Digital Commons Network^™

Superfund Reauthorization: Impact On State Environmental Enforcement, Gordon J. Johnson

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward A Reasonable Allocation Scheme: A Public Interest Perspective On Superfun Reauthorization, Vernice D. Miller

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

On The Road From Environmental Racism To Environmental Justice, Maria Ramirez Fisher

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

City Versus Countryside: Environmental Equity In Context, A. Dan Tarlock

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article takes an approach to the problem of environmental equity that is different from the remedies advocated by the leaders of the environmental equity movement. The plea that the benefits of environmental protection be extended to all groups in society is, of course, a legitimate one, but the movement is too narrowly focused and its aims are too modest. I dissent from the two central premises held by environmental equity advocates. First, the movement assumes that judicially recognized and enforced rights will lead to improved public health. Second, the movement asserts that disadvantaged communities should adopt a “Not in …

Balancing The Scales Of Environmental Justice, Charles J. Mcdermott

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay discusses various ways to weave principles of justice and equity into solving the problem of environmental racism. This Essay also demonstrates the enormous potential of the waste management industry to act as an agent for environmental equity. Part I identifies problems that have led to accusations of environmental racism and conditions that have contributed to the definition of environmental racism. Part II discusses issues of the actual and perceived risks posed by waste treatment facilities, and the need for an understanding of these risks. The Essay next considers the issues raised in siting facilities, and the importance of …

The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Today, the national environmental movement is entering a new phase, led by new players, just as the still young environmental protection movement is becoming more politically influential at the local level. The political power of the environmental justice and equity movement and its links with racial and social justice organizations makes its potential impact reach far beyond “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard) protests. NIMBY was the first wave of quasi-organized local environmental protests, usually rooted in a single issue. Environmental justice is the next wave, drawing in a broader range of concerns. The focus of this analysis is on how environmental issues are …

Compensated Siting Proposals: Is It Time To Pay Attention?, Vicki Been

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Many proposals to overcome the difficulty of siting locally undesirable land uses (“LULUs”) fairly and efficiently suggest that the problem could be resolved if victims of the siting were adequately compensated for the burdens the LULU imposes. This Article seeks to spur greater attention to the difficult moral and political issues compensation proposals raise by showing that compensation programs are widespread in actual siting practice. It argues that the success of compensation programs, while limited, has been sufficient to ensure that such proposals will continue to be a significant feature of siting programs. It urges those interested in environmental justice …

Environmental Justice And Sustainability: Is There A Critical Nexus In The Case Of Waste Disposal Or Treatment Facility Siting?, Kent E. Portney

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Over the past ten years, two environmental "movements," have evolved and gained rapidly in both stature and import. One of these, the environmental justice or equity movement, has sensitized Americans to its contention that minority populations and people of lower socio-economic status have disproportionately borne the risks of environmentally impacting events. The other movement, advocating sustainability, focuses on fostering behavior and policies that contribute to economic growth in environmentally responsible ways. In actuality, as will be elaborated later, sustainability has several meaning, which can be categorized in at least three distinct and sometimes even contradictory ways. Any connection between the …

The Meaning Of Urban Environmental Justice, Michel Gelobter, Ph.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Environmental justice is redress for the structures and situations arising from environmental discrimination and, particularly, environmental racism. Environmental discrimination is actions and practices, arising from both individual ideologies and social structures that preserve and reinforce domination of subordinate groups with respect to the environment, while such discrimination with respect to race is environmental racism. Part I of this Essay discusses how environmental injustice is a three-dimensional nexus of economic injustice, social injustice and an unjust incidence of environmental quality, all of which overwhelmingly assures the continued oppression of communities of color and low-income communities on environmental matters. Part II of …

States As Innovators: It's Time For A New Look To Our "Laboratories Of Democracy" In The Effort To Improve Our Approach To Environmental Regulation, David L. Markell

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Bruce A. Green

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The "Urban Environmental Justice" symposium took place at Fordham University School of Law, and explored how low-income communities and communities of color in our nation’s cities may have been disproportionately burdened by various environmental harms. It considered what should be done about this problem, from the perspectives of civic and citizens’ groups, the government at the federal, state, and city levels, public interest lawyers, corporations, and others. The participants in the March 3rd program represented a variety of backgrounds and experiences. The keynote speaker, Gerald Torres, Counsel to the United States Attorney General, had only weeks earlier been designated to …

