Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Case Study: Shintech Hazardous Waste Facility in St. James
Parish, Louisiana
Before the moratorium on processing complaints went into effect, the EPA ac-
cepted a complaint from the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic in cooperation
with other environmental groups with regard to a large toxic waste disposal
facility that was to be constructed by Shintech, a Japanese firm, in the St. James
Parish in Louisiana as the site for the facility. This parish is poor, predominantly
African-American, and already the location of a vast array of industrial plants.
As an enticement to the community, the company promised jobs in both the
construction and operation of the plant. The complaint, however, stated that
the emissions from this facility would create a disparate environmental impact
on the minority population.
The allegations of disparate impact were supported in part by the fact that
18 toxic waste facilities were located in St. James Parish, and almost a quarter
of all the pollutants produced in the state were emitted within a 4-mile radius
of the parish. The case was accepted by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
for review, but they decided not to report their conclusions until the EPA
guidelines were published. During this administrative delay, Shintech decided
to move the plant to a middle-class neighborhood, thus making the case moot.
It should be noted that the new location was advantageous to Shintech since it
was close to a Dow Chemical plant, and this allowed the waste to be pumped to
the waste treatment facility, saving considerably on the cost of transport. Such
decisions point to the complicated nature of environmental justice. Companies
plan by optimizing a number of variables. In this case, the cost of pumping
may have outweighed any savings from siting the plant in a lower-income
neighborhood.
Case Study: Select Steel Corporation Recycling Plant in
Flint, Michigan
In 1998, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved an
air emissions permit for a steel recycling minimill in Flint, Michigan, to be
constructed by the Select Steel Corporation. A local group filed a Title VI
complaint asserting discriminatory impact on a minority community. OCR
accepted that case for review and was pressured into quick action by Select
Steel's threat to move its plant to Ohio. EPA's delay in insisting on a care-
ful review of this complaint caused significant political pressure. Michigan's
Governor Engler criticized the EPA in a press conference, saying in part:
“This is about every company that has ever had to deal with the EPA's reck-
less, ill-defined policy on environmental justice
.The EPA is imposing their
bureaucratic will over this community and punishing the company with the
...
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