|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
One of the most critical areas of the center’s work has focused on conducting research to affect environmental policy change. In the early years, the center conducted, documented and defended research that established the disproportionate impact of environmental insult against the African American and poor residents along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. The center also conducted substantive research in disparate health impacts for selected communities and communities of color in this region of the country, and successfully defended that research in judicial proceedings. In recent years, the center’s research has been directed at issues relative to the aftereffects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and is aimed at affecting federal, state and city policy decisions.
Working with communities and in collaboration with other institutions, Non Government Organizations (NGO’s), and law groups, the Center’s role has evolved with the needs of its service population. Sometimes the solution to these more complex issues, needs and questions is relocation; other times it is community centered redevelopment and master planning, but every time the answer has been clean production. Increased attention to the limits of pollution control and right-to-know during the past 10 years has allowed government, industry, and advocates to redirect their efforts towards prevention of toxic pollution at the source. However, during the past five years, a more comprehensive vision for production has emerged through the concept of clean production. Clean Production means a holistic view of the products we use and the manner in which they are produced, used, and disposed of, so that pollution, toxic chemical exposure, and wasteful use of resources are designed out of the system. Clean Production goes beyond pollution prevention by focusing not only on facility emissions, but also energy and resource use as well as the upstream and downstream impacts of products. Clean Production allows communities to promote innovative solutions rather than simply condemn production practices and products that adversely affect the environment. It is critical that communities participate in the institutionalization of Clean Production and be able to evaluate government and industry proposals for their ability to effect needed changes. There is a critical need to begin the transition towards clean and safer forms of production in Louisiana. Air pollution is significant around industrial facilities; the Mississippi River (a major thoroughfare through many petrochemical communities) is heavily contaminated; and irreparable damage has occurred to critical bayous and estuaries (including wildlife populations). Health has clearly suffered as a result of the heavy chemical industry presence in the state, though proof of causal links between pollution and health effects at the community level is often difficult to ascertain given varying exposures to many different substances and limitations in current tools. Community residents as well as some government officials and academicians in Louisiana have realized the difficult and often adversarial position of always fighting new and existing chemical production and potentially damaging regulatory proposals and want to promote a proactive, cleaner and more just vision of production so that they can begin to say “yes” to activities. They want jobs and economic development that will benefit people and communities. Clean Production provides tools for Louisiana policy makers, industry, and communities to:
PRINCIPLES OF CLEAN PRODUCTION Production processes and products designed with little concern for their environmental impacts frequently damage human health and that of our communities, and wreak havoc upon the earth’s fragile ecosystems. The resulting environmental degradation is global and all people are affected. But the burden of environmental degradation falls disproportionately on the poor, politically oppressed, and people of color. To end and reverse these impacts requires a commitment to clean production. Achieving clean production requires continuous application of precaution, prevention, democracy, and producer responsibility for impacts caused by production processes and products. Principles Preventative Approach: Prevention means reducing the toxicity (detoxification) and material intensity (dematerialization) of products and production processes.
Preventative techniques do not shift the risks between environmental media, workers, and citizens. Right to Know: Citizens and workers have the right-to-know and understand the hazards and environmental impacts of materials used in manufacturing processes and contained in products and their packaging. Right to Participate in Decisions Affecting Public, Occupation, and Environmental Health: Citizens and workers have a fundamental right to participate in the decisions that affect their health, life and environment. This includes a right to prior informed consent before exposure to potentially dangerous activities or products. Such participation can be achieved through an open meeting process and the preparation of Environmental and Human Health Impact Statements prior to constructing production, recycling and disposal facilities, and producing or importing new products. Precautionary Approach: When an activity or material creates the potential for serious or irreversible harm to the environment or human health, producers must take measures to prevent harm from occurring, avoid the activity, or cease using the material. In these cases precaution entails developing and using safer alternatives before a casual link has been established by absolutely clear scientific evidence. To continue an activity in the face of serious harm, producers should be responsible for demonstrating that no safer processes or materials are available to perform the task. The Responsibility of Producers—Extended Producer Responsibility: Manufacturers should be responsible for the environmental and health impacts caused by their products and production processes throughout their life cycles. Extended producer responsibility involves four forms of responsibility: physical responsibility, economic responsibility, product liability, and informative liability.
