SUNS #4293 Friday 2 October 1998


UNITED STATES: INDUSTRY BATTLES 'ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE'

Washington, Sept. 30 (IPS/Danielle Knight) -- Some of the world's largest corporations are trying to thwart U.S. 'environmental justice' policies that would save minority and poor communities from being sites for polluting industrial plants, say environmentalists.

The environmental justice movement aims to integrate into federal regulations its fight to prevent corporations from building toxic waste facilities or factories that emit hazardous chemicals in the
areas populated by low-income earners. But big business concerns, working through the National Association of Manufacturers have formed a coalition to weaken the movement's efforts, environmentalists allege.

Somewhat cheekily calling itself the "Business Network for Environmental Justice," the industry coalition has mounted an aggressive campaign to undermine the government's application of
civil rights law to environmental issues. The coalition comprises such powerful players as the American Petroleum Institute, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and the National Mining
Association.

The main thrust of the industry coalition's efforts is against a proposed set of guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on how it will evaluate complaints filed by minority
communities that believe heavy industry has violated their civil rights.

"The guidelines raise more questions than they answer and establish a flawed process for review environmental justice claims," declares Mike Mullin, chairman of the coalition. "How will...impact analysis be conducted, how will 'community' be defined...and how will the EPA guard against frivolous complaints?"

In February, the environment agency released interim guidelines in response to a 1994 executive order issued by President Bill Clinton. The order directed federal agencies to ensure compliance
with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which declared that any recipient of federal money could not discriminate on the basis of race.

In accordance with the executive order, the EPA must assure that "federal actions substantially affecting human health or the environment do not have discriminatory effects based on race,
color, or national origin."

The industry coalition is calling for the withdrawal of the guidelines because it says they would result in the misrepresentation of the actual risk of exposure. The coalition wants a clear definition of terms like "community" and "adversely impacted."

Industry long has debated the validity of scientific data that has been used by to prove that pollutants adversely affect health.

While the EPA, for example, concluded that dioxin, which is released whenever chlorine-based chemicals are manufactured or incinerated, is a "probable human carcinogen," industry called the
data "pseudo- science.'
  
The Industry coalition also argues that the guidelines do not consider the employment benefits that plants bring to a community.

In April, Thomas Donohoe, president of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the industry coalition, attacked the Title VI guidelines saying the Environmental Protection Agency was having "a terrible effect on economic opportunity."

Environmental organisations view the industry coalition as a front group for the nation's biggest polluters much like the corporate-backed Global Climate Coalition that placed millions of dollars worth of advertisements against the Kyoto agreement on Climate Change. Activists say the Business Network for Environmental Justice is seeking to advance its own agenda against
anti-pollution regulations.

"This is a thinly veiled call for the government to allow hazardous facilities to continue to be disproportionately located in communities of color, instead of taking action against environmental racism," says Joshua Karliner, editor of Corporate Watch, a watchdog organisation.

About seven Title IV cases are currently under investigation by the EPA. Industry has become particularly alarmed by one of those cases that recently involved the withdrawal of a 700 million dollar polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant.

With help from the EPA, activists successfully forced the Japan-  based Shintech Inc.to back away this month from plans to build the plant in the poor, mainly Black community of Convent, Louisiana.
Located on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the town already is home to six other chemical facilities.
  
Environmentalists argue that petrochemical facilities like the one previous planned by Shintech release millions of pounds of hazardous waste into the air and water, and they argue that any
exposure to these toxins would have an adverse impact on local residents and their environment.
Civil rights organisations, environmentalists and corporations watched closely when, at the request of local community groups, the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic and Greenpeace filed a
Title VI complaint with the EPA last year arguing that the Shintech facility would violate the residents' civil rights.

But as soon as environmental justice activists claimed victory in Convent, the battle against Shintech shifted to a different community in Louisiana where the corporation now planned to build
a smaller PVC facility in the town of Plaquemine.

"The fight is far from over," says Imelda West and Pat Melancon, organisers of St. James Citizens for Jobs and Environment, an environmental justice group in Convent that fought against
Shintech.

"This is an obvious face saving move by a player in a dirty industry that is becoming more dead-end and obsolete by the day," adds Damu Smith, a toxics specialist with Greenpeace. "We are now
prepared to struggle alongside the citizens of Plaquemine to stop Shintech."