News

02/02/04

U.S. Rep. Artur Davis wants to know why some towns get landfills and some towns don't.

The patterns of inequality in environmental hazards he sees - in housing contaminated with lead, in polluted waterways, and with landfills, for example - have inspired Davis to launch an environmental justice initiative this spring, which he will formally announce in the next two weeks, he said Friday. The highlight will be a symposium drawing together environmental groups, corporations and lawmakers, he said.

Environmental justice refers to the fight against unequal distribution of environmental hazards among populations. Historically, poor or minority communities have had more of a burden. Davis' district includes parts of the Black Belt, the poorest section of the state.

One of the ways to address the inequalities is to erase the "false choice" between economic growth and the environment, he said. Davis said he will bring no political agenda to the "fact-finding" symposium.

"I'm interested in looking at these issues in a way that allows both viewpoints to be heard," Davis said. "I want to try to see if we can locate some kind of a middle ground."

Wants discussion:

For example, he wants to promote discussion on environmentally safe landfills.

"Is there a way that we can steer this technology in a way that's going to promote the value of the communities?" he said. "These issues resonate so much around the district."

In Perry County, the county commission will decide soon whether to allow a landfill to be built near Uniontown that could receive up to 7,500 tons of solid waste a day from Alabama and 15 other states as far as New York. Critics of the controversial landfill have said its placement in a poor county is an environmental justice issue and could cause health problems for residents. Supporters say the landfill would bring jobs.

Davis said it's early to say what could come of the symposium, but he's hoping to start a permanent working group representing different sectors and viewpoints to address environmental justice issues.

"I don't see these issues going away," he said. "The Black Belt has become something of a target for these industries. I don't want to see all of these issues play out in the courtroom."

He said health problems that result from pollution will be a major focus of the symposium.

"If there's a disproportionate allocation of environmental burden and there's a health aspect, the disparity is compounded," he said. Legislative solutions will also be discussed, he said.

Birmingham-area environmental organizations reacted positively to the news of the initiative.

Paul Kennedy, project coordinator for the Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development Council, which focuses on revitalizing and restoring urban and natural areas, said the symposium would be a good way to bring people together.

Kennedy said he would like to see positive incentives discussed for businesses that go above and beyond environmental regulations. He also wants to see a focus on educating Birmingham residents about "brownfields," or abandoned industrial sites, in the area. Cawaco is working on a grant to teach high school students in North Birmingham about brownfield redevelopment, something that could improve the environment and bring more jobs to the area, he said.

Idea is good start:

Lynn Battle, executive director for the Citizens' Lead Education and Poisoning Prevention program, which works in the Birmingham area to help prevent and treat lead poisoning, said the idea is a good start but that there is a lot of work to be done. State and local government programs such as the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the health departments do not currently make environmental justice a priority, she said.

"Historically, the waste and the hazardous things have always vanished out of the neighborhoods of those who can protect themselves," she said.

She said she hopes Davis and the U.S. Congress can help with getting information about lead-contaminated homes out to the public.

It's one of the issues Davis hopes to address, in "making sure we don't have a pattern where one community has access to information that another does not," he said.