More Hazardous Waste Facilities Located in Minority Areas

New research from the University of Michigan shows that hazardous waste facilities are disproportionately placed in poor, minority neighborhoods.

Dr. Paul Mohai, a professor in UM’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, is the lead author of the study, called “Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty 1987-2007, Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle Environmental Racism in the United States.” He says minorities are living in the areas where hazardous waste facilities have decided to locate.

The report suggests that demographic changes that began before the hazardous waste sites were selected continued afterwards.

“Our argument is that what’s likely happening is the area is going through a demographic shift, and it lowers the social capital and political clout of the neighborhood so it becomes the path of least resistance,” Mohai says.

The new report measures what has happened in the past 20 years in terms of environmental injustice. According to the report, Michigan has the largest disparity in the proportion of minorities living near hazardous waste facilities, with the majority of those affected being Black.

Mohai says the findings verify what the environmental justice movement has argued for decades — poorer minority neighborhoods are more often chosen for hazardous waste facilities than more affluent White neighborhoods. Therefore, policies that intervene in the siting process are very important, he says.

“Policies to deal with environmental injustice by managing the siting and permitting process could be a waste of time and money if the demographic changes after siting explain why the disparity occurs,” he says.

The University of Southern California announced the establishment of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology to study the health and health care of older persons and their families, with an emphasis on low-income and minority communities.