Citizen Responsibility for Sustainable Consumption: Citizens, especially affluent citizens have a responsibility to consume in a way that is sustainable. This entails limiting consumption of short-lived, non-essential products; reducing the use of products that consume large amounts of resources or contain or use toxic substances in their production; increasing the use of durable, repairable, and less-toxic products; decreasing reliance on polluting forms of transportation; increasing “sharing” of durable products; and reusing; composting; and recycling products at the end of their useful life. THE LOUISIANA GREEN COMMISSION The commission was scheduled to have three conference calls and one face-to-face meeting. Katrina changed all of that, and instead, numerous conference calls were held with a subset of the commission. At least two conference calls were held before Katrina to discuss the planning of the Green Business Conference and the commissioned papers and the expansion of the white paper for use as the policy paper for state legislators. After Katrina, numerous conference calls were held for discussion of how to incorporate the events of Katrina into our work. The decision was made to cancel the Green Business conference and have a special session on Clean and Just Production in the aftermath of Katrina at the Race, Place and the Environment After Katrina conference. Several conference calls were held to plan the workshop/training session. There were four presenters: Ken Geiser, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Bill Walsh, Institute for Public Representation of Georgetown University Law Center; Donele Wilkins, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice; and Ken Zarker, Washington State Department of Ecology Pollution Prevention and Regulatory Assistance Section. A declaration for Clean and Just Production in Louisiana has been completed and is in the process of review by the commission for adoption by the board. To view profiles of the Commission Members please click HERE (PDF). TOXIC WASTE AND RACE AT TWENTY 1987-2007
Conclusion Report
To view a copy of the full report please click HERE (PDF). POST KATRINA DSCEJ/NRDC SEDIMENT REPORT The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina shifted the focus of the Clean Production project to responding to the health implications caused by contaminants left behind from the storm. Hurricane Katrina toppled offshore oil platforms and refineries sending shocking waves throughout the economy with the most noticeable effects felt at the gas pumps. Katrina and Rita temporarily closed oil operations in the Gulf Region that supplies twenty-nine percent of US-produced oil and nineteen percent of US sourced natural gas. Katrina caused six major oil spills releasing 7.4 million gallons of oil. The Hurricane also hit 60 underground storage tanks, five superfund sites, and numerous hazardous waste facilities. Hurricane Katrina represents the greatest environmental disaster to ever occur in North America. This could cause enormous consequences to health and the environment. It has been described as the biggest Brownfield and may be the largest reconstruction project in US history. Evidence, thus far shows that many flood impacted areas are contaminated and the contamination in large measure exceed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean-up standards. Testing done by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), EPA and others show sediments contaminated with heavy metals, petroleum, pesticides, and industrial chemicals from oil and soot. Dangerously high mold counts have been found in the air with some neighborhoods showing mold spore counts as high as 645,000. The recommended safe level by EPA for mold spores is 50,000 spores per cubic meter. The response to the health implications related to the enormous environmental catastrophe falls far below any logical or reasonable response to this disaster. Second only to "rebuilding the levees," environmental health should be the issue of greatest concern in the rebuilding/repopulating plan for the city of New Orleans. The Natural Resource Defense Council collected sediment samples for general analysis in several communities throughout the metro New Orleans area in November 0f 2005. Below are test results from sediments samples taken in Gert Town, Treme, and the Agriculture Street Landfill. Gert Town Community The Gert Town neighborhood figures prominently in the musical history of New Orleans. This is a neighborhood where many African American musicians moved in the early 1900’s. The importance of Gert Town in the cultural life of New Orleans is also represented by being in the birth place of numerous New Orleans musical greats such as Allen Toussaint, as well as having the Gert Town Golden Star Hunters and Mardi Gras Indians, an important notable Mardi Gras Indian Tribe. Gert Town is home of New Orleans Xavier University. Xavier University is important because of its prominence as the only historically Black and Catholic University in the United States and one of the universities with the most African American students earning degrees in the natural and physical sciences. A review of the pre-Katrina statistics of Gert Town reveals a predominantly male community (53.9 percent). 84.3 percent of those 15 and above report to be single. 25.2 percent of individuals 25 and over report to have attended high school with an equal percentage having graduated (27.3%) and a large percent with K-8 education (13.2%). Per Capita income of $9,914.00 for this area is roughly half that of areas within a five mile radius. The number of employees available (41,408) in the area dwarfs the number of establishments offering employment (1,965) in the area, thus individuals were forced to commute out of the area, while unemployment and underemployment rates were high. Prior to Hurricanes Katrina/Rita, the immediate area has been home to 29,865 individuals 80.6 percent of whom were black, residing within a population density of 9,506.4 individuals per square mile. 56.5 percent of the available 10,592 housing units were rental properties, and 19.9 percent remained vacant. Current conditions of the housing units remain in hazardous conditions due to substantial area flooding. The National Resource Defense Council has posted its environmental impact data for the area revealing outdoor mold particulate at 102,000 spores/m3 on October 19, 2005 and indoor quality counts at 11,000 spores/m3 on November 15, 2005 indicating levels far exceeding the National Allergy Bureau’s Very High rates of 50,000 spores/m3 and 5,000 spores/m3, respectively. Particulate levels acquired during a calm day in Gert Town were found to be within normal range, but when dust was disturbed, peaked to 50 mu/m3. During similar conditions, Mid-City particulate revealed normal ranges, but spiked well above maximum (89 mu/m3) to 129 mu/m3 when dust was disturbed. Prolonged exposure at the aforementioned rates poses a threat to lung capacity and development. NRDC collected three sediment samples for general analysis in the Gert Town neighborhood and at Xavier University. The levels of arsenic in all of the samples NRDC collected would trigger soil remediation according to the Region 6 EPA guidelines. The average level of arsenic that NRDC found in this neighborhood was 17.2 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of soil. This is 44-times higher than the Region 6 EPA soil clean-up level for residential areas, which is set at 0.39 mg/kg to protect against cancer. The highest arsenic level in any our samples – nearly 20 mg/kg – was in this area at Colapissa and Pine Streets. NRDC also analyzed some EPA sediment testing results for Uptown/Carrollton. We selected 8 EPA sediment samples randomly in four quadrants of the neighborhood..
