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Environmental Justice
What is Environmental Justice? It's the right of every citizen, regardless of age, race, gender, social class or any other factor, to adequate protection from environmental hazards.
Many studies indicate that poor minority neighborhoods are more likely to have hazardous waste facilities, sanitary landfills, sewage treatment plants and incinerators in their neighborhood.
The Basel Convention: It was developed in 1989 by the U.N. Environmental Program in order to try and restrict the international transport of hazardous wastes. It makes it so hazardous wastes can be transported to a country only with the consent of the recieving country. In 1995 it was amended to ban the export of any hazardous waste from industrialized countries.
The United States signed the treaty in 1989. It has been 20 years and Congress still has not ratified it.
As industrialized nations develop more stringent environmental standards, disposing of waste becomes more expensive. As as result, these countries export their trash to developing countries where there are lower standards and cheaper labor. This lowers the quality of living for these lesser countries and pollutes their environment.
Most low-income communities have little to no involvement in the political process and may not even be aware of exposure to pollutants.
In 1994, President Clinton signed an executive order to ensure that all federal agencies create non-discriminating policies for when decisions are made about hazardous waste disposal.
The NRC (Nuclear Regulation Commission) was the first to use Clinton's orders in 1997 when they rejected a request to build a uranium processing plant near two minority neighborhoods in Louisiana.
