Environmental Justice, Health Disparities, and the Chesapeake

Bay Watershed

Dr. Sacoby WilsonMaryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health

School of Public HealthUniversity of Maryland-College Park

June 4, 2013

• “For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the wild river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports.” – Sandra Postel, Director and Founder of the Global Water Project

Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station

What is Environmental Justice?

• Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis (1968)

• Landfill issues in Houston, TX (1970s)

• PCB Landfill in Warren County, NC (1982)

EJ Definitions• Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful

involvement of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, income or education level with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies

• Environmental Justice is served when people can realize their highest potential, without experiencing the 'isms.' EJ is supported by decent paying and safe jobs, quality schools and recreation, decent housing and adequate health care, democratic decision-making and personal empowerment; and communities free of violence, drugs and poverty. These are communities where both cultural and biological diversity are respected and highly revered and where distributive justice prevails

Environmental Justice Stool• Environmental Justice Framework is a Three-Legged

Stool – Leg 1: Differential Burden and Exposure to Environmental

Hazards and LULUs (chemical plants, TRI facilities, incinerators, brownfields, heavily-trafficked roadways, industrial zoning, goods movement activities, landfills, depots, etc)

– Leg 2: High Concentration of Psychosocial Stressors (Crime, Violence, Poverty, isms, social disorder)

– Leg 3: Lack of access to high quality health-promoting infrastructure (supermarkets, banks, schools, basic amenities, housing, parks/green space, economic opportunity structures)

Toxic Wastes and Race Report

• The publication in 1987 of the United Church of Christ (UCC) Report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States led to an increase in public awareness about disproportionate environmental burdens in people of color communities and further fueled the growing environmental justice movement.

• The report was significant because it found race to be the most potent variable in predicting where commercial hazardous waste facilities were located in the US, more powerful than household income, the value of homes, and the estimated amount of hazardous waste generated by industry.

17 Principles of Environmental Justice

1) Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.

2) Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.

3) Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things.

5) Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all peoples.

6) Environmental Justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production.

17 Principles of Environmental Justice

7) Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.

being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards. 9) Environmental Justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.

10) Environmental Justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide.

12) Environmental Justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of all our communities, and provided fair access for all to the full range of resources.

Pioneers of Environmental Justice

Damu Smith (1952-2006) • an D.C. peace activist who fought

chemical pollution on the Louisiana Gulf Coast in the 1990s

• Instrumental in forming the National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN), the first ever national network of Black environmental justice activists

Professor Wangari Maathai• The first Kenyan woman to

receive a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Nairobi

• The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Founded the Green Belt Movement which has mobilized poor women to plant some 30 million trees

• When resources are degraded, we start competing for them, whether it is at the local level in Kenya, where we had tribal clashes over land and water, or at the global level, where we are fighting over water, oil, and minerals. So one way to promote peace is to promote sustainable management and equitable distribution of resources.

• For me, one of the major reasons to move beyond just the planting of trees was that I have tendency to look at the causes of a problem. We often preoccupy ourselves with the symptoms, whereas if we went to the root cause of the problems, we would be able to overcome the problems once and for all.

– Wangara Maathai

Pioneers of Environmental Justice

Dr. Robert Bullard• Director of the Environmental

Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University

• Wrote Dumping in Dixie, which is widely regarded as the first book to articulate environmental justice

• Helped Clinton administration draft an executive order to require federal agencies to consider environmental justice in their programs

Hazel Johnson• Founded People for Community

Recovery (PCR) in 1982 on the Southside of Chicago, one of the oldest African American grassroots community-based environmental organizations in the Midwest.

• Tagged the "Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement" at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in Washington, DC.

• "One of the key components in environmental justice is getting people to the table to speak for themselves ... they need to be in the room where policy is being made."

• "There is no level playing field. Any time our society says that a powerful chemical company has the same right as a low income family that's living next door, that playing field is not level, is not fair."– Robert Bullard

EJ Science = Assessment of Disparities

Health Disparities• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) states that : “Health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of cancer and related adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States”

• These population groups may be characterized by gender, age, ethnicity, education, income, social class, disability, geographic location, or sexual orientation

Relevant Health-Related Disparities

• Exposure – PM2.5 levels (inhalation- ambient/personal monitoring)– PCBs, PAHs, mercury (body burden)– Blood Lead Levels

• Health Outcomes– Asthma– Cancer – Cardiovascular Disease– Diabetes– Poor Birth Outcomes (low birth weight, infant mortality,

birth defects)

• This EJ literature and ecological framework focuses on aspects of the built environment and spatial processes which create unhealthy community ecosystems known as “riskscapes” (Morello-Frosch and Lopez 2006)

• Populations who live in or

are exposed to “riskscapes” experience environmental health disparities (Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004)

