VJEL Staff Editor: Catherina Narigon

Faculty Member: Marianne Engelman-Lado

 

Environmental Justice in 2020: Racial Disparities Shocking, but not Surprising

 

Introduction

 

COVID-19 has changed the way in which we interact with each other and with broader society. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) gained momentum as racial disparities in policing practices in the United States culminated in the murder of George Floyd and a series of tragedies shown over the airwaves. Environmental Justice (EJ)—which seeks to address the ways in which historically marginalized communities battle harms associated with grossly disproportionate environmental exposure and related occupational hazards—is garnering attention as well. Eric Garner and far too many other Black Americans cried out “I can’t breathe” as police took their lives. Communities of color across the United States echo this plea as disproportionate rates of air pollution and uncontrolled toxic waste lead to higher rates of illness and death from COVID-19, cancer, and other ailments.

 

A suffocating reality

 

Industrial facilities and other sources of pollution contaminate communities of color at much higher rates than other communities. Black and Brown Americans have dealt with this as a grimy fact of daily life for centuries, but it was not until 1987 that the United Church of Christ published Toxic Waste and Race and brought attention to the relationship between race and the location of sources of hazardous pollution. This study, which has been replicated by research examining the relationship between race and different sources of pollution as well as pollution in all regions of the country, found race to be the single most important factor in determining whether or not a person lived in an area associated with the presence of a commercial hazardous waste facility. The report additionally found that nearly 60% of Black and Hispanic Americans lived near uncontrolled toxic waste sites.

In response to these findings, Rev. Benjamin Chavis coined the term “environmental racism.” He argued that environmental policy in the United States is deeply informed by racially-based discrimination. Chavis spoke about how many environmental protections further—rather than lessen—environmental injustice. For example, if enforcement of environmental laws is greater in wealthier and whiter communities, polluters will be more likely to invest in communities of color.

Sadly, but surely, environmental racism is alive and well in 2020. Communities of color are exposed to particulate matter and other air pollutants at a much higher rate than other communities. Long-term exposure to these air pollutants has long been known to increase morbidity, mortality, respiratory problems, and other negative health implications.

A recent Harvard study found that even slight increases in exposure to particulate matter drastically increases a person’s chances of dying from COVID-19. Exposure to air pollution increases the severity of symptoms and long-term impacts of the virus. This puts communities of color at much higher risk of severe complications or death from COVID-19.

Of course, exposure to air pollution isn’t the only reason for racial disparities in illness and death related to COVID-19. Risks on the job are another factor—people of color are more likely to be in dangerous jobs such as at meat and poultry processing facilities and deemed essential workers.  As early as May 2020, researchers were reporting high rates of illness and death at these facilities.  Over the course of the summer, workers at meatpacking plants were called back to work even as evidence piled up that these locations were hot spots for the transmission of the virus.

The 1987 Toxic Waste and Race report beseeched government officials to take strong and immediate action to remedy racial disparities in environmental exposure. The report recommended developing an executive order on environmental justice, the formation of an office within the EPA tasked with considering racial and ethnic concerns, and state level action, among other things. Subsequent EJ activism lead to the implementation many of the report’s recommendations.

 

EJ since 1987

 

In 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, which sought to address the disproportionate adverse environmental impacts that people of color and low-income communities face, and to promote solutions in response to these impacts.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency created the Office of Environmental Equity (now the Office of Environmental Justice) to combat and monitor EJ concerns, and the EPA created the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (the NEJAC), to provide advice on cross-cutting issues related to environmental justice.

However, these actions from the EPA were only a start and didn’t begin to address the racial disparities in environmental exposure that are already baked into the relationship between race, land use, and the location of polluting sources across the country.  In recent years, instead of devoting additional attention and resources to environmentally overburdened communities, the EPA has been rolling back environmental protections that limit pollution and air emissions. The agency may claim to prioritize environmental justice, but these actions should call this promise into question.

COVID-19 may have lulled aspects of normal life into a stupor but it has ignited both the BLM and EJ movements and shines a spotlight on the ways in which these movements for racial justice intertwine. COVID-19 has shown how Black and Brown communities continue to experience critical repercussions due to disproportionate exposure to toxics and pollution.

 

EJ and Black Lives Matter

 

Black Lives Matter is considered one of the largest social movements in the history of America, engaging historic numbers of protesters. BLM has uplifted the continued salience of race in the United States, taking to the streets when authority figures sworn to protect citizens kill and brutalize Black Americans. BLM is forcing the country to realize the ways in which communities of color are literally and figuratively choked of air. COVID-19 has made it clear that air pollution also kills Black Americans.

According to the CDC, Blacks are 2.6 times more likely than Whites in the United States to be diagnosed with COVID-19, 4.7 times more likely to be hospitalized, and more than twice as likely to die from the virus. EJ groups have gained attention and support as more and more Americans realize that so many Black deaths are not isolated incidents, but rather the result of systemic racism.

The momentum of the ongoing BLM movement and increased national attention to EJ issues will continue to highlight racial injustice and environmental injustice in a nation that too often dims these issues. BLM protests across the country remain steady. EJ activism remains strong. As more proof of environmental racism and the importance of EJ reveal themselves, these voices will more loudly seek to remedy these environmental issues.

Upcoming and Ongoing Legislative Action

Not only are there lessons learned from 2020, but EJ organizations have presented a number of exciting possible solutions to these problems.

For example, last year, after consultation with EJ groups, Senator Booker introduced the Environmental Justice Act of 2019. This would codify Executive Order 12898 and require agencies to address the disproportionate impacts of federal policies and practices that communities of color and other at-risk populations experience. It also restores the right of communities to go into court to press a range of claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among other things.  Congressmen Grijalva and McEachin introduced the Environmental Justice For All Act, with many similar provisions, in the House in February 2020. Some provisions of the bill passed the House as part of a bill that was otherwise controversial in EJ communities, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act, in September. Movement through the House of an EJ bill was nonetheless historic.

Any number of states are also adopting EJ laws, including incorporating EJ into the mission of state agencies, the creation of EJ advisory panels, the development of mapping tools that identify communities most overburdened by the cumulative impacts of pollution and other factors, and implementation of state public participation and language access bills.  Many of these provisions are procedural, but some create new substantive standards to either reduce emissions in overburdened communities or, at least, not exacerbate inequalities. New Jersey, for example, enacted a cumulative impact law aimed to address the fact that pollution is experience in a community from many sources and cannot be analyzed each in isolation. The new law requires that the state agency take into account the cumulative impacts of emissions from other sources when permitting.

 

Conclusion

 

Environmental Justice will be a hot topic in 2021. More and more popular news sources are finally highlighting environmental justice issues. The Sierra Club, NRDC, and other prominent organizations have emphasized the experiences of adversely affected individuals and communities.

The Environmental Justice Movement has fought the disproportionate burden of pollution in communities of color and low-income communities, as well as lack of access to environmental benefits such as clean water and clean air, and safe places for children to play. The Movement has also made clear that self-determination—having a meaningful say in decisions affecting the future of the community—is equally fundamental.

The EJ Movement has called on the environmental movement and the public to recognize that communities facing the deepest impacts from an environmental standpoint are generally communities facing oppression in other aspects of society, as well. The attention given to Black Lives Matter over this past year has stripped the United States of its ability to pretend ignorance of issues of systemic racism. COVID-19 showed how Black lives are lost disproportionately due to air pollution. The political unrest in the country will not likely ease after the 2020 election, and the fight for EJ will continue; stronger than before.