The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY, in its various forms, has three principal types of targets. The first is waste disposal facilities, primarily landfills and incinerators. The second is low-income housing. The third is social service facilities, group homes and shelters for individuals such as the mentally ill, AIDS patients, and the homeless. This Article addresses the issue of the victims of NIMBY, with special reference to the effects of project opposition on racial minorities. Because the effect of facility opposition varies widely with the type of project involved, Part II arrays the types of relevant projects and shows …

Environmental Burdens And Democratic Justice, Gerald Torres

Fordham Urban Law Journal

To date, however, there has been relatively little academic discussion about how EPA and other federal agencies can achieve environmental justice. In addition, most legal academic literature has focused either on simply identifying the legal issues associated with race and environmental law or on developing a litigation strategy for remedying “environmental racism.” None of the legal academic literature has focused on the benefits of using an administrative framework to define or develop sustainable solutions to the distributional inequities of environmental laws. The purpose of this Article is to explain the benefits of pursuing an administrative model for change. Unlike other …

Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone In David’S Sling, Luke W. Cole

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article attempts to synthesize some of the lessons environmental justice lawyers have learned, in order to offer a practitioner’s perspective on environmental justice cases. The author’s ambition in setting out these lessons is to allow community groups and attorneys entering the struggle to learn from mistakes, emulate successes, and avoid re-inventing the wheel. Without addressing the strategic and tactical drawbacks of litigation, this Article assumes that a community group has decided to pursue litigation. This Article will only discuss siting cases, as siting disputes have been the primary context for environmental justice litigation thus far. The Article proposes a …

The Question Of Risk: Incorporating Community Perceptions Into Environmental Risk Assessments, James S. Freeman, Rachel D. Godsil

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The environmental justice movement has seen some successes. After years of neglect, the federal government and several states are directing legislative and executive efforts towards reforming siting processes and remedying discriminatory enforcement of environmental regulations. Community opposition in general has proved to be quite powerful in some instances. Since the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976, there has been only one new siting of a hazardous waste landfill and few new sitings of hazardous waste incinerators. To a lesser extent, municipal solid waste and medical waste incinerators have also been successfully blocked or delayed. However, certain …

Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The current rapidly growing interest in environmental justice is both timely and important. Occupational health is an integral part of assuring environmental justice. Concrete examples of environmental inequity leading directly to unequal health status can be found in occupational health literature and among the patients of occupational health clinics which serve populations that include low wage workers and workers of color. The toxic properties and health effects of many environmental contaminants were originally discovered in workplace settings where workers were repeatedly exposed to high doses of such contaminants. In the future, clinical occupational medicine, occupational epidemiology, occupational toxicology, and occupational …

Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article addresses how concepts of race and ethnicity have been operationalized as a basis for defining and locating subpopulations (either explicitly or implicitly) for the purpose of analyzing environmental equity issues, and recommends some future directions. Part II focuses on how subpopulations are currently defined and on some problems encountered to date. The implications of these inconsistencies on the accuracy of health and environmental risk measures for a given subpopulation are addressed. Part III focuses on how spatial areas have been defined to aggregate these subpopulations within confined geographic boundaries.

Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Hard economic times and social conditions are driving a reordering of environmental protection priorities that threatens to sacrifice the most vulnerable groups. Environmental regulatory agencies acknowledge that vulnerable populations face the greatest risk of harm from environmental insult and that these groups are not adequately protected. Although a risk-based prioritization of resources benefits the greatest number of people, such allocation would disadvantage minority communities, which contain disproportionate numbers of sensitive subgroups. Our regulatory bodies must therefore develop new strategies to adequately protect sensitive subgroups identified in minority communities. Part II of this Article looks at some of the considerations that …

Issues Of Community Empowerment, Peggy M. Shepard

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The environmental policies and concerns of local, state, and federal governments have failed to protect their citizens. More particularly, the nation's environmental agenda neglects to account for the urban environmental problems of people of color. This Essay first considers how environmental injustice and racism has impacted the West Harlem community. It next considers some of the particular health implications, such as lead poisoning and asthma, in the Harlem community. The needs of all communities of color and poverty are considered. The response of West Harlem Environmental Action to these needs is examined. Finally, the Essay concludes by briefly examining some …

