Law Commons^™

Hunters Point: Energy Development Meets Environmental Justice, Alan Ramo

Publications

Community reaction to a proposal to build the first new power plant in decades in San Francisco has forced a California agency, the California Energy Commission (CEC), to hold the first ever evidentiary hearings explicitly on the issue of environmental justice. In the process, fundamental questions regarding civil rights, energy development, environmental decision-making and economic development in poor communities are being litigated. At stake is the public and economic health of a community and perhaps the conscience of our environmental regulatory system.

Analyzing Evidence Of Environmental Justice: A Suggestion For Professor Been, Colin Crawford

Publications

One effect of the environmental justice movement has been to draw attention to the prejudices inherent in some modem environmental policies. These prejudices are most apparent when analyzing the location of hazardous waste facilities throughout the country. Several recent environmental justice studies have debated whether the location of these facilities has a direct correlation to the percentage of minorities in the surrounding areas.

This article critiques some of the methodology of these recent studies, most notably that of Professor Vicki Been, to determine the rationale governing the placement of hazardous waste facilities. Furthermore, this article suggests that researchers should expand …