[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SHOULD INCLUDE JUSTICE FOR ALL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, in Washington there are a lot of well-
intentioned policies that are often misguided and often result in 
unintended consequences. There are those who claim they want to unite 
the country and bring people together, but in reality, the policies in 
and of themselves divide people. I will give my colleagues a perfect 
illustration of what I am talking about.
  There is a doctrine that has recently been the goo-goo of so many 
folks here in Washington across the country called environmental 
justice. Now, according to the proponents of this doctrine, there are 
actions that have been taken by governments, local, State or otherwise, 
that disproportionately affect minority communities. The problem here 
is happening and occurring right in my community in Staten Island. I 
will give an example.
  We have the country's largest landfill. All of the garbage generated 
in New York City right now, about 9,000 tons per day, ends up in Staten 
Island. Staten Island happens to be a community that is 80 percent 
white. So what happened several months ago as we stepped up our efforts 
to close the landfill on Staten Island? The EPA and the White House 
Counsel on Environmental Quality and about 60 other officials marched 
in New York City, not to look at the landfill, but to look at transfer 
stations in the south Bronx. Their reasoning is that the south Bronx 
has a problem, but where the disconnect is and what these proponents of 
things like environmental justice seem to forget is that if there is a 
health problem or if there is a problem that adversely affects one 
person, it does not matter if the person is white, African-American, 
Latino, Chinese-American; if it is bad for one, it is bad for 
everybody.
  So as they parade these 60 officials through New York, they do not 
even come across the bridge to Staten Island. So how is it logical that 
we can have a transfer station problem in the south Bronx where the 
garbage is transient, and we do not have a problem with an open, 
unpermitted garbage dump that is about 160 feet high right now of 
rotting garbage? And what is the response? Well, you do not have a 
remedy under environmental justice because you are not in a minority 
community. That, folks, is not American.
  This Nation is about equal opportunity, and, by God, if there is a 
problem in the south Bronx with the transfer stations, if there are 
young children or there are families that are adversely affected by 
what is occurring there, then somebody needs to fix it. I am not saying 
that because whether it is black or white or Latino, but you cannot 
look me in the eye and tell me that the same should not apply to a 
community that happens to be 80 percent white. Because I say to my 
colleagues, and the folks who may be listening and the folks at the 
White House and the folks at EPA, the folks who are espousing this 
doctrine across the country, we have a lot of African-Americans who 
live around the landfill, we have a lot of Latino-Americans, a lot of 
Chinese-Americans, and they are just as adversely affected by the odor 
and stench of the landfill.
  I would hope they would open their eyes to what this country is all 
about. They talk about environmental justice. This country is about 
justice for all. I hope they wake up and see the light. The people of 
Staten Island have been adversely affected by this; they have been 
adversely affected by the decisions that they are making on a daily 
basis, and as we asked today, the reason why I am standing here today 
is when we asked for parity, when we asked for quality, when we asked 
for the same level, if not less, than what they did for the south 
Bronx, we were told ``no.'' That is not justice, environmental or 
otherwise.

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