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Environmental Justice -- by Victoria Trinies
Resources on E/J -- Literature and websites
Goodby Summer Interns -- four student research assistants
Grace Noda -- by Shirley Price
Job Announcements -- Lobbyist, Development Coordinator
Subscribe -- Receive FCL's Newsletter by regular mail
Whatever Happened To?
Articles in Prior Newsletters
Looking Beyond the Picket Fence:
Cleaning up Every Neighborhood
Toxic landfills, refineries, polluting power plants, pesticides, and waste-producing industries are more likely to adjoin minority neighborhoods than wealthy ones. Because these hazards pose a significant health threat to poor families who have little choice about where they live, FCL has been working to be sure these hazards are addressed in the Legislature.
Part of the problem is location, and another part is enforcement. It is widely believed that local officials are more likely to allow companies that cause pollution to locate in low-income and minority neighborhoods than in high-income and mostly white neighborhoods. Also, it is believed that officials are more likely to enforce environmental regulations in high-income and predominantly white neighborhoods than in low-income and minority neighborhoods.
The problem has long been understood, but protection for these vulnerable populations has been slow in coming. In the current legislative session, three bills that seek to quicken the pace of environmental justice reached the Governor?s desk:
AB 1553 (Keeley) requires the State Office of Planning and Research to adopt guidelines for addressing environmental justice matters in city and county general plans. Under the bill, guidelines would suggest ways to: (1) plan for the equitable distribution of new public facilities and services; (2) site industrial facilities that pose a significant hazard to human health so that they are not overly concentrated in areas near schools and residences; (3) site schools and residences so that they aren?t near industrial facilities that pose a significant hazard to human health, and; (4) promote more livable communities by expanding transit-oriented development.
SB 32 (Escutia) authorizes local agencies to require the investigation and cleanup of certain small-sized urban brownfield sites in their jurisdictions and establishes a pilot program at Cal-EPA for assessing the usefulness of providing general contaminant cleanup level numbers so that parties considering cleaning up a site can better estimate the potential costs.
SB 828 (Alarc?) sets a July 1, 2002 deadline for the California Environmental Protection Agency to refine its environmental hazard strategy, based on findings of a ?Working Group on Environmental Justice.? Last year, SB 89 (Escutia) directed the Cal-EPA to establish such a group so it could develop a multi-agency strategy that would identify and address gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities that impede the achievement of environmental justice.
While each of these measures represents a measure of progress, it is still an uphill effort to protect the health and property values of poor and minority neighborhoods. The problem needs work at local, state and federal levels.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Let Governor Davis and your legislators know about local environmental issues that concern poor neighborhoods.
Be sure you let local officials know that the entire community needs to stand together on issues of environmental justice.
? Victoria Trinies
FCL Summer Research Intern
Resources on Environmental Justice
For more information on environmental justice, consult the following resources: Where We Live, Work and Play: The Environmental Justice Movement and the Struggle for a New Environmentalism (Praeger) by Patrick Novotny. Novotny documents the expanding environmental justice constituency through case studies of four community groups ranging from South Central Los Angeles to Louisiana. EPA/OSPS Environmental Justice (http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/ej/). The EPA environmental justice homepage. Communities for a Better Environment (http://www.cbecal.org/) collaborates with urban communities and grassroots organizations using science- based research, legal tools, and organizing strategies to prevent air and water pollution, eliminate toxic hazards, and improve public health.
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(caption)Terrorist attacks have changed life . . .
This Month in FCL History
10 years ago:
FCL Newsletter, October 1991
?General awareness of the finitude of natural resources is said to be on the rise, but my eyes strain to see a reflection of such a trend in the 1991 legislature. While dozens of bills find a corner on the legislative plate ? some new, some recycled for a new governor?s consideration ? the incursions against environmental assault continue to be piecemeal. While this approach produces the occasional minor triumph it effectively forestalls broadly-gauged and concerted action; worse, it makes these efforts especially vulnerable to a strong, well-heeled, and determined opposition. (Governor Wilson promises a fresh direction in coming years through his heralded new eco-child, Cal-EPA. We shall see.)? ? Ed Klingelhofer
15 years ago:
FCL Newsletter, October 1986
Proposition 65
?We have heard more than we might wish about the discharge of toxic chemicals into the state?s drinking water supplies. This measure would impose new regulations to protect water supplies and to notify citizens of potentially dangerous exposure to toxic materials in consumer products and at worksites. It would also give each citizen the right to sue businesses for failure to comply with the measure?s requirements.
