Law Commons^™

Emerging State-Level Environmental Justice Laws, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

Environmental justice (EJ) has grown in prominence in the political discourse in the last several years While most of the attention has gone to federal actions, several states have just adopted their own laws to advance EJ.

The basic idea behind EJ is that disadvantaged communities should not be disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards, that these communities should have a say in the actions that affect their environment, and that the environmental laws should be vigorously enforced there.