PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The mission of the Law Center’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Project (the “EJ Project”) is to provide legal and technical expertise and assistance to local communities of color and poverty that seek to overcome the disproportionate burdens of environmental impacts.

Verdict Could Undermine Environmental REGULATION, ACCORDING TO LAW CENTER AMICUS BRIEF
On behalf of several environmental and public health advocacy groups, the Law Center and Earthjustice submitted an amicus brief to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the case MFS vs. DiLazaro, arguing that public health considerations counsel that state employees who are enforcing environmental regulations should be subject to personal liability only in extreme and clear circumstances.
 
MFS, Inc. sued four employees of the Department of Environmental Protection for allegedly violating its rights by taking excessive and retaliatory action against it. The corporation was awarded $6.5 million in damages -- to be paid by the individual employees -- in a jury verdict that was then overturned on appeal. 

"Law enforcement is essential to protecting the public health," said Charles McPhedran, lead attorney for Earthjustice.  "For everyone's sake, courts must reject lawsuits against public officials who are just doing their jobs."

The amicus brief urges the Third Circuit Court to sustain the ruling overturning the jury verdict. It argues first that the law requires the Court to protect the DEP workers, and that to do otherwise would prevent State employees from vigorously enforcing regulations in the future. Reinstating the jury verdict would have an immediate and severe chilling effect on regulatory actions, as the threat of multimillion-dollar lawsuits and financial ruin would prevent state employees from taking action against polluters with deep pockets and aggressive legal teams at their disposal.

Joining the brief are Physicians for Social Responsibility-Philadelphia; Clean Air Council, an advocacy group in Pennsylvania; PennFuture, a statewide advocacy group; and the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, a statewide professional group.

The Court granted permission to file the brief over the objection of MFS, which attempted to prevent the Court from considering policy concerns it claimed were outside the scope of the case. 

Read the full brief.

Law Center Welcomes New Fellow, Launches Community Garden Initiative to Provide Legal Aid to Urban Growers
This fall, attorney and long-time community organizer Amy Laura Cahn (bio) is joining the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia to launch the Garden Justice Legal Initiative, an effort to provide pro bono legal support, advocacy, and policy research to community gardens and urban farmers in Philadelphia’s communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities, and historically disinvested neighborhoods. The initiative is supported by a Skadden Fellowship.

Community gardening has substantial and immediate benefits for Philadelphia, where a quarter of all people live in poverty, more than 40,000 plots of land lie vacant, and over 900,000 people face hunger and malnutrition. Community gardens provide reliable sources of healthy food, support economic independence and development, and help communities revitalize and reclaim their neighborhoods. Many of Philadelphia’s communities have benefitted from growing food for decades, as neighbors garden together across generation and ethnicity.

But even established sites of urban food production face legal difficulties that can make them difficult to sustain – not the least of which is the difficulty faced by community groups and individuals seeking to grow food on public and private vacant and abandoned property. Amy Laura will provide pro bono legal guidance and representation to community groups and individuals seeking to negotiate these legal challenges, including support for small business and nonprofit development; zoning and land use concerns; and title, tax, and other land acquisition issues.

Amy Laura will engage with communities, develop partnerships with nonprofit and community-based organizations, and foster beneficial relationships between community gardeners and municipal authorities in order to help build a movement in Philadelphia that can provide reliable access to healthy food for all Philadelphians, and give communities greater control over the future of their neighborhoods as they work to transform them. Philadelphia’s Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski and City Parks and Recreations Commissioner Mike DeBerardinis both endorsed Amy Laura’s project in its planning stages, offering the support and cooperation of their offices. In addition to partnering with other community groups, Amy Laura plans to work closely with Philadelphia’s Food Organizing Collaborative (FORC) and is currently working with FORC to organize a series of citywide community meetings for gardeners.

