|
Address to ELCA’s 2003 Caring for Creation
New Consultation Environmental Oppression Introduction Environmental Racism Studies from the late 1980s and early 1990s documented
for the first time how race is an important factor in determining where
our nation stores and burns its toxic wastes. 1 People of color are a numerical minority in the United
States but are by far the numerical majority in locations of confirmed
and suspected burial of chemical warfare materials.
2 71% of African Americans live in counties that violate
federal air pollution standards, compared to 58% of the white population.
3 78% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a power
plant – the distance within which the maximum effects of the smokestack
plume are expected to occur. 4 The percentage of people of color dwelling in Non-attainment
areas routinely exceeds 50%. (A non-attainment area is an area that
exceeds federal air pollution standards for one or more of the following
pollutants: lead, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter
(PM10), 1-hour ozone standard, 8-hour ozone standard, and particulate
matter PM2.5. Three years of monitoring data are needed to make a formal
designation of non-attainment.) 5 Oil refineries are concentrated in heavily populated urban
areas, disproportionately impacting low-income and communities of color.
6 Indigenous peoples struggle to defend their ancestral
lands from the deterioration and contamination of everything from uranium
mining to military stockpiling. 7 Incinerators are in areas where the majority of people
are of color, daily breathing PCB, lead, mercury and other chemical
and metal emissions. One incinerator in East St. Louis, Illinois assaults
a population that is 97.7% African American and with 31.8% living below
the poverty level. The landfill in Emelle, Alabama has a surrounding
population that is 93.5% African American with 66.7% of that population
living below the poverty level and in Port Arthur, Texas that incinerator
has a surrounding population that is 67.2% people of color with 28%
of the people living below the poverty level. 8 Farm workers are routinely and openly exposed to pesticides
and toxic chemicals used in fields while – at the same time –
they are denied the right to organize, and seek health care at their
own jeopardy due to the United States’ hypocritical immigration
laws. Is there really anyone who doesn’t realize that our system
REQUIRES economic immigrants to continue to come and work these dangerous
and thankless jobs? THE WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM Members from several of the six networks affiliated with
the Environmental Justice Fund traveled to Durbin, South Africa to assist
the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance. These members helped develop model language
for the NGO and United Nations World Conference Against Racism documents
so that it reflected the crisis of global environmental racism. The
delegation also addressed such issues as toxics and pollutants at military
bases, the ongoing problem of contamination at the northern part of
New York City, the rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect their land
from further deterioration, and the working conditions of farm workers.
Uranium Mining on Indigenous Land Chief Melton Martinez was one of the speakers at the Second National
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.
last fall and he shared the frustration of living in a society that
uses a book to see what needs to be done! Never mind that people are
becoming sick, and dying before their time – what does the law
say about the U.S. and its sovereignty to use leech mining for uranium? I won’t assume you know what leech mining is—I didn’t.
Leech mining is when water is used to pump the uranium. Say two holes
are drilled for this aquafier process; water is forced down one hole
to "liquefy" the uranium and bring it out the second hole.
That water reaches the surface rivers and lakes. Because the U.S. government
can legally claim that which lies beneath indigenous lands, the nations
can do nothing to stop the mutation of the wildlife and ebb the critical
health issues that this abusive eminent domain provides. Chief Martinez
lives in the seven-mile wide and seventy-mile long uranium belt that
runs through New Mexico. The U.S. government’s representatives have invited the indigenous
people to leave their lands. This idea is anathema to Chief Martinez
who has said, "I will not leave the land where my ancestors are
buried; I live on my homeland. I am no immigrant; I never came on a
ship. I didn’t cross any land mass." In addition, the melding of uranium provides a dust that travels for
miles covering crops and wildlife. The mutations of rabbits and fish
have been witnessed. Chief Martinez made a point of calling out to the
white environmentalists to remember that such sites is where nations
of people have lived for generations and asks white environmentalists
to not find another issue but to join the struggle against environmental
racism. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IN THE PHILIPPINES As sited by the environmental anti-racists in Durbin, South Africa,
the military – Department of Defense – is one of the largest
perpetrators of environmental racism. When the U.S. military closed
down its bases in the Philippines in 1992, they left behind toxic contamination
that is now seeping into the environment, threatening the lives of thousands
of people in surrounding communities. Today, more than two hundred people
have died or fallen ill from illnesses linked to toxic waste exposure.
