Water Plans

As part of a grant application I started to review water plans in the South land. As usual, I looked for mention of environmental justice in these legally mandated plans. What I found was sometimes amusing, some times alarming but most of the time, I found it "business as usual"--EJ is not taken seriously. Water plans rarely mention environmental justice. If they do mention it, it is mentioned in passing along with census tract data to define a Disadvantaged Community (DAC). Prop 84 SPECIFICALLY says that a portion of monies need to be spent in DAC. One plan cited lack of water quality in EJ communities as being detrimental to their recreational opportunities. Hello, DAC are concerned about their drinking water not their jet skiing opportunties. Given these challenges, it's important to educate the community so the community takes charge and advocates before the water agencies who draw up these plans. Amazing.

Quail Valley

Today the Press Enterprise ran a strong Opinion piece on Quail Valley in Riverside County. Quail Valley is now part of Menifee which was incorporated last year. Quail Valley is an Environmental Justice challenge to put it mildly. The entire community of Quail Valley, 1,000 plus homes are on septic tanks. The problem is that when we have downpours the leaky septic tanks over flow and pollute the ground water and Canyon Lake--a potable water source. The PE called for Quail Valley to be hooked up to a sewer system but the rub is how is this done in an EJ community. I'm going to stay on top of this story as it is an important case study.

Inland Empire Disadvantaged Communities

Recently I've had the opportunity to research the number of disadvantaged communities in the Inland Empire. The exact location of all of these EJ communities is largely unknown. There has been some field work in the this area but the Inland Empire is so large; the county of San Bernardino alone is the largest county in the country in terms of square miles, that all of the EJ communities have not been identified. For example, how much EJ work is currently being done in the Chochella Valley? This would be a good place to look at since there were so many defense contractors out in the Inland Empire in the 50's and 60's. It takes a little digging but the information is there. What is evident that the remoteness of the place in the 50's and 60's led to sloppy practices with regards to Environmental Stewardship by companies. Now the people are feeling the effects of contaminated groundwater as well as the lack of infrastructure to clean up wastewater and other essential services.

Maywood

Yesterday I went to Maywood here in the Southland. The city is one, if not the most, densely populated cities in the United States. The Environmental Justice issues that engulf that city are astounding. Next door in the city of Vernon, the entire city is a maze of factories which I'm told by Maywood city officials are the source of their EJ problems. On Monday March 2 March 2 meeting of the Bioethics Interest Group will be held. Warren Lux, M.D., Director, Program in Human Research Ethics,U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will talk about Human Environmental Exposure Research: Ethical Considerations and their Regulatory Application.
The topic of Ethical Considerations in EJ Communities is a timely topic and I'm glad to see EPA taking the lead in this important topic.

Urban Areas

Recently I spoke with some residents of mid sized urban city of in the greater Los Angeles area. These residents are concerned about the quality of their water. The city's aging water infrastructure desparately needs to be updated. The story is always the same, older, urban cities with a majority of urban poor, usually have water quality issues so the residents are scared to drink the water. The water vendors come in and sell the very same water to the residents. The water vendors filter the water so the discoloration is removed and sell the water back to the residents of the city. Unfortunately the filters that people install in their homes sometimes do not do the job, if the screens are not regularly replaced, the water discoloration comes back. It's a vicious cycle. Water agencies and cities need to really start talking to the community in a manner that is culturally sensitive and is available in multi languages. I'm hoping the new EPA Secretary Lisa Jackson will focus on urban problems which have been neglected for many years.

Beyond Translation

EPA Region 6 has a great program called Beyond Translation. This program strives to engage the Latino community on EJ issues in a proactive way. Too often, Environmental Justice is done by reviewing census tracts and putting together reports. That is not true Environmental Justice outreach. Outreach means going into the disadvantaged communities and talking to people in their own language whatever that may be. Beyond Translation, led by Paula Flores-Gregg, do much more than translate materials into Spanish and do collateral drops. I'm hoping that this program will catch on in the other EPA regions throughout the US.

First 100 Days

Good News from DC

The new administration is promising to incorporate E.O. 12898 and in the First 100 days to "Work with the White House to reinvigorate the Federal Interagency Working Group on EJ, created by
E.O. 12898 to ensure all federal agencies use stimulus bill funding to
improve, not degrade, communities with EJ concerns."

Labor and Water: A New Paradigm

Water has become a front burner issue in California and throughout the West. The prolonged drought on the Colorado River along with the Bay Delta legal challenges are going to force us to think more about water; where it comes from and how do we use it more efficiently. Typically water agencies have not talked to Latinos about the water issue. There have been a few paltry attempts but nothing really concrete. Well that is about to change. One March 26, we will bring together for the first time, labor union officials with elected water officials and start a conversation. Given my passion for EJ, I am convening and moderating an EJ panel at the conference. Celeste Cantu of SAWPA will be our keynote speaker. I'm forever indebted to my amiga Celeste for pushing me into EJ. Having been a reporter for many year has allowed me to approach EJ in a very different way or so I'm told! Stay tuned for more updates.

Environmental Justice

It was recently reported that the EPA recently awarded $300,000 to Pacoima Beautiful to target high diesel emissions and promote “green” practices among auto dismantlers".

This is great news as historically disadvantaged communities have suffered disproportionate negative affects from living in close proximate to industrial sites. Last Fall I was visiting the Barrio Logan area of Santa Ana and saw first hand the ill effects on a community living near a recyling plant. The water run off from the plant went right into the sewer. This affects the groundwater in a negative manner. No wonder there are water stores in disadvantaged communties.

Report on Food Quality

The Journal of HortScience has published a report in it's February 2009 issue how fruits and vegetables have few nutrients than similar crops did 50 years ago. The reason is simple; industrial agriculture produces most of our food supply. In order to increase production (profits) industrial ag has introduced petro based fertilizers, genetically engineered seeds, monoculture. The time honored system of producing food from openly pollinated seeds, crop rotation and diversify crops dropped out of favor after World War II in favor of the "new way" of farming. Guess the chickens have come home to roost.