LAW CENTER AND HUNTING PARK RESIDENTS BEGIN TRANSFORMING VACANT LOT INTO COMMUNITY GARDEN
On June 23rd, Law Center attorney Adam Cutler and interns Ashley Hopkins and Alison DiCiurcio joined about 15 residents of Hunting Park to begin the process of cleaning up a vacant lot and turning it into a community garden. The lot, located at 3rd and Wingohocking Streets, was overgrown with weeds and had been used as a dump site. The cleanup crew cut through the dense thicket of weeds and dug through the dirt to remove the litter and debris that had accumulated, finding scrap metal, broken glass bottles, an antifreeze bottle, an oil can, and a large number of car parts. When the day’s efforts were over, the crew had filled more than 40 trash bags with litter, debris and weeds.

 Law Center staffer Dave Hanyok was on hand to take pictures, which you can see in the slideshow below. Check back later to see the next steps in the lot’s transformation into a community garden!

 This project is funded by an EPA Environmental Justice small grant of $25,000, which you read more about here.

 

LAW CENTER ATTORNEY TESTIFIES BEFORE EPA ON PROPOSED EMISSIONS RULE
On Tuesday, May 24th, Law Center attorney and EJ Director Adam Cutler testified before the EPA in support of the proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Rule, which would for the first time impose national limits on emissions of mercury, arsenic, lead, acid gases, and hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-burning power plants.

As Cutler pointed out (quoting Robert Bullard, a Professor at Clark Atlanta University and an influential figure in the EJ movement), "Coal-fired power plants are not randomly distributed across the American landscape," but in fact disproportionately affect African-American and low-income populations, such as Law Center client communities in the City of Chester and the Borough of Eddystone.

"Once the Rule is finalized," Cutler testified, "these dirty facilities can no longer profit on the backs – and hearts, and lungs, and developing brains – of our most vulnerable populations."

The projected health benefits of the rule, which will cut mercury and acid gas by over 90%, are staggering: the EPA estimates that in each year after implementation the rule will prevent as many as 17,000 premature deaths, 11,000 heart attacks, 120,000 asthma attacks, 12,000 hospital and emergency room visits, and 5 million restricted activity days. Cutler pointed out that "every day this Rule is prevented from going into effect... [those who oppose it] are condemning more Americans - and importantly, more of our children - to death and chronic illnesses."

The Law Center joins Cutler in calling on the EPA to quickly finalize this important rule and to enforce it rigorously.

Read Cutler's testimony

Law Center Offers Comments on Proposed Guidelines for Marcellus Shale Drilling
In response to the Delaware River Basin Commission’s request for comments on proposed regulations of Marcellus Shale drilling, Law Center fellow Jaimee Moore and EJ Clinic Director Adam Cutler caution the DRBC to proceed only after reviewing all of the available data and suggest the DRBC strengthen its proposed regulations to bolster its ability to monitor drill operators for violations and bring violators into compliance.

“At this stage of the Marcellus Shale gas boom, the drilling industry envisions enormous profits and landowners dream of lucrative lease and royalty payments,” Moore and Cutler write, “But the ability to access and extract this fossil fuel from shale layers located a mile or more below the surface has outpaced the breadth and depth of the science surrounding the impacts of the processes.”

“For the health and welfare of the 15 million people who depend on the waters of the Delaware River Basin, the Commission cannot allow itself to succumb to pressure to allow weak regulations and unfettered drilling, or to proceed without a full evaluation of the data.”

First, Moore and Cutler argue that the DRBC should keep its moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Basin in place until the EPA completes a study, already underway, that will provide data about the environmental hazards posed throughout the lifetime of a Marcellus Shale drilling operation. Moore and Cutler also suggest that the DRBC conduct a study of its own to evaluate the cumulative impacts the thousands of potential natural gas wells could have.