Cumulative Exposure Assessment

• Cumulative exposure assessment is a predictive science for assessing health risk

• Cumulative exposure research has three basic goals related to providing a predictive science for assessing health risk– The first is the assessment of absorption, distribution,

metabolism, and elimination (ADME) of chemical exposures

– The second is retrospective exposure reconstruction from biomarker measurements

– The third is determination of preclinical (or early health) effects

Cumulative Risk Assessment• Cumulative risk assessment means “an analysis, characterization, and

possible quantification of the combined risks to health or the environment from multiple agents or stressors”– Multiple stressors (chemical, physical, biological, social)– Multiple media– Multiple exposure pathways

• One key aspect of this definition is that a cumulative risk assessment need not necessarily be quantitative, so long as it meets the other requirements

• Another key aspect is it allows you to take into account underlying vulnerabilities (social, economic, geographic, biological)

• The National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) emphasizes the importance of community engagement and the use of collaborative problem-solving as part of the cumulative risk assessment approach

Environmental Justice Issues in Maryland

Environmental Injustice and Superfund Sites in MD

Environmental Justice and Stormwater Issues in Baltimore

•Increased stormwater volume can cause flooding, scouring, and sewer overflows•Stormwater pollutants

-Cause beach closures and swimming illnesses through bacterial contamination•Include trash in the Baltimore Harbor•Impact fisheries through excess: •Sedimimentation (smothering fish eggs)•Nutrients (reducing available dissolved oxygen)•Metals (pose health risk to individuals who eat fish)•Temperature (affects cold water fish and other biota)•Stormwater pollutants can also increase the cost of treating drinking water supplies

Baltimore’s Stormwater Problems

• Baltimore’s harbor and rivers are impaired by a variety of pollutants from many sources including stormwater

• Patapsco River Lower North Branch is impaired by phosphorus, sediment, PCBs, and fecal bacteria

• Johns Fall watershed is impaired by sediment• Baltimore harbor is impaired by trash, PCBs,

and nutrients• Baltimore City’s impervious cover = 45.1%

Baltimore Watershed Agreement Phase I ActionMapping Environmental Justice and Water Quality in Baltimore County

Community-Based Green Infrastructure

• Engage local residents in green, stormwater management• Use innovative approaches that manage stormwater the way Mother

Nature would do it: Where it Falls; plants and soils• Approaches include:

– Bioinfiltration– Vegetated Swales– Parking Lot Infiltration Areas– Rain Gardens– Curb Extensions– Planters– Permeable and Porous Pavements– Green Roofs– Green Walls– Pocket Wetlands– Vegetated Buffers and Landscaping– Rain water harvesting

Community-Based Green Infrastructure Benefits

• Community Empowerment• Increased Environmental Literacy• STEM exposure and education for youth• Cleaner water• Stable hydrology/baseflow maintenance• Reduced flooding• Climate change mitigation and adaptation• Cleaner Air• Reduced urban temperatures• Jobs creation• Water supply• Energy savings• Cost savings• Habitation protection• Community benefits

– Healthier Community Ecosystems– Public Health Improvements– Recreational Infrastructure

Year Toxic Air Emissions

Rank Percentile Pounds

2005 7 99.93% 13,736,694

2006 9 99.91% 11,939,943

2007 1 99.99% 20,670,026

2008 1 99.99% 21,650,020

2009 2 99.98% 13,798,694

2010 75 98.96% 2,205,260

2011 73 99.00% 2,084,433

Toxic Air Emissions Reported to the Toxics Release Inventory in 21226 Relative to Other Zip Codes in the U.S.

Rank is out of 8,949 zip codes in the U.S. (not counting territories)

Energy Answers Incinerator

• Energy Answers is in the process of securing construction permits for a waste-to-energy power plant in Curtis Bay, a community in Baltimore that already ranks near the bottom for air quality in the state

• Incinerators release a wide variety of hazardous and toxic air pollutants including mercury, particulate matter, and PAHs

• The health of residents particularly women and children will be at risk from air and water pollution from this plant

• This facility will add to environmental injustice, cumulative impacts, and environmental health disparities in the community and region that has negative implications for environmental quality

• WHY PERMIT ANOTHER LULU IN THIS COMMUNITY?

