Today's Date: March 28, 2024
Milliken & Company Receives A- Climate Change Performance Rating   •   KFC TAKES FINGER LICKIN' GOOD TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL WITH NEW SAUCY NUGGETS IN FIVE DRIPPING FLAVORS   •   Contentful Studio Launches, Transforming Digital Team Efficiency While Shortening Time-to-Impact From Months to Minutes   •   Headlands Research Announces Fifth Research Site under Partnership with Pfizer to Improve Diversity in Clinical Trials   •   Grundfos Revolutionizes Wastewater Management with Metasphere Smart Water Sensors   •   Empowering the Future of Optometry: Axcel Learning Partners with KMK Optometry to Redefine Board Exam Preparation   •   Cisco Sponsors SANS Institute Cohort to Close Cybersecurity Skills Gap   •   Zuniga Health's 'Elevate' health plans fit the needs for Hispanic small businesses   •   Dexian Invests in Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders   •   Phone Fraud and Spam Reached All-Time High, Costing Scammed Consumers Nearly $2,300 on Average in 2023   •   Displate Introduces Textra, A Metal Poster Bringing Art to Life in 3D   •   Meijer Continues Fight Against Hunger with $2 Million Donation to Midwest Food Bank Partners   •   Tetra Tech to Host Inaugural Investor Day on May 14, 2024   •   Ready. Set. Food! and ObvioHealth Launch Innovative Trial to Correlate Infant Food Allergy Prevention with Reduced Healthcare Co   •   Health Care Costs Top the List of Financial Worries in Retirement, New Research from eHealth and Retirable Shows   •   Newegg Makes Tech More Affordable for Students, Faculty and Staff with Affirm Offer   •   Oka, The Carbon Insurance Company (Oka)™ Closes $10-Million in Funding   •   Courageous Parents' Dr. Chrissy Chard to Lead a TEDx Talk on Transformative Discipline Practices   •   Tigo Energy Headquarters Receives 90kW of Optimized Solar from Long-Time Installer Partner   •   The Pershing Square Foundation Announces $2M in Grants to Newark Organizations to Support Local Community
Bookmark and Share

Enviromentalists Charges Funds Never Reach Disadvantaged Communities

 

         Environmental Justice $ Limited to EPA Regional Offices in Bureaucratic Shuffle         

Washington, DC - Two days after issuing a press release touting its "Environmental Justice Showcase Communities" initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent an internal "clarification" that funds are not meant for target communities, according to an e-mail released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  Instead, the money will be split among EPA regional offices.  

The episode raises doubts about the substance behind vows by Obama appointees to meaningfully revive environmental justice policy launched under the Clinton administration to address inequitable pollution impacts and environmental burdens afflicting disadvantaged communities, racial and ethnic minorities.  

In the November 17, 2009 EPA news release, "Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced a national initiative to address environmental justice challenges in 10 communities": Bridgeport (CT), Staten Island (NY), Washington, D.C., Jacksonville (FL), Milwaukee (WI), Port Arthur (TX), Kansas City (KS and MO), Salt Lake City (UT), Los Angeles (CA), and Yakima (WA).  The release strongly implies that the $1 million in Showcase Community funds would actually go into the targeted communities, concluding with:

  "Since 1994, EPA has provided more than $32 million in general funding to more than 1,100 community-based organizations."

On November 19, 2009, Kent Benjamin, Associate Director of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), sent an e-mail to agency officials citing "misrepresentations in the media" and "confusion" that required "points of clarification," including:

  • "The EJ Showcase Communities Project is NOT a GRANT program.  It is a reprogramming of funds from OEJ Headquarters to the regional EJ program efforts."
  • Merits of community selection are murky: "There is concern and curiosity about how the project locations were selected.  I would encourage you to either include the description of your decision making process in your implementation plan or attach it to the previously completed plan" and
  • Planned accomplishments remain unclear: "OEJ and EJ Showcase Communities priorities team will provide feedback on proposed funds usage to encourage consistency among the range of possible uses."


"Contrary to the official spin, not a dime of this environmental justice funding is guaranteed to reach a single Showcase Community," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that EPA failed to issue a clarifying news release. "This program suggests that EPA still operates under the paternalistic attitude that it knows what is best for neighborhoods suffering from past failures of pollution control."

In her seminal statement of the central role of environmental justice this July, Administrator Jackson said:

"In the years ahead, I want to see a full-scale revitalization of what we do and how we think about environmental justice.  This is not an issue we can afford to relegate to the margins.  It has to be part of our thinking in every decision we make….My friends, the EPA is once again guided by a broad vision of public health protection and environmental preservation. Environmental justice is central to that vision."

"Despite the rhetoric, environmental justice remains on the periphery of EPA decision-making," added Ruch. "Too much environmental justice activity at EPA thus far has been more process but no product - and certainly too little real support for communities bearing the brunt of environmental injustice."


###

See the EPA press release touting Showcase Communities 
 
Read EPA's "clarification"

Look at Administrator Jackson's 7/21/09 speech to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

 

Contact PEER    
Ph: (202) 265-7337 • Fax: (202) 265-4192 • email: info[at]peer.org
all content © peer.org 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


STORY TAGS: environment, environmentalists, controversy, funds, disadvantaged, low income, minority, news, community, communities, epa, environmental, protection, agency, report

Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News