April 24, 2007 11:47 AM

New Report: Gov't Environmental Policy Negatively Affecting Minorities

The Washington Post business page has this report today:

"A recent report by the United Church of Christ in Cleveland suggests that decisions made by federal, state and local governments, as well as by companies, have penalized minority groups. The evidence: There are a disproportionate number of hazardous-waste facilities near where they live. The report, a reprise of a 1987 examination of the problem, found that over the past 20 years, minorities have been subjected to excessive levels of toxic pollutants from sites that have negatively affected their health and, often, property values."

Sounds like something government should be trying to fix, right? Not if Big Money and U.S. Supreme Court have anything to do with it.

Here's what I mean:

"The concept of 'environmental justice' itself is the source of disagreement: The term originally meant paying attention to underprivileged populations who might be overexposed to pollution and toxics...Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbied to have funds cut off to the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s so it couldn't issue guidance to industry on environmental justice...A Supreme Court case in 2001 put the brakes on litigation filed under civil rights laws because communities now have to prove that companies were intentionally discriminating against them. The earlier standard allowed groups to allege 'disparate impact' on their communities."

Pretty damn depressing.