Pollution in the Anacostia River

• “Two billion gallons of untreated sewage mixed with stormwater dumps into the Anacostia River in the average year”– 70,000 tons of trash,

toxic pollution, and sediment

• Each section of the river only meets, or attains, Water Quality Standards 65% of the time on average

Pollution in the Anacostia River

• “Two billion gallons of untreated sewage mixed with stormwater dumps into the Anacostia River in the average year”– 70,000 tons of trash, toxic

pollution, and sediment

• Each section of the river only meets, or attains, Water Quality Standards 65% of the time on average

Anacostia Contamination

• Metals – Arsenic and mercury (MeHg)

• Organic Chemicals– PCBs and PAHs

• Pathogens– Bacteria and viruses

• Total Suspended Solids (Sediments)

• Oil and Grease

The PEPCO Consent Decree

• DDOE citied PEPCO with PCB releases into the Anacostia river 6 times between 1995 and 2005

• Residents in surrounding communities have complained for years of poor air and water quality and flooding in their basement

• In Dec 2010 PEPCO was ordered by the District Court to clean up their site, citing violations of RCRA

• A Consent Decree was executed in Feb 2011, and after public comments were received, a Revised Consent Decree was then entered by the District Court on Dec 1, 2011.

• DDOE was instructed to oversee the cleanup process

Survey of Local Residents-Results

• All knew that Pepco had either stopped producing electricity at Benning Road, or heard of the plans to do so.

• The plant has been polluting their neighborhood for very long time. This is not the first time that people have heard that things will be changed

• Expressed concern that PEPCO is not sampling in their neighborhoods

• Expressed concern that the Consent Decree does not address health of residents who may have been affected by emissions

• There is uncertainty as to what will happen at the site after the sampling process is over –Pepco has not indicated what their future plans for the site are.

Anacostia Riverkeepers and Partners Survey

• Anacostia Riverkeeper, Anacostia Watershed Society, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, OpinionWorks, the District Department of the Environment, and several other institutions partnered to assess angler behavior and fish consumption in the Anacostia Watershed for the past year. 

Widespread consumption and sharing of fish

• 75 % of anglers are consuming or sharing Anacostia fish.

• 21% anglers eat or share “everything” they catch. That number rises to 39%

when including those who eat or share “most” of what they catch. Another

35% are eating or sharing “some” of their catch, leaving only 25% who is not

eating anything that they catch from the Anacostia.

• 35% of the anglers who eat or share their fish are doing so at least once a

week. 7% are eating the fish “every day.”

• Further, there is evidence of sharing with high-risk groups: 12% of

Anacostia River anglers said that children are eating their catch, and 11%

are sharing with wives or girlfriends (some of whom may be or become

pregnant).

• Nearly half (46%) of all anglers interviewed in the riverbank survey said they

are sharing their catch with people beyond their families.

Environmental Justice, Fish, and Risk

• Communities of color, low-income communities, tribes, and other indigenous peoples depend on healthy aquatic ecosystems and the fish, aquatic plants, and wildlife that these ecosystems support

• While, there are important differences among these groups, members of these groups depend on fish, aquatic plants, and wildlife to a greater extent and in different ways that do the general population

NEJAC Report on Fish Consumption and Environmental Justice 2001

Environmental Justice, Fish, and Risk

• Horace Axtell, Nez Perce, explains: According to our religion, everything is based on nature. Anything that grows or lives, like plants and animals, is part of our religion. The most important element we have in our religion is water. At all of the Nez Perce ceremonial feasts the people drink water before and after they eat. The water is a purification of our bodies before we accept the gifts from the Creator. After the feast we drink water to purify all the food we have consumed. The next most important element in our religion is the fish because fish comes from water. It doesn’t matter what kind of fish… That’s how we honor the food we eat, especially the fish, because it is the next element after the water. The chinook salmon favored because it is the strongest fish and the most tasty….

NEJAC Report on Fish Consumption and Environmental Justice 2001

Environmental Justice, Fish, and Risk

• Harms associated with the degradation of aquatic habitats and depletion of fisheries are intergenerational

• Part of the affront to culture and social fabric of communities and tribes for whom fish and fishing are vital comes from the diminished opportunities for intergenerational transfer of knowledge-especially ecological knowledge about places and natural systems….

• The acts of intergenerational transfer of customs and traditions surrounding catching, preparing and consuming fish are themselves important to the maintenance of social and cultural health

NEJAC Report on Fish Consumption and Environmental Justice 2001

2009 Chesapeake Bay Executive Order

• The Executive Order requires that these agencies prepare and submit by September 9, 2009 draft reports that make recommendations to:– Define the next generation of tools and actions to restore

water quality in the Bay and describe the changes to be made to regulations, programs and policies to implement these actions.

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency– Target resources to better protect the Bay and its rivers,

particularly in agricultural conservation practices. • U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

– Strengthen storm water management practices for federal facilities and federal land within the Bay watershed and develop a best practices guide for reducing polluted runoff.

• EPA, & Dept. of Defense

2009 Chesapeake Bay Executive Order

• The Executive Order requires that these agencies prepare and submit by September 9, 2009 draft reports that make recommendations to:– Assess the impacts of climate change on the Bay and develop a

strategy for adapting programs and infrastructure to these impacts.• Dept. of Interior & Dept. of Commerce

– Expand public access to the Bay and its rivers from federal lands and conserve landscapes of the watershed.

