Abstract

Livability or Lip Service? Environmental Justice Fifteen Years Later
Track: Urban and Regional Planning
Authors: Mary Passe-Smith, John Passe-Smith

In the early 1990s, the Office of Environmental Justice was created, and in 1994 President Clinton signed Executive Order ##12898 ordering federal agencies to develop environmental justice strategies so that poor and minority populations were not disproportionately impacted by pollution. The purpose of this paper is to use GIS to assess the impact of this Order. Using EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, toxic sites are mapped and releases measured, then overlaid on block groups with attached socioeconomic data at three points in time across the 15-year period since this order was signed to determine impacts have become less focused upon poor or minority populations. Our focus area will be the southwestern Sunbelt, an area which has experienced rapid development during this period, with the goal of identifying successes as well as areas where policy compliance has been weaker and more focus may be needed.