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Do They Work? by Mika Pringle Tolson |
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| Millions of federal dollars have been spent in the last decade on trying to achieve environmental justice - ensuring that minority and lower income communities are not unfairly burdened with environmental pollution - but no one has really evaluated whether the programs are reaching their goals. Karen Hoffman, a History of Consciousness doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, hopes to change that with her TSR&TP fellowship award to investigate the effectiveness of government funded programs that involve low income and minority groups in decisions about mitigating environmental hazards. Her study will help to determine if these programs are successful and provide insight on what works, what doesn't, and how they can be improved. | |||||||||||
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| Environmental equity emerged as an issue in the 1980's when the results of General Accounting Office studies and a report by the United Church of Christ's Commission on Racial Justice concluded that race and socioeconomic status were strongly correlated in the siting of hazardous waste facilities. Complaints from affected communities resulted in federal action in the early 1990's: The US EPA created its Office of Environmental Justice in 1992, and in 1994, President Clinton signed an Executive Order that requires federal agencies to make environmental justice part of their mission. Agencies such as the NIEHS and the US EPA have funded community-based programs aimed at bringing underrepresented communities into the research and policy process. | |||||||||||
 TSR&TP fellowship recipient Karen Hoffman. Courtesy photo. |
Hoffman’s research will focus on Bay Area programs addressing a "toxic hot spot" in the region. "Today, access to government and citizen groups have been opened up to historically less powerful groups who are now becoming involved in environmental decision-making" says Hoffman. She wants to know how community-based programs are useful to the community, if they change decisions, and what the outcomes are. She believes the programs are making a difference, but it's a question of how they are influencing the community and regulatory practices. | ||||||||||
| Hoffman is hopeful that her research will provide insight into "how we work toward equality in environmental protection in a power-differentiated society. Our institutions for regulating toxic substances are imperfect. If we pay attention to how we socially produce and reproduce these institutions, maybe we can make them less imperfect." |
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