• Dept. of Interior– Expand environmental research, monitoring and observation to

strengthen scientific support for decision-making on Bay restoration issues.

• Dept. of Interior & Dept. of Commerce– Develop focused and coordinated habitat and research

activities that protect and restore living resources and water quality.

• Dept. of Interior & Dept. of Commerce

Barriers to a Healthy Chesapeake Bay

• The Bay Program does not address pollution impact on human health

• The Bay Program is based on voluntary agreements

• The limitations of the CWA (33 USC §1342l(1); 40 CFR §122.3e) lead to the continuance of one of the major issues in the bay ecosystem: nutrient pollution

Nitrates in Groundwater

Health Effects of Nitrates

• Induction of methemoglobinemia– Blue baby’s disease– Babies less than one year of age or with

respiratory problems or diarrhea are at risk– Risk increases when drinking water with

nitrates above 1- mg/l

• Nitrates can be converted to nitrosamines which are carcinogenic

Pesticides in Groundwater

At-Risk:WorkersFamily MembersPregnant WomenNeighbors

Environmental Justice and Wetland Restoration Funding

• 319 money grants and the programmatic (state-built) wetlands, there are significant racial disparities in terms of who benefits.

Environmental Injustice and Nutrient Trading

• Disproportionate health and environmental impacts on low-income and minority communities

• Failure of governments to ensure that low-income and minority communities enjoy the potential benefits of trading

• Failure of governments to provide opportunities for full and fair participation by low-income and minority communities

Source: Nutrient Trading to Target Chesapeake Bay’s Water Quality: Will the latest pollution ‘solution’ hurt minorities and the poor? Report by the Abell Foundation

Climate Change

• Climate change does not affect all Americans equally. Communities of color and low-income neighborhoods suffer the greatest health and economic consequences. Among the many disparate impacts, these Americans are more likely to be exposed to dirtier air, more vulnerable to extreme weather events, and suffer more than others by the rising costs of basic necessities and economic dislocations caused by climate change.

Climate Gap

• The “Minding the Climate Gap” report examines one aspect of the “climate gap” in the context of market-based strategies to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

• Market strategies: – Charging a fee on carbon emitters to

encourage reduction– Placing emitters within a cap-and-trade

systemSource: Shonkoff, S., Morello-Frosch, R., Pastor, P. & Sadd, J. (2009). Minding The Climate Gap: Environmental Health And Equity Implications Of Climate Change Mitigation Policies In California Environmental Justice, 2(4), 173-176. 

Closing the Climate Gap

Option 1: Restrict Allowance Allocations and Trading or Fee Options Among the Worst Offenders

Option 2: Create Trading Zones

Option 3: Use Surcharges to Improve Highly Impacted Areas

Option 4: Create a Climate Gap Neighborhoods Fund (also known as a Community Benefits Fund)

Source: Shonkoff, S., Morello-Frosch, R., Pastor, P. & Sadd, J. (2009). Minding The Climate Gap: Environmental Health And Equity Implications Of Climate Change Mitigation Policies In California Environmental Justice, 2(4), 173-176. 

The Way Forward

• “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

• ― Frederick Douglass

• “There must exist a paradigm, a practical model for social change that includes an understanding of ways to transform consciousness that are linked to efforts to transform structures.”

― Bell Hooks, killing rage: Ending Racism

Key Ingredients forAuthentic Community

Engagement

• Cultural competency

• Trust

• Attend to power inequities

• Attend to conflicts

• Evaluate and Attend to community capacity

Good Cultural/Contextual Understanding = Good Community Engagement

• By conducting a self-assessment and community assessment, advocates can reduce intimidation, increase community participation, build trust, and become more culturally aware about the communities with EJ concerns. Cultural competency is important for: – Understanding history– Understanding community issues– Understanding the community’s perception about

outside agents and lack of trust– Helping to assess and understand diverse community

interests related to the environmental health problem

How Do We Perform Community Engagement in Public Health?

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR): “collaborative, community-based approach to research that equitably involves community members and organizations in all aspects of the research process” (Israel et al 1998)

- Use CBPR framework to engage communities of concern on EJ and health disparity issues

- Principles include:- Recognizes community as an unity of identity- Builds on strengths and resources within the community- Facilitates collaborative, equitable involvement of all partners in all

phases of the research- Integrates knowledge and intervention for mutual benefit- Promotes a co-learning and empowering process

• “There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of them, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.”

– Brooke Medicine Eagle

• “I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

• “I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.”

― Malcolm X

Community Outreach, Engagement, and Capacity-Building (COEC)

THANK YOU!!!