[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E13]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E13]]


           INTRODUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL EQUAL RIGHTS ACT

                                 ______


                          HON. CARDISS COLLINS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 4, 1996

  Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the 
Environmental Equal Rights Act to promote equity, justice, and 
community involvement in the selection of the location of waste 
facilities. My bill gets at the heart of the need to locate waste 
facilities in locations which minimize the total impact on the health 
and well-being of nearby residents from sources of contamination. It 
would establish a process for exercising our inherent rights respecting 
the development and evolution of our communities.
  In the past, sites for many waste facilities have invariably been 
chosen for the wrong reasons. Since it is politically difficult to 
select any location, the choice has often come down to a question of 
political influence: Those with the least have lost.
  The result is that too many facilities have been placed in 
communities populated largely by minorities and the poor. These sitings 
regularly occur irrespective of the suitability of the site, and of 
critical importance, irrespective of the degree to which the community 
is already exposed to the polluting facilities. It is a simple fact of 
life that these communities usually do not have the financial or 
political resources to compete on these issues with other 
neighborhoods. Consequently, as multiple facilities are placed in 
minority and poor communities, the residents of these communities face 
unjustifiably severe health hazards and have no vehicle with which to 
protect themselves from such exposures.
  According to a 1992 University of Michigan study, the proportion of 
minorities in communities which have a commercial hazardous waste 
facility is about double that in communities without such facilities. 
The University of Michigan study found that, where two or more such 
facilities are located, the proportion of minorities is more than 
triple that of communities without a facility.
  In a 1992 report, the Environmental Protection Agency corroborated 
the evidence of the disproportionate impact of contaminants or racial 
minority and low-income populations when it concluded that these groups 
experience higher than average exposures to selected air pollutants and 
hazardous waste facilities.
  Currently, projected human health impacts of a new waste facility 
usually do not figure into the decision of whether or not to award a 
permit. Once again, recent studies have found that urban, minority 
communities are the most exposed to particulates, sulfates, and other 
contaminants.
  The Environmental Equal Rights Act [EERA] would allow citizens of an 
environmentally disadvantaged community in which a waste facility has 
been proposed to be sited to challenge the siting. A successful 
challenge would prevent the issuance of a permit for construction and 
operation of the proposed facility.
  A challenge would be based on whether the proposed facility is 
located within 2 miles of another waste facility, Superfund site, or 
facility that releases toxic contaminants; and whether it is in a 
community that has a higher than average percentage of low-income or 
minority residents. The petitioner would also have to show that the 
proposed facility may adversely affect the human health or the 
environmental quality of the community.
  Mr. Speaker, the Environmental Equal Rights Act will equip 
environmentally disadvantaged communities with basic tools to protect 
their environment and the health of their residents. These tools are 
necessary to compensate communities that are underrepresented and have 
fewer resources with which to protect themselves. We should all be able 
to agree that underrepresentation is an unacceptable basis for exposing 
people to substances which can impair mental development and cause 
harmful health conditions. To stop short of providing these rights 
would perpetuate the gross injustices and exposures to risks that have 
become all too common.

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