Low-income and minority communities face significantly more environmental threats than those in higher-income communities, according to a study released Wednesday by sociology professors from Northeastern University and Vermont’s Johnson State College.
Leading environmental activists and state legislators joined Northeastern University professor of sociology Daniel Faber at the State House as he released the results, and they demanded action against what they said was environmental injustice borne unfairly by the poor.
The study, conducted by Faber and Johnson State College sociology professor Eric Krieg, found that “ecologically hazardous sites and facilities are disproportionately located and concentrated in communities of color and working-class communities.”
The professors called this allocation of hazardous sites an “environmental injustice,” and said the study, called Unequal Exposure to Ecological Hazards, is the first research project to specify and define a system for discovering which communities are suffering most.
According to the study, “[communities of color] are nine times more likely to face exposure to environmentally hazardous facilities,” and “communities with median household incomes of less than $30,000 average nearly two and a half times more hazardous waste sites than communities with median household incomes of $40,000 and higher.” Faber and Krieg released the first edition of the study in 2001, but this year’s version is the first to define environmental injustice in a legal context.
Despite the efforts of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, these problems are getting worse, not better, Faber said.
Faber said it is crucial to focus on pollution prevention, not just cleaning existing problems. It will cost the state a huge sum of tax money to clean up these hazards, but preventing pollution in the future costs “virtually nothing,” he said.
Environmental activists say they hope the Environmental Justice Act, a new bill sponsored by Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) and Rep. David Sullivan (D-Fall River), will help take the burden off low-income and minority families.
Barrios, chairman of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said the Environmental Justice Act would be the next step toward curing Massachusetts of its “environmental ills.”
Using Unequal Exposure 2005 as a springboard, the proposed act would designate certain environmentally hazardous communities as “EJ [Environmental Justice] Towns.” It would also allocate more funds to provide incentives for corporations to build in less populated areas, to educate and notify the public about environmental issues and to create a local system for gradually reducing environmental hazards around the state.
Rep. Alice Wolf, a Democrat who represents Cambridge, the sixth most overburdened community in Massachusetts, also called attention to the Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals Act, which concentrates on preventive actions to counter pollution.
Environmental activists also praised grassroots movements around the state that have played the crucial role of informing lawmakers, corporations and the general public about environmental crises.
Faber said that if policy makers, environmental activists and the general public unite to promote a healthier state, Massachusetts may one day serve as a model for other states to create effective environmental solutions.
The study also includes an environmental ranking for every community in Massachusetts.
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