Treme Community The Treme community Pre-Katrina was a poor inner city community of 11,680 residents located in New Orleans with an average annual family income of $6,548. This community is ninety-nine percent (99%) African American. Treme’ is one of New Orleans’ most historic communities. It was the home of Louis Armstrong and many other legendary jazz musicians and artisans. This community, however, has fallen victim to voluminous highway traffic that can be mostly attributed to the construction of Interstate 10 (I-10), which spews toxins in the community. The area also has a very old housing stock that contributes to lead paint problems. The accumulation of lead from deteriorating paint and emissions from cars that produce ozone, greatly contribute to lead poisoning among children and increased incidences of asthma and death due to asthma in both children and adults. The people of Treme’ live directly in the shadow of I-10. Its creation marked the demise of the most viable, economically sustainable community for African Americans in the city of New Orleans. The construction of interstate-10 not only destroyed the economic viability of this community, but also put the community in harm’s way for toxic emissions from motor vehicles. NRDC collected one sample for general analysis on Treme Street. The level of arsenic in this sample would trigger soil remediation according to the Region 6 EPA guidelines. The arsenic level of 13.3 mg/kg is 34-times the EPA soil remediation level. The lead level in the sediment sample taken on Treme Street was also extremely high – 860 mg/kg – more than double the EPA Region 6 soil clean-up level. The EPA took a sediment sample in that same area, at Treme and St. Phillip, and found similarly high lead levels. Agriculture Street Landfill EPA officials assured the Agricultural Street community residents that their neighborhood was safe after the “clean-up” in 2001. The community was built in the early 1980s on top of the Agricultural Street Landfill site. The 95-acre site was used as a municipal landfill (that included debris from Hurricane Betsy in 1965) for more than 50 years prior to being developed for residential and light commercial use. It closed in 1966. In 1993, EPA found metals, pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface and subsurface soils in the area during environmental studies. EPA added the Agricultural Street Landfill, as a Superfund site in 1994. Residents immediately pushed for a property buy-out and relocation. But the federal EPA disagreed, and ordered a $20 million “clean-up,” which began in 1998 and was completed in 2001. Concerned Citizens of Agriculture Street Landfill did not trust EPA’s “clean-up” and filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of New Orleans for damages and relocations costs. In January this year, after thirteen years of litigation, Seventh District Court Judge Nadine Ramsey ruled in favor of the residents, describing them as poor minority citizens who were “promised the American dream of first-time homeownership,” though the dream “turned out to be a nightmare.” Today, a dozen or so FEMA trailers now house Katrina survivors in the contaminated neighborhood—where EPA announced in April 2006 it had found the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene at levels almost 50 times the health screening level. No decision has been made to cleanup the contamination found near the old Agriculture Street landfill. Independent tests conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have also found dangerously high airborne mold levels inside and outside of homes, especially in the New Orleans neighborhoods that flooded. Such high concentration of mold spores is likely to be a significant respiratory hazard. Unfortunately, federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have not monitored mold levels in areas that flooded, and have not helped residents cope with the mold problem. A broad coalition of scientists, health experts, environmentalists, and local residents view EPA’s post-Katrina decision to simply monitor—rather than clean up the contamination—as a missed opportunity. It appears that few lessons were learned from Katrina—the single most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history. It’s business as usual. Residents need a clean-up, not a cover-up. A year after Katrina, government inaction is allowing another unethical and immoral “human experiment” to unfold before our eyes. NRDC also reviewed EPA sampling data from the area of the Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site. EPA took approximately 10 samples in the Desire neighborhood around the Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site. The EPA results show detections for a variety of heavy metals, petroleum chemicals, PAHs, pesticides, industrial solvents, and phthalates (chemicals in plastics). These contaminants could pose a significant long-term health risk to returning residents in this neighborhood.
**The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s non-industrial soil screening standard for aliphatics >C10-12 was used for comparison, because there was no specific state standard for diesel-range organics as defined by US EPA (aliphatics >C9). The standard is 210 mg/kg. |
The major objective of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice has been to address environmental injustice in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Since its inception, the Center has implemented numerous projects in the areas of research, capacity building, and education and training. The role of the DSCEJ has been one of leadership in the development of new paradigms for establishing effective liaisons among communities, academic institutions, and government agencies involved in environmental decision-making. The Center has now grown to embrace more complex issues regarding the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on low-income communities of color. 
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice produced the first national study linking race and the location of hazardous waste sites The United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice produced the first national study linking race and the location of hazardous waste sites in 1987. Race continues to be a significant independent predictor of commercial hazardous waste facility locations when socioeconomic and other non-racial factors are taken into account.
areas.
People of color are found to be more concentrated around hazardous waste facilities in 2007 than in 1987
|
|
office: (504) 816-4005 · fax: (504) 816-4032 · Email: dscej@aol.com