Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their Correlation With Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities

In response to a congressional request, GAO determined the correlation between the location of hazardous waste landfills and the racial and economic status of the surrounding communities in eight southeastern states. GAO also provided information on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) site location standards and permitting procedures. GAO found that blacks make up the majority of the population in three of the four communities where the region's four offsite hazardous waste landfills are located. At least 26 percent of the population in these communities has an income below the poverty level. The determination as to where a hazardous waste landfill will be located is currently a state responsibility. However, effective January 1983, federal regulations require that selected sites meet minimal location standards, and EPA has begun its review process to determine whether the sites meet these standards. Federal legislation requires public participation in the hazardous waste landfill permit process, except for the approval of the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's). Because of delays in issuing final regulations, three of the four landfills in the region have not yet undergone the final permit process where public participation is required. The fourth PCB landfill has been subjected to the process and granted a permit, even though it was not required by federal regulations. Finally, GAO found that the EPA class permit proposal for less complex waste management facilities would limit public participation at the local level. However, class permits would apply to storage tanks, not landfills.

This book provides the major economic, social, and psychological impacts associated with the siting of noxious facilities and their significance in mobilizing the African American community. It explores the barriers to environmental and social justice experienced by African Americans.

Every day, children living in low-income communities have no choice but to grow up in a climate where they experience multiple unending assaults to their sense of dignity. This volume applies theoretical and historical insights to think through the increasingly undignified realities of life in economically marginalized communities. It includes examples of curricular challenges that low-income students in the US confront today while attempting to learn. Curricular challenges are analyzed as material texts that emerge out of student lived experiences in the economically disposed neighborhoods in which schools are located, and the dynamics of the schools and classrooms themselves. Attention is also paid to educators and students who push back against these forces in an effort to reclaim voice, identity and dignity.

"A thorough, extensively documented, and well-written description of . . . the Superfund program and an astute appraisal of its many flaws . . . The book is a valuable contribution to the literature on Superfund policy and politics."--Policy Currents."Hir