Local risks, states' rights, and federal mandates: Remedying environmental inequities in the U.S. federal system

Publius: The Journal of Federalism

Volumn 29, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 73-92

  Ringquist, Evan J ^a   Clark, David H ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039130842     PISSN: 00485950     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a030027     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. Although the environmental justice literature emphasizes inequities in the distribution of environmental risk, especially risks from noxious facilities, actually assessing the increased risks posed by these facilities is nearly impossible. First, the U.S. government rarely collects public health data by income categories, and it does not gather full public health data by racial category. Thus, there is no way to assess inequities in the long-term health risks posed by these facilities. Second, the poor and members of minority groups that often live near noxious facilities are statistically more likely to engage in health-threatening behavior (e.g., smoking and poor diet); hence, high incidences of morbidity and mortality in communities near these facilities may be unrelated to the facilities themselves. See Christopher Foreman, The Promise and Perils of Environmental Justice (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1998). For these reasons, we will, whenever possible, discuss the distribution of environmental hazards rather than the distribution of environmental risk.
2. Evan J. Ringquist, "Environmental Protection Regulation," Regulation and Consumer Protection, eds. Kenneth Meier, E. Thomas Garman, and Lael Keiser, 3rd ed. (Houston, TX: Dame Publications, 1998), pp. 143-180.
3. Liam Downey, "Environmental Injustice: Is Race or Income a Better Predictor?" Social Science Quarterly 79 (December 1998): 766-778.
4. Benjamin Chavis, "Foreword," Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, ed. Robert Bullard (Boston: South End Press, 1993), p. 3.
5. Gloria Helfand and L. James Peyton, "A Conceptual Model of Environmental Justice," Social Science Quarterly 80 (March 1999): 68-83.
6. There is also significant disagreement within the environmental justice community, and among social justice activists in general, regarding what constitutes "equity" with respect to environmental hazards. See Evan J. Ringquist, "Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns and Empirical Evidence," Environmental Policy in the 1990s, eds. Norman Vig and Michael Kraft, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1997), pp. 231-254. Relative definitions of equity require all groups (or even individuals) to be exposed to relatively equal degrees of environmental risk. With respect to hazardous waste facilities, for example, their location should be evenly and/or randomly distributed geographically and socioeconomically. Absolute definitions of equity, on the other hand, require that all groups and individuals enjoy some minimum safe level of environmental quality. See Harvey White, "Race, Class, and Environmental Hazards," Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment, ed. David Camacho (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), pp. 61-81. Assuring relative equity with respect to environmental risk would be exceedingly difficult, and current U.S. environmental law emphasizes the absolute definition of equity.
7. There is also significant disagreement within the environmental justice community, and among social justice activists in general, regarding what constitutes "equity" with respect to environmental hazards. See Evan J. Ringquist, "Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns and Empirical Evidence," Environmental Policy in the 1990s, eds. Norman Vig and Michael Kraft, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1997), pp. 231-254. Relative definitions of equity require all groups (or even individuals) to be exposed to relatively equal degrees of environmental risk. With respect to hazardous waste facilities, for example, their location should be evenly and/or randomly distributed geographically and socioeconomically. Absolute definitions of equity, on the other hand, require that all groups and individuals enjoy some minimum safe level of environmental quality. See Harvey White, "Race, Class, and Environmental Hazards," Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment, ed. David Camacho (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), pp. 61-81. Assuring relative equity with respect to environmental risk would be exceedingly difficult, and current U.S. environmental law emphasizes the absolute definition of equity.
8. Theodore Lowi, The End of Liberalism, 2nd ed. (New York, W.W. Norton, 1979).
9. Randall Ripley and Grace Franklin, Congress, the Bureaucracy, and Public Policy (Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 1984).
10. Peter Asch and Joseph Seneca, "Some Evidence on the Distribution of Air Quality," Land Economics 54 (May 1978): 278-297.
11. Leonard Gianessi and Henry Peskin, "The Distribution of Federal Water Pollution Control Policy in the U.S.," Land Economics 56 (February 1980): 85-102.
12. John Davies, et al., "The Role of Social Class in Human Pesticide Pollution," American Journal of Epidemiology 96 (1972): 224-238.
13. A. Myrick Freeman, III, "The Distribution of Environmental Quality," Environmental Quality: Theory and Method in the Social Sciences, eds. Allan Kneese and Blair Bower (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972); James Noel Smith, ed., Environmental Quality and Social Justice in Urban America (Washington, D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1974).
14. A. Myrick Freeman, III, "The Distribution of Environmental Quality," Environmental Quality: Theory and Method in the Social Sciences, eds. Allan Kneese and Blair Bower (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972); James Noel Smith, ed., Environmental Quality and Social Justice in Urban America (Washington, D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1974).
