Environmental Justice: Support the Hastings Amendment
Kucinich gave the following speech in Congress on May 19, 2005
"Mr. Chairman, the idea behind environmental justice is simple. People of color and people of limited means bear more than their fair share of environmental problems -- like exposure to pollution -- and are denied more than their fair share of environmental benefits -- like access to natural areas or clean water.
"It is also important to point out that if you were to look at both race and poverty to see which one would best predict locations of environmental contaminants in the air or water, you would find race to be the better predictor, according to studies dating back to 1987.
"Here's another way to look at it: Many studies have found that middle-income people of color live near more contamination than low- income white people. Enforcement of environmental laws is also less prevalent and weaker in communities of color. Penalties for hazardous waste violations were found to be roughly 500 percent higher when those violations happened in mostly white communities than when they happened in communities of color.
"In 1992, then President Bush created an Office of Environmental Justice in the EPA precisely to begin to deal with this problem. In 1994, President Clinton expanded the directive's scope and applicability, again, in recognition of the seriousness of the problem.
"But now, the Executive Order and the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice are being ignored to death by the Administration. The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council is withering away. The EPA Inspector General in 2004 found that the EPA failed to comply with the Executive Order and changed their interpretation of the order to avoid an emphasis on people of color and low-income people. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found in 2002 that federal agencies did not incorporate environmental justice into their core missions as directed by the Executive Order. Congress must step in to restore these efforts and take them to the next level.
"The Hastings amendment would do exactly that. Every community, every person deserves equal access to clean air, clean water, natural areas, and healthy food. I urge my colleagues to support the Hastings amendment."
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