Further, they argue that the proposed regulations are often too vague or too weak. The proposed regulations include no provision for public access to information about the chemicals used in the fracking process, and the regulations do not require sponsors to provide any advance notice of the chemicals they plan to use at each well. The regulations also provide almost no guidance on the flowback wastewater that returns to the surface, which often contains toxic organic compounds, heavy metals, and naturally occurring radioactive materials, and which – if improperly handled – poses a substantial threat to human health and the environment.

The proposed regulations are also severely lacking in adequate enforcement. First, the Commission will rely upon project sponsors (i.e. the gas drilling industry) to self-inspect their own operations, opening the floodgates for undocumented violations. But even if thorough monitoring practices are established, the proposed penalties, which would not be allowed to exceed $1000 per violation, would have little effect.

“The current proposed regulations do not go far enough… to ensure the protection of the watershed,” Moore and Cutler conclude, encouraging the DRBC to take a stronger stand. “The health and wellness of the 15 million people who depend on the waters of the Delaware River Basin hinge on the DRBC’s actions.”
Read the Law Center's full comments

Law Center Attorney to Advise Department of Public Health's Air Management Services
Adam Cutler, Director of the Public Health and Environmental Justice Clinic at the Law Center, has accepted an invitation to participate in the development of a five-year strategic plan for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Air Management Services (AMS), which monitors air pollutants and enforces city, state and federal air quality standards in Philadelphia. Stakeholders will convene in May and again in June to discuss how AMS can improve its efforts, adapt to future circumstances, and ultimately protect the people of Philadelphia from harmful air pollutants.

LAW CENTER AND EDDYSTONE RESIDENTS FOR POSITIVE CHANGE VOICE OPPOSITION TO METAL SHREDDING FACILITY
At a public hearing hosted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on December 15th, 2010 the Law Center and its clients, Eddystone Residents for Positive Change, made their voices heard along with many other town residents protesting the planned opening of a metal shredding and processing facility in their town. The DEP held the hearing to allow public comment on the applications Eastern Metal Recycling Terminal (EMRT) has filed for the permits it needs to build and operate the facility. Law Center attorney Adam Cutler spoke at the hearing, arguing that negative environmental impacts from other industrial sites have already taken their toll on the health of Eddystone residents and that the town's residents cannot afford more pollution in their community.

A dedicated group of Eddystone residents has been working to stop EMRT – formerly known as Camden Iron and Metal, Inc. - from opening the facility, which could introduce dangerous pollutants into the air and the adjacent Delaware River. These residents, now united under the name Eddystone Residents for Positive Change, began voicing their concerns to the Eddystone Borough Council in early 2010. The Council gave its final approval to the plans in October despite those objections, but residents hope to convince the DEP not to grant the facility the necessary permits. The Law Center has been advising the residents group since Spring 2010.


NEW STUDY CO-SPONSORED BY LAW CENTER MEASURES ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PROPOSED EPA RULE 
The Law Center co-sponsored an economic study released December 8th finding that without key pollution controls, pollution from coal-fired power plants is costing businesses in affected downwind states nearly $6 billion annually due to higher labor and insurance costs, lost work days, and lost productivity.

The report, “Expensive Neighbors: The Hidden Cost of Harmful Pollution to Downwind Employers and Businesses,” was authored by Charles J. Cicchetti, Ph.D, a Senior Advisor to Navigant Consulting, Inc. Dr. Cicchetti recently retired as the Miller Chair of Government, Business and the Economy of the University of Southern California. He previously was Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Deputy Director of the Energy and Environmental Policy Center at Harvard University. In the report, Dr. Cicchetti quantifies the costs avoided by reducing dangerous emissions from upwind states and concludes that the benefits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed “Transport Rule” under the Clean Air Act far outweigh any associated compliance costs. As a result, Dr. Cicchetti recommends that the minority of coal-fired power plants that have not yet installed pollution controls do so in expedited fashion.

The EPA’s proposed “Transport Rule” requires that by 2014, 31 states and the District of Columbia significantly reduce harmful power plant emissions that contribute to pollution in other states. The proposed new rule is designed to reduce the concentration of air pