionalizes siting disparities. (Chap. 2)

Wide recognition of such environmental injustice is less than two decades old, and organized resistance to it is even more recent.  Again, as Bullard has noted:

The problem of polluted black communities is not a new phenomenon. Historically, toxic dumping and the location of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) have followed the "path of least resistance," meaning black and poor communities have been disproportionately burdened with these types of externalities. However, organized black resistance to toxic dumping, municipal waste facility siting, and discriminatory environmental and land-use decisions is a relatively recent phenomenon. (Chap. 1)

Notable examples of environmental racism involving solid waste can be seen in Emelle, Alabama, in Holly Springs, North Carolina, in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in East Los Angeles.  These cases and others are among those discussed in the optional online resources provided below.

  Optional online resources concerning solid waste and environmental racism

  "What Is Environmental Justice?-- Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ)," Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, October 24-27, 1991, Washington DC. -- Presents 17 principles of environmental justice, which have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.

  "Environmental Justice: An Interview with Robert Bullard," Errol Schweizer, Earth First! Journal, July 1999

  Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, Robert D. Bullard, 1990. Boulder, CO: Westview. Chapter 1: Environmentalism and Social Justice  [7,400 words];  Chapter 2: Race, Class, and the Politics of Place  [5,500 words].

  "Holly Springs [North Carolina] May Get Dumped On Again," WRAL Online, 13 May 1998

  "Residents Raise Stink Over Proposed Landfill," WRAL Online, 16 May 1998

 "Some Say Landfill Indicates Environmental Racism," WRAL Online, 8 July 1998 -- Article about planned landfill in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

  Dump the Dump -- A "site devoted to providing opponents of the proposed Holly Springs, NC, landfill with accurate and useful information."  This excellent site arms local citizens with information about the current events, history, economics, politics, and sociology of a landfill proposed for their community, together with action steps and alternatives.

  Environmental Racism in Chester, home page, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) and the Campus Coalition Concerning Chester (C-4) -- One of the worst cases of environmental racism in the U.S.  "Chester, PA, southwest of Philadelphia, is home to 43,000 residents and one of the largest collections of waste facilities in the country. Sixty-five percent of Chester residents are African-American as are 95% of residents in neighborhoods closest to the facilities. The poverty rate lies at 25%, which is 3 times the national average."  [From "Environmental Racism in Chester," by Mike Ewall, at http://www.penweb.org/chester/ewall_article.html ; 2,100 words]

  "Race, Waste, and Class: New Perspectives on Environmental Justice," Michael K. Heiman, Antipode, April 1996 (v. 28, n. 2)

  Madres del Este de Los Angeles-Santa Isabel (MELASI), home page. -- Proponents of the first urban hazardous waste incinerator in the United States argued that Vernon, in East Los Angeles, was the ideal place for such a facility because it would be conveniently near a heavy industry zone planned by the City of Los Angeles. The community is largely Latino and has many young children, who are especially vulnerable to air toxins and other cancer pollutants. The Vernon incinerator was eventually abandoned because of the watchful and strong opposition by MELASI and other organizations.

  "Waste Management, Inc.: An Encyclopedia of Environmental Crimes & Other Misdeeds," Charlie Cray, Greenpeace, 1991 -- Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) is the largest waste-hauling firm in America; in 1990 its total revenues exceeded six billion dollars. "The location of major WMI/CWM [Chemical Waste Management, a WMI subsidiary] waste disposal facilities exhibits a clear pattern of environmental racism: host communities to major CWM dumps such as Kettleman City, California; Emelle, Alabama; and the Southeast Side of Chicago are comprised predominately of people of color. WMI has also attempted to site solid waste dumps in Native American communities such as the Moronga Indian reservation in Banning, California; the Borona reservation in San Diego, California; and a reservation in Gila River, Arizona."

  "Study Finds Poor Neighborhoods Make Best Sites for Incinerators," Peter Montague, Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly #81, 13 June 1988 -- Discusses a 1984 study, prepared by Cerrell Associates, a Los Angeles public relations and political consulting firm, and commissioned by the California State Waste Management Board, saying, "The report outlines ways to defuse opposition. The report says waste-to-energy plant sites 'can be suggested partly on the basis of neighborhoods least likely to express opposition-older, conservative and lower socioeconomic neighborhoods.'"

  "Economics v. Equity: Do market-based environmental reforms exacerbate environmental injustice?," Mercer University School of Law, no date. -- "In the current era of anti-regulatory sentiment, it is clear that market-based environmental reforms will continue to proliferate and flourish. However, in a free market, low-income communities will never have sufficient financial resources to buy clean air, clean water and similar environmental and public health resources from wealthy communities or polluters. In addition, barriers to collective organization or public participation, imperfect information, or other market failures will often prevent low-income communities from even participating in the market for those resources."

  Environmental Racism, Center For Health, Environment and Justice -- a guidebook covering siting on Native American lands, exclusionary policies of mainstream environmental groups and the strategies communities of color are using to combat this problem.  [Order Item #P017, $7.00]

 Social Equity and Environmental Justice [in the Arctic] -- Numerous case studies and reports. "A long history of colonialism and social inequity in the Arctic has left northern indigenous peoples highly vulnerable to environmental damage."

  Environmental Justice Database, Michigan State University -- Bibliographic entries on issues related to environmental justice.

  Environmental Justice Net Links, The Mining Company

  "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations," Presidential Executive Order 12898, 11 February 1994 (full text).

  Environmental Justice, home page, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Responses, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- EPA defines Environmental Justice as the "fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."

 "Environmental Justice in Siting a Waste to Energy Facility: An Empowered Community of Color Sites a Waste-To-Energy Facility," Thomas A.V/ Cassel and Terence P. Walmsley, Journal of Environmental Law & Practice, May/June 1995, pp. 48-53 -- Discusses a solid waste incinerator at Robbins, Illinois, which "is sited in, and soundly supported by, an empowered African-American host community that meaningfully participated in the siting process and that will reap significant economic benefits from its operations."  The senior author (Cassel) "is president and chief executive officer of Reading Energy Company, a privately held company specializing in the development, ownership, and operation of independent power projects fueled by solid waste throughout the United States."

 "Environmental Liberty and Social Justice for All: How Advocacy Planning Can Help Combat Environmental Racism," Simmons Buntin, November 1995  [4,800 words]

  "A Winning Hand? The uncertain future of environmental justice," Christopher H. Foreman, Jr., The Brookings Review, Spring 1996 (v. 14, n. 2).

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