Despite calls by community, religious, and environmental groups, the
United States refuses to take responsibility.11 Under a provision of the U.S. Superfund law that deals with the cleanup
of hazardous waste contamination, any person affected by the release
of contamination may petition the U.S. government to conduct a "Preliminary
Assessment/Site Inspection" of a suspected site. This inspection
would identify the toxic "hot spots" at Clark and Subic and
determine the extent of contamination thereby allowing affected communities
and groups to implement measures to protect public health and environment.
Residents around Clark and Subic submitted petitions to the U.S. Air
Force and U.S. Navy in 2000 but the U.S. military rejected them without
study.12 Members of the affected communities, supported by the Filipino/American
Coalition for Environmental Solutions and the San Francisco based Arc
Ecology took legal action against the U.S. Air Force early this year.
This action is critical for several reasons:
POWER PLANT WASTE SITES AND POWER PLANT DEVELOPMENT People of color are the most likely to live near a power plant waste
site.13 In addition, new power plants are likely
to be sited in our communities. For example, in Massachusetts, People
of Color comprise 15% of the population but live in just 5% of the states
communities. These communities are home to a disproportionate 18% of
all power plants. In addition, 23% of all proposed new power plants
will be built in these communities. Likewise, while lower income communities
(where half of all households earn less than 40K) comprise 51% of all
towns in the state, they are home to 66% of all active power plants
and 63% of all proposed plants.14 High poverty rates among people of color restrict housing options,
and restrict our access to quality health care, resulting in more devastating
impact on our communities from air pollution. Exposure to pollution from power plants occurs from inhalation of air pollutants and from "indirect exposure" from such things as drinking water or eating meat, vegetables, dairy products or fish that have been contaminated by air emissions that have deposited on the earth and accumulated in the food chain. Children are additionally exposed to power plant toxins by ingesting contaminated soil while playing. COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS Coal-fired power plants are the largest industrial emitters of mercury,
producing over one third of all mercury pollution in the U.S. The process
of bioaccumulation of mercury in fish is the results. Residents of forty-four
states have been warned not to eat certain types of fish because of
mercury contamination.15 Of these, eleven have
consumption advisories for every inland body of water for at least one
fish species; six states have consumptive advisories for canned tuna,
and eight have statewide coastal marine advisories for king mackerel.
In July 2002, an independent committee of food safety advisors convened
by the FDA recommended that a nationwide consumption advisory be issued
for canned tuna, however the FDA has yet to act.16 17 One-third of African Americans are active anglers and eat fish more
often and eat larger portions of fish than whites 18
19 making the consumption of contaminated fish a significant
environmental justice issue. CHEMICAL POLLUTANTS AND CHILDREN OF COLOR In a comparison of 86 cities in the U.S., researchers found that infants
who lived in highly populated cities during their first two months of
life had a mortality rate 10% higher than infants living in cities with
clean air. Investigators in this study found that high particulate matter
levels were associated with a 26% increased risk of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome and a 40% increased risk of respiratory mortality. In 1998,
the SIDS rate for white babies was 57.5 per 100,000, while the rate
for African American babies was almost three times higher at 149.2 per
100,000. Also in 1998, the Respiratory Distress Syndrome mortality rate
was 70.2 per 100,000 for blacks compared to 26.7 per 100,000 for whites
– a difference of more than 163%. 20 In the first study of its kind, researchers evaluated the effects of
particulate matter exposure on asthmatic children of color in Los Angeles.
