Telling lawmakers that she “lost everything I owned in this storm,” Wright said the federal government is not helping the cleanup effort as it issues confusing and contradictory regulations. In particular, federal and state agencies fail to recognize contaminated front and backyard soils that pose hazards to children.
“Issues related to health and the environment have hardly been mentioned in the discussions of rebuilding the city,” she said.
In seeking action from Congress, Bullard offered a series of recommendations:
- Congress should create a legal mandate so that low-income minority communities have equal protection under law from environmental hazards.
- The Environmental Protection Agency should adopt site location standards requiring a safe distance between a residential area and an industrial facility.
- Federal and state governments should release more timely information on toxic waste and emissions to promote a community’s “right to know” local hazards.
- All levels of government should promote tax incentives for developers to promote environmental justice in long-range plans for the restoration of former toxic waste sites.
--Charles Dervarics
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