15. James P. Lester and David Allen, Environmental Justice: Myths and Realities (Boulder, CO: Westview, forthcoming).
16. John Hird and Michael Reese, "The Distribution of Environmental Quality: An Empirical Analysis," Social Science Quarterly 79 (December 1998): 693-716. Many environmental equity studies focus on the relative importance of race versus class in accounting for the distribution of pollution. Given both the current correlation between race and income, and the historic factors that place many members of minority groups at a disadvantage with respect to human and material capital, these comparisons may obscure more than they reveal. See Downey "Environmental Injustice" and Helfand and Peyton "A Conceptual Model of Environmental Justice." Given the central role of income or "class" in the contextualization of race, we refrain from making such comparisons.
17. U.S General Accounting Office, Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities (Washington, D.C.: GAO, 1983).
18. Bullard, ed., Confronting Environmental Racism.
19. Paul Mohai and Bunyan Bryant, "Environmental Racism: Reviewing the Evidence," Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards, eds. Bunyan Bryant and Paul Mohai (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992).
20. Philip Pollock and M. Elliot Vittas, "Who Bears the Burdens of Environmental Pollution? Race, Ethnicity, and Environmental Equity in Florida," Social Science Quarterly 76 (June 1995): 294-310.
21. Robert Bullard, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1990).
22. Tom J. Boer, Manuel Pastor, Jr., James Sadd, and Lori Snyder, "Is There Environmental Racism? The Demographics of Hazardous Waste in Los Angeles County," Social Science Quarterly 78 (December 1997) : 793-810; Lauretta Burke, "Race and Environmental Equity: A Geographic Analysis in Los Angeles," Geo Info Systems 3 (October 1993): 44-50.
23. Tom J. Boer, Manuel Pastor, Jr., James Sadd, and Lori Snyder, "Is There Environmental Racism? The Demographics of Hazardous Waste in Los Angeles County," Social Science Quarterly 78 (December 1997) : 793-810; Lauretta Burke, "Race and Environmental Equity: A Geographic Analysis in Los Angeles," Geo Info Systems 3 (October 1993): 44-50.
24. Susan Cutter, "Race, Class, and Environmental Justice," Progress in Human Geography 19 (March 1995): 111-122.
25. Commission for Racial Justice, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States (New York: United Church of Christ, 1987).
26. Benjamin Goldman and Laura Fitton, Toxic Wastes and Race Revisited (Washington, D.C.: Center for Policy Alternatives, 1994).
27. Vicki Been, "Analyzing Evidence of Environmental Justice," Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law 11 (Fall 1995): 1-36.
28. Evan J. Ringquist, "Race, Class, and the Politics of Environmental Risk," (Tallahassee: Florida State University, transcript, 1998).
29. Evan J. Ringquist, "Equity and the Distribution of Environmental Risk: The Case of TRI Facilities," Social Science Quarterly 78 (December 1997): 811-829.
30. Susan Perlin, R. Woodrow Setzer, John Creason, and Ken Sexton, "Distribution of Industrial Air Emissions by Income and Race in the United States," Environmental Science and Tehnology 29 (January 1995): 69-80; Ringquist "Equity and the Distribution of Environmental Risk."
31. Susan Perlin, R. Woodrow Setzer, John Creason, and Ken Sexton, "Distribution of Industrial Air Emissions by Income and Race in the United States," Environmental Science and Tehnology 29 (January 1995): 69-80; Ringquist "Equity and the Distribution of Environmental Risk."
32. Douglas Anderton, Andy Anderson, John Michael Oakes, and Michael Fraser, "Environmental Equity: The Demographics of Dumping," Demography 31 (May 1994): 229-248.
33. James Hamilton, "Testing for Environmental Racism: Prejudice, Profits, Political Power?" Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 95 (Winter 1995): 107-132.
34. Clean Sites, Inc., Hazardous Waste Sites and the Rural Poor (Alexandria, VA: Clean Sites, Inc., 1990).
35. John Hird, Superfund: The Political Economy of Environmental Risk (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994).
36. U.S. General Accounting Office, Hazardous and Nonhazardous Waste: Demographics of People Living Near Waste Facilities (Washington, D.C.: GAO, 1995).
37. Been, "Analyzing Evidence" and Vicki Been, "Coming to the Nuisance or Going to the Barrios? A Longitudinal Analysis of Environmental Justice Claims," Ecology Law Quarterly 24 (Winter 1997): 1-56.
38. Paul Mohai and Bunyan Bryant, "Environmental Racism: Reviewing the Evidence," Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards, eds., Bryant and Mohai.
39. Benjamin Goldman, Not Just Prosperity (Washington, D. C.: National Wildlife Federation, 1993).
40. David Allen, James P. Lester, and Kelly Hill, "Prejudice, Profits, and Power: Assessing the Eco-Racism Thesis at the County Level" (paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Portland, OR, 1995).
41. U.S. GAO, Hazardous and Nonhazardous Waste.
42. "Agency Watch," National Law Journal, 5 December 1994, p. A16; "Clinton Actions on Race and the Environment," National Law Journal, 6 December 1993, p. 1.
