Environmental Consequences and Justice (2021)

Americans have been mobile throughout our history, starting from our country’s initial westward expansion. Due to opportunities elsewhere or catastrophes of all sorts, we often have picked up and moved to greener pastures.       

My wife and I have moved and changed our residence four times in three decades.  Most of these moves were for career-oriented or family reasons.  The last one had almost everything to do with our concern for future environmental threats.  We had suffered wind damage and flooding at our residence over the last decade.  We were fortunate to have the resources to be able to relocate in June.  Our losses due to roof repair and flooding in recent years were minimal, though, compared to many others who have experienced much more costly storm and flooding damages in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.   

Recent surveys have revealed how many Americans do not emergency funds for weather-related or other negative environmental consequences.  For example, a Bankrate July 2021 Emergency Savings survey indicated that one out of four Americans have no savings for major emergencies.  Over 50% of those surveyed claimed to have less than three months of living expenses in their savings.  These statistics are more troubling for Americans in certain subgroups, such as lower-income families or those living in less prosperous states  

According to the 2021 National Geographic’s Resource Library, a fourth of Louisiana’s wetlands, about the size of the state of Delaware, has been washed away since the 1930s. Our state has reportedly lost more of its wetlands than losses by the entire continental United States combined.  Wetland losses have been attributed to several factors, including natural gas and oil extraction techniques causing land erosion.      

The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw community in Isle de Jean Charles (Terrebonne Parish) has been particularly impacted by rising sea waters.  The island’s roughly 22,000 acres were reduced to less than 400 acres by 2016. Damages from Hurricane Ida this summer make life there even more problematic.  Federal and state funds have been expended to help displaced residents here and in storm-damaged communities in Louisiana.   

Along with negative environmental consequences in our state, there have been more public demands for “environmental justice.”  If you ask 20 randomly chosen residents though what environmental justice is, you’re likely to get some confused looks and different responses.  This concept and concern emerged more than forty years ago as an offshoot of the increased environmental consciousness of the 1970s. 

The concept of NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) explained traditional social and political influences that led to the selection of locations for prisons, energy plants, chemical/refinery operations, and dump sites.  Wealthier communities didn’t want to be adjacent or near these potential threats.  Sites near poorer or disadvantaged communities tended to be selected.  When accidents or negative impacts from these operations occurred, health and economic consequences confronted those who were less prepared to bear these costs.      

Environmental justice (EJ) was established in American public policy when President Bill Clinton signed the initial EJ Executive Order in 1994.  This order described environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.  Fair treatment meant that no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or policies.  This Executive Order 12898 directed federal agencies, under the leadership of the EPA, to develop strategies to help address disproportionately high human health or environmental consequences of federal programs on minority and low-income populations. 

Related executive orders since then have included Executive Orders 13990 and 14008 signed by President Biden in January 2021.  President Biden then specifically cited Cancer Alley, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  He said that “environmental justice will be at the center of all we do when it comes to addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of color.”  His commitment is to direct 40 percent of his administration’s climate and clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities.  An EJ Scorecard is to be published on an annual basis to determine actual progress toward such goals.  The Department of Justice, through criminal and civil litigation by US Attorney’s Offices, is starting to emphasize stronger enforcement of laws related to EJ.  

There have been significant ventures also by individuals and third-sector organizations dedicated to greater EJ.  For example, there have been grants recently from the Bezos Earth Fund that supports those fighting for these causes.  Funds in the amount of $20 million have been disbursed to four environmental justice groups with a pledge of an additional $130 million by the end of this year.  These grantees include the Deep South Center for EJ ($4 million), the Partnership for Southern Equity ($6 million), the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University ($4 million), and WE ACT for EJ ($6 million).  More funding initiatives for EJ can be expected in the future.     

Activist organizations will also continue to focus on specific local or area concerns, in collaboration with private foundations and public agencies.  One recent and high-profile controversy surrounds the question of approval for the multi-billion-dollar Formosa Plastics complex proposed for location in St. James Parish.  RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots organization, and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which partners with communities adjacent to industrial sites that have negative environmental impacts, are among the activist groups fighting this proposed corporate site.     

Climate change and environmental threats are more than ever in the forefront of news and public policy making.  The issue of environmental justice in Louisiana, particularly its application or enforcement in specific cases, will likely become much more discussed and debated as well.