Notes From The Front Line, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In the last five years, local thinking about environmental protection started to take shape. It is indisputable that cities are not neutral or homogenous geographies in terms of distributing benefits and burdens by class and race. This fact is applicable to local environmental politics. Environmental justice and fair share advocates – and in some instances the courts – are finding that cities like New York are extremely heterogeneous in terms of environmental conditions and the impact of implementing environmental laws. This Essay describes the Environmental Benefits Program, which the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has undertaken in order …

Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Nontraditional environmentalists are struggling to protect and preserve communities, both urban and rural, that have become threatened by constant, multiple exposures to toxic air, contaminated water, and pesticide-ridden and chemical-laden soils. Numerous reports, including a 1992 study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have suggested that people of color and low income communities have been, for decades, the unwilling recipients of numerous hazardous waste sites, incinerators, chemical factories, and sewage treatment plants. Historically, these communities often lacked the essential resources necessary to oppose sitings of potentially hazardous facilities: money, organization, and political voice. Land in these communities is usually …

Overcoming Environmental Discrimination: The Need For A Disparate Impact Test And Improved Notice Requirements In Facility Siting Decisions, Omar Saleem

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

The Proposed Environmental Justice Act: "I Have A (Green) Dream", Claire L. Hasler

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment addresses the concept of environmental racism, the tools that have been used to fight it, and the proposed Environmental Justice Act of 1993. Part II begins with an examination of the evidence minority communities have relied on as proof that environmental racism exists. The evidence contained in numerous articles clearly shows inequalities in the amounts of environmental and health hazards minority communities bear, and this evidence validates the existence of pervasive environmental injustice in our society. Part III addresses the limited case law involving attempts by minority communities to challenge perceived environmental racism and assesses the effectiveness of …

Equal Enforcement For All, George Van Cleve

Faculty Articles

As a premise, there is no reason in this society, at this time, for individuals of any race or economic status to be involuntarily exposed to disproportionate environmental risks. This article argues that if there are disproportionate impacts and you want to do something about it, you tell the government to increase enforcement resources. You tell the government to make sure that there are no exceptions, and that the fact that an employer is a large, local employer and politically influential does not mean that it should get any breaks from anybody for any reason.

The Seven Statutory Wonders Of U.S. Environmental Law: Origins And Morphology, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

Students from around the world often ask my opinion on the most influential or effective of the United States environmental laws. I offer an opinion based on two criteria: What laws have contributed most to protection of the natural world and what laws have been most emulated? The second criterion is obviously an indicator of output, not of direct consequence. However, a linkage between the spread of strong laws and degree of environmental protection is assumed.

In theory, of course, the questions of "how much protection" and "how many laws" can be answered empirically. But this story is available only …

The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

It is a syndrome, a pejorative, and an acronym of our times: NIMBY, or Not In My Back Yard. It has a political arm, NIMTOO (Not In My Term Of Office), an object of attack, LULUs (Locally Undesired Land Uses), and an extreme form, BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone). Acronyms aside, however, the question remains as to whether or not NIMBY has victims. Is anyone hurt by NIMBY?

Many leading voices in the environmental justice movement believe that minority communities are victims of NIMBY. For example, Professor Robert D. Bullard has written that "[t]he cumulative effect of not-in-my-backyard …

The Role Of Existing Environmental Laws In The Environmental Justice Movement, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

I will focus on what can and cannot be done under the existing statutory and regulatory structures and the common law to protect minority communities from environmental hazards. I will highlight some of the current holes in the legal system to suggest areas where statutory reform might be useful. Fights against these facilities break down between future unbuilt facilities, on the one hand, and existing facilities on the other hand.

A broad array of statutes regulates future facilities, such as landfills, incinerators, interstate highways, and polluting factories. Some of these laws are aimed at providing information and requiring the decision …

Ethics, The Legacy Of The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., And The Movement Toward Environmental Justice, Beverly Mcqueary Smith

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Proving Environmental Inequity In Siting Locally Unwanted Land Uses, Michael Greenberg

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

This paper advances a process for determining whether, e.g., waste-to-energy facilities are disproportionately located in minority and poor communities, and the author asks others to join in searching for a scientifically sound and fair process of resolving conflicting interests in locating LULUs. He also discusses some difficult issues and argues that they need to be addressed by a representative panel.

Seqra’S Too Valuable To Trash: A Reply To Stewart Sterk, Philip Weinberg

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.