43. "Agency Watch," National Law Journal, 5 December 1994, p. A16; "Clinton Actions on Race and the Environment," National Law Journal, 6 December 1993, p. 1.
44. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Justice Initiatives: 1993 (Washington, D.C.: Office of Environmental Justice, 1994).
45. National Conference of State Legislatures, Environmental Justice: A Matter of Perspective (Denver, CO: NCSL, 1995).
46. Washington Department of Ecologoy, A Study on Environmental Equity in Washington State (Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Ecology, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Office, 1995). Publication number 95-413.
47. Florida Environmental Equity and Justice Commission, Preliminary Report (Tallahassee, FL: FEEJC, 1995).
48. Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, "Environmental Equity: Current and Planned Activities," 17 March 1999; http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/comm/opa/ee/activity.html.
49. National Conference of State Legislatures, Environmental Justice.
50. Evan J. Ringquist and David H. Clark, "Accounting for State Policy Responses to Environmental Inequities," International Journal of Public Administration (forthcoming).
51. Rodney Hero and Caroline Tolbert, "A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S.," American Journal of Political Science 40 (August 1996): 851-871.
52. Michael Hamilton, ed., Regulatory Federalism, Natural Resources, and Environmental Management (Washington, D.C.: American Society for Public Administration, 1990); Walter Rosenbaum, Environmental Politics and Policy, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1995).
53. Michael Hamilton, ed., Regulatory Federalism, Natural Resources, and Environmental Management (Washington, D.C.: American Society for Public Administration, 1990); Walter Rosenbaum, Environmental Politics and Policy, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1995).
54. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, State and Tribal Environmental Justice Grants Program (Washington, D.C.: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, 1999), 17 March 1999; http://es.epa.gov/ oeca/oej/stejoverview.html.
55. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Proposed Policy for Environmental Equity (Trenton, NJ: Photocopy, 1999).
56. Lynton Keith Caldwell, Science and the National Environmental Policy Act (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1982).
57. Ibid.
58. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Final Guidance for Incorporating Environmental Justice Concerns in EPA's NEPA Compliance Analysis (Washington, D.C.: Office of Federal Activities, 1998), 17 March 1999; http://es.epa.gov/ocea/ofa/ejepa.html.
59. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Interim Guidance for Investigating Title VI Administrative Complaints Challenging Permits (Washington, D.C.: Office of Civil Rights, 1998).
60. Ibid., p. 4
61. Ibid.
62. Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, "Environmental Equity."
63. Evan J. Ringquist, "Searching for Institutional Discrimination: State Facility Siting and Environmental Equity" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, 1996); see also Washington Department of Ecology, A Study on Environmental Equity.
64. Evan J. Ringquist, "Searching for Institutional Discrimination: State Facility Siting and Environmental Equity" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, 1996); see also Washington Department of Ecology, A Study on Environmental Equity.
65. For an excellent discussion of these partnerships, see Michael E. Kraft and Denise Scheberle, "Environmental Federalism at Decade's End: New Approaches and Strategies," Publius: The Journal of Federalism 28 (Winger 1998): 131-146.
66. Been, "Coming to the Nuisance"; Jerry Mitchell, Deborah Thomas, and Susan Cutter, "Dumping in Dixie Revisited: The Evolution of Environmental Injustices in South Carolina," Social Science Quarterly 80 (June 1999): 229-243; Tracy Yandle and Dudley Burton, "Reexamining Environmetal Justice: A Statistical Analysis of Historical Hazardous Waste Landfill Siting Patterns in Metropolitan Texas," Social Science Quarterly 77 (September 1996): 477-492.
67. Been, "Coming to the Nuisance"; Jerry Mitchell, Deborah Thomas, and Susan Cutter, "Dumping in Dixie Revisited: The Evolution of Environmental Injustices in South Carolina," Social Science Quarterly 80 (June 1999): 229-243; Tracy Yandle and Dudley Burton, "Reexamining Environmetal Justice: A Statistical Analysis of Historical Hazardous Waste Landfill Siting Patterns in Metropolitan Texas," Social Science Quarterly 77 (September 1996): 477-492.
68. Been, "Coming to the Nuisance"; Jerry Mitchell, Deborah Thomas, and Susan Cutter, "Dumping in Dixie Revisited: The Evolution of Environmental Injustices in South Carolina," Social Science Quarterly 80 (June 1999): 229-243; Tracy Yandle and Dudley Burton, "Reexamining Environmetal Justice: A Statistical Analysis of Historical Hazardous Waste Landfill Siting Patterns in Metropolitan Texas," Social Science Quarterly 77 (September 1996): 477-492.
69. Ringquist, "Race, Class, and the Politics of Environmental Risk."
70. Evan J. Ringquist, "A Question of Justice: Equity in Environmental Litigation, 1974-91," Journal of Politics 60 (November 1998): 1148-1165.