Many environmental organizations support Proposition 65 . Opponents (including some businesses whose practices violate provisions of the measure) criticize it for having ?too many exceptions,? but it nonetheless would give Californians one of the toughest, most effective toxic control laws in the nation. FCL recommendation: Vote YES.? (Proposition 64 was adopted with 62.6% approval.)
Grace Noda: Volunteer Extraodinaire
Grace Noda has been a dedicated volunteer at FCL since the early 1950?s, when Trevor Thomas was the FCL lobbyist. At that time FCL had offices in San Francisco and Grace lived in Richmond. Early on, she served on the Program Committee, where she reluctantly took on the role of clerk ?because everyone took their turn doing it.? When she and her husband moved to Davis, she began driving into the Sacramento office once a week to help log contributions, file receipts, and mail literature. She also reviewed the legislature?s daily schedule, looking for bills of interest to FCL. Now, she states, she ?comes in every other week to write checks.?
When asked why she continues to volunteer after so many years, she answers wryly ?because [FCL staff people] told me I couldn?t quit.? Her commitment tells a different story, however. ?I?ll keep volunteering until I can?t make the drive anymore.?
Grace came to FCL through a circuitous route, but one that makes perfect sense. Like many Japanese Americans during the second World War, she was confined in a ?relocation camp.? She saw that Quakers were one of the few religious groups speaking out against internment of the ?non-aliens? (the government?s term for citizens they didn?t want to admit were citizens). Quakers arranged for young internees to find colleges they could attend; Grace and her sister attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where she earned her degree.
After the war, Grace went to Japan and volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee, working in a nursery school and meeting incoming ships loaded with relief materials. After two years, she returned to California, began teaching in Richmond and soon began her work with FCL. When asked why she became interested in FCL, she said ?[my husband] Grant had been a farm worker during the war, and we were involved in much of the work that Cesar Chavez was doing in California. We liked that FCL was taking up agricultural issues, and that they were willing to take on issues that others were unwilling to address.?
FCL appreciates Grace?s nearly 50 years of diligent service.
? Stephen Myers
Newsletter Editor
Goodbye Student Interns
We are sad to see the end of summer, because we must say goodbye to four very helpful student interns.
Victoria Trinies worked on environmental justice issues and reviewed cases of defendants who are mentally retarded. She was pleased to learn the inner workings of the California legislative process, and to be exposed to new facets of social justice work.
Kenrick Mercado prepared enhancements for the FCL web-pages and interviewed one of Sacramento?s job developers to find out what sort of services can actually be provided for parolees returning to the community. He helped monitor legislative hearings and delivered FCL materials to various offices.
Soo Sun Choe?s internship was in Los Angeles. She contacted people all over the state to better understand relationships between Alternatives to Violence Projects and California prisons. These projects, undertaken by trained local activists, provide workshops that teach people in the community, as well as those who are incarcerated, how to use their transforming power to defuse situations that might otherwise become violent. The highlight of her internship was visiting Sacramento to observe the workings of the state legislature. This ?C-Span, live? experience gave her a much better understanding of how state government functions.
Satsuki Koyama worked on a revision of FCL?s pamphlet on capital punishment, ?This Life We Take.? This research exposed her to a wealth of insight into a vital and controversial social issue. She says her social conscience has been aroused by the experience.
As our interns return to their regular university studies, FCL?s encouragement goes with them.
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FCL is Recruiting
The Executive Committee of FCL is looking for a lobbyist and a development coordinator to continue FCL?s work into its second half-century.
Applicants should have an appreciation of the spiritual basis of FCL and agree with its mission, be willing to work flexible hours, evenings, and weekends, and do extensive in-state travel. They need to be able to reach out to Quakers and like-minded organizations, the media, and volunteers. The work requires excellent oral and written commu-nication skills, computer competency, and experience with the publication of flyers and pamphlets.
Those interested in either of these positions should contact the FCL Personnel Committee at 926 J Street #707, Sacramento, CA 95814, or send an email to fclinfo@cwo.com. No phone calls, please.
Subscribe to the FCL Newsletter
You can have each issue of the FCL Newsletter mailed to your home or place of business, simply by mailing a request to our office, together with a check for $20 ($7 low-income). Bundle subscriptions to a meeting, congregation, or other group may also be arranged at a cost of $75.
Friends Committee on Legislation 717 K St., Suite 500-B, Sacramento, CA 95814-3408 (916) 443-3734
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