“NEJAC has repeatedly said that EPA (and authorized states and tribes) must take a comprehensive, community-based approach to addressing environmental justice. Focusing only on a limited subset of permits can leave communities with concerns based on other activities without a mode of redress,” the council wrote in its response. For the EPA, this is an unenviable position. When you’re under the pressure of market forces and your budget is determined by Congressmen hellbent on shrinking, if not eliminating your agency, efficiency is imperative. But the agency has nowhere near the resources to tackle multiple problems simultaneously, so it has to take things one at a time, even if that’s not enough for communities to begin feeling a difference. State governments are less inclined to deal with any of these issues, given budget inflexibility and the competitive nature of luring business. Wilma Subra, a Louisiana chemist who’s fought many businesses in the state’s Cancer Alley, broke it down to me like this: grist.org/cities/epas-next-challenge-protect-communities-in-nations-industrial-dumping-grounds
Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2014 17:51:52 +0000
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