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The Cincinnati Enquirer

Last Updated: 5:25 am | Monday, April 28, 2008
A local first: Environmental Justice
BY JANE PRENDERGAST | JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM
Cincinnati could be among the first cities in the country to pass a law protecting poor people and minorities from businesses that pollute their neighborhoods.

Vice Mayor David Crowley’s Environmental Justice Ordinance, to be discussed today, starts with this premise: Everyone in society should share the burden of pollution and related health problems, not just poor people or those who live in low-income neighborhoods that are often home to polluters.

Already supported by five council members, a majority, the ordinance would require some proposed projects in Cincinnati’s poorest neighborhoods to undergo an extra environmental justice review – in addition to the usual zoning, building and health approvals – to determine whether the new business would have an adverse impact on the neighborhood and/or on residents’ health there.

It lists many health issues as being made worse by pollution. Among them: asthma, heart disease and cancer.

“We’re an old city, so people grew up working around these factories and living near them,” Crowley said. “But we’ve got to make sure people are protected.”

The ordinance defines the affected community as those who live within a mile of the proposed project. Residential, retail and some commercial projects would be exempt. But any commercial projects determined by a new environmental specialist to have significant, cumulative adverse impacts would be prohibited from getting other necessary city approvals. A business could appeal to an environmental justice appeals board and to city council.

The extra scrutiny is what makes the topic a touchy one. Critics say the last thing Cincinnati needs is something that could hinder the attraction of new business to the city. But it’s politically difficult to take a position that appears to be against improving the environment and helping alleviate the health problems of poor people.

The vice mayor plans to bring up the idea at noon at his health and education committee and explain why he thinks it’s necessary in Cincinnati. He said he does not intend to try to push the ordinance through for a full council vote Wednesday, instead keeping it in the committee to give his colleagues, residents and others more time to weigh in.

City Manager Milton Dohoney, Office of Environmental Quality Director Larry Falkin and other city staff members have not yet publicly stated their opinions of the ordinance and its potential impact on city operations. City spokeswoman Meg Olberding said city staff members still are researching the issue.

Councilman Chris Bortz submitted a list of questions to Dohoney, including: What’s the ordinance’s impact on a typical developer? What would it cost to implement this? What projects in the last three years would have been affected had the ordinance been in place?

“For me, it comes down to: What’s it going to take to implement this?” Bortz said Monday. “All the average business person hears is, ‘Uh-oh, another administrative review process.’ ”

Falkin said he knew of no other city in the country that had passed a similar ordinance. Crowley said he looked for others to model his after, but couldn’t find any.

“Why haven’t they done it elsewhere?” Bortz said. “My guess is because it’s very difficult.”

The phrase “environmental justice” has meant varying things across the country. In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton signed an executive order requiring the federal government to address the disproportionate impact of hazards on low-income people and minorities. Since, critics have said the government hasn’t done enough.

Sen. Hillary Clinton in January introduced the Environmental Justice Renewal Act, which would expand grants available to communities and require the EPA to do more community outreach.

The phrase often is specific to certain projects, such as the community fight in East Liverpool, Ohio, over a hazardous waste facility. There, Ohio NAACP members cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits federally-funded programs from discriminating on the basis of race, color and national origin. They alleged that the EPA and state, by not enforcing the act, allowed negative effects on low-income and minority communities.

A study last year by the United Church of Christ, an update of the church’s original 1987 report considered to be landmark, said more than 50 percent of the people who live less than two miles from the more than 400 hazardous-waste facilities in the United States are Hispanic, black, Asian, Pacific Islander or American Indian.

That tends to happen because businesses “follow the path of least resistance” in making location decisions, said Ron Davis, organizing team leader for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, a grassroots group in suburban Washington, D.C., working with local groups in Ohio to lobby for a state environmental justice law or an executive order from Gov. Ted Strickland. California has a state law, Davis said, while Massachusetts’ version is state policy.

“These communities often are not strong enough to stand up and demand information about what’s coming to their neighborhood,” Davis said. “We want to make sure these vulnerable people are part of the process.”

He knew of no other cities with environmental justice ordinances and said “Cincinnati may be leading the way on this.”

Members of the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP plan to start lobbying other council members and business leaders soon, said Christopher Smitherman, president. The group endorsed Crowley’s ordinance last week.

The issue is important to NAACP membership because many of the neighborhoods most affected are predominantly African-American. Smitherman called the proposal a good first step in addressing health problems not only for black people, but for Appalachians and other low-income people as well.

“We hope that this passes with six votes,” he said, “which makes it veto-proof.”

These four others already have signed on: Cecil Thomas, Roxanne Qualls, Laketa Cole and John Cranley.