The study found that particulate matter increased shortness of breath,
wheezing, and coughing in these children to a greater extent than reported
in most asthma studies. This study suggested that children of color
with asthma are particularly vulnerable to particulate matter toxicity.
The findings held true regardless of whether or not their families had
previously received medical care for asthma from a primary physician.
21 The death rate from asthma for African Americans is twice
that of whites (38.7 deaths per million population for African Americans
vs. 14.2 deaths per million population for whites.)22 CONCLUSION I started by asking you to be Good Samaritans and see environmental
racism as a brute that continues to victimize people of color and poor
people. I told you we travel on a parallel road but I want you to know
that that parallel road is the same road easily reaching into your home,
affecting your health, the lives of your children and grandchildren.
Each one of us has some amount of dioxin in our body, and we pass it
on to our children through breast milk. Much of American breast milk
wouldn’t pass FDA standards for milk sold commercially because
of this chemical contamination.24 More and more
environmental toxins over which we have no direct control are shaping
our lives. So what are we to do? It is my hope that we will sound the bell loudly. It is my prayer that we will seek to mobilize interest and energy to speak clearly and urgently to and through our church. When will we all say enough? I pray it will not be too late. I pray that there is still time for dominion if only we cease our domination.
Endnotes 1 "Environmental JUSTICE" an article by Trevor Griffey, COLORS
magazine, August 2002 issue, http://www.colorsnw.com
2 Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project, Program Manager for Chemical
Demilitarization, Public Outreach and Information Office, http://www-pmcd.apgea.army.mil 3 U.S. EPA Green Book http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gbook/ Data compiled by MSB Energy Associates. 4 U.S. Census, 2000. Estimated using 1990 racial fractions and 2000 census. Data compiled by MSB Energy Associates. 5 Ibid. 6Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (publication) from refinery
reform campaign, a national compaign to clean up U.S. oil refineries,
http://www.refineryreform.org 7 8 Common Sense, October 2002, published by the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, PO Box 467, Berea, KY 40403, an NGO of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, 859.986.0868. 9 TOWARDS SUMMIT II, Volume I, Issue 1, Fall 2001, a publication for
the Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit,
310 8th Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94607 Zenaida@ejfund.org (Sponsored
by the Environmental Justice Fund.) 10 Ibid. 11 FACES, Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solutions,
"CLEAN! Campaign," P.O. Box 2597, El Cerrito, CA 94530, http://www.facesolutions.org,
sfbay@facesolutions.org 12 Ibid 13 Power Plant Pollution: A Threat to African Americans, by Martha H. Keating, Clean Air Task Force for Clear The Air, and Felicia Davis, Georgia Colation for the Peoples’ Agenda, Air of Justice, October 2002 publication, LaBerge Printers, Inc., Orlando, Florida. 14 Faber, D.R. and Krief, E.J., 2001. Unequal exposure to ecological
hazards: environmental injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Report by the Philanthropy and Environmental Justice Research Project,
Northeastern University. 15 Ibid 16 FDA Consumer Advisory for Pregnant Women and Women of Childbearing
Age who may become Pregnant about the Risks of Mercury in Fish. March
2001. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-pes1.html
17 See more at http://www.mercurypolicy.org
18 U.S. EPA, 1997b. Mercury Study Report to Congress. Volume VII: Characterization
of Human and Wildlife Risks from Mercury Exposure in the United States.
EPA-452/R-97-009. 19 Minority Anglers and Boaters, Prepared for the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, January 2002. 20 Minority Lung Disease Data 2000. American Lung Association. October
2000. http://www.lungusa.org 21 Ostro, B., M. Lipsett, J. Mann, H. Braxton-Owens, M. White, 2001.
Air pollution and exacerbation of asthma in children of color in Los
Angeles. Epidemiology, Volume 12, No. 2, pp. 200-208. 22 Minority Lung Disease Data 2000. American Lung Association. October
2000. http://www.lungusa.org 23 Center for Environmental Health pamphlet, 528 61st Street, Suite A, Oakland, CA, http://www.cehca.org 24 Ibid. |
|