No Environmental Justice for Low-Income Neighborhoods
A History of Poverty and Waste
Are low-income neighborhoods created amidst industrial waste sites because those who can afford to move elsewhere move, or do waste industries target low-income neighborhoods as cheap real estate? The most common answer is the latter. In fact, two university professors recently revealed in their study “a consistent pattern over a 30-year period of placing hazardous waste facilities in neighborhoods where poor people and people of color live." A previous study conducted by the same authors showed that over 50% of residents living within 1.86 miles of a hazardous waste site were minorities.
Poor and minority neighborhoods experience environmental injustice. Photo by John Rosenthal/The Sun Magazine
These studies made waves in the field of environmental justice, but their findings were not at all surprising. Low-income and minority communities have lived in or near hazardous waste areas for decades, an inconvenient fact overlooked by the majority of Americans. These waste sites even have their own moniker—city planners often refer to them simply as "lulus", or “locally undesirable land uses”. Examples of lulus include, but are not limited to, industrial sites, automobile salvage lots, municipal dumps, landfills, paper mills and chemical plants.
Why Low-Income Neighborhoods?
Although it may not be a novel concept that the majority of waste sites in this country are located in impoverished neighborhoods, the reasons are fairly nebulous. One reason is that because low-income communities usually have significantly less clout than their wealthy counterparts, waste industries assume (correctly) that they will receive far less backlash by moving into these areas than they would moving into, say, high-income suburbs. In his University of Michigan article, Jim Erickson calls this lack of clout "the path of least resistance".
Minority and poor communities have little political clout, like Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood located near the Fisk Generating Station. Photo by Senor Codo/Flickr.
University of North Carolina School of Government professor Richard Whisnant points out an important second reason in Sharon Nunn's article on North Carolina's landfill history: “Whether it’s a private company or country trying to provide a facility, they’re always going to look for the cheapest land that has access to transportation.” Oftentimes, poor and minority communities are located adjacent to major freeways and rail lines, land that wealthier residents pass on.
The Impact of Waste
Perhaps the most obvious impact that waste has on a community is pollution. According to a study conducted by the University of Minnesota, "minorities are on average exposed to 38 percent higher levels of outdoor NO2 than whites in the communities where they live." Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) is most commonly produced by the burning of fuel via cars and factories, both of which are abundant in poor, non-white neighborhoods.
Another detrimental effect that waste sites often have on low-income neighborhoods is "white flight". Waste acts as a double-edged sword, preventing whites with higher incomes from moving into or near lulus, and causing wealthier whites already living in these undesired areas to leave.
Low-income communities are targeted by waste industries. Photo by Gene J. Puskar/AP.
According to one AP article, Florida, New Jersey and California have the highest number of Superfund sites situated in flood-prone areas in the country (these same areas also have the densest surrounding populations). Unsurprisingly, these sites are mostly in largely poor and minority neighborhoods. In 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency discovered toxic chemicals including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides in the soil and groundwater beneath one Superfund site in Camden, New Jersey. If this low-lying area were to flood, nearby residents who are almost entirely black and Latino could be directly affected.
Finding a Solution
Professor Whisnant states in Nunn's article that the best way to prevent a waste management facility from being built is to vote at a local level. He explains that local government is required to hold at least one public meeting within 30 days of the facility's proposed development date, followed by a second public "comment period".
Van Jones, environmentalist and civil rights activist, has a more extreme view. In an interview with The Sun Magazine, he explains that our infrastructure needs an environmental makeover, which will include weatherized buildings, improved and expanded public transportation, and the installation of solar panels and windmills. These advancements will create a plethora of "green collar" jobs which Jones believes should be filled by hiring less-educated, impoverished and formerly incarcerated citizens. In doing so, he aims to not only reverse the effects of waste, but also reshape our economy by putting the unemployed to work.
Van Jones advocates for "green collar" jobs which will employ former inmates. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty.
As Jones points out, “you can’t have a sustainable economy when only 20 percent of the people can afford to pay for hybrids, solar panels, and organic cuisine, while the other 80 percent are still driving pollution-based vehicles to the same pollution-based jobs and struggling to make purchases at Wal-Mart.” After all, waste is an issue that will inevitably affect people of all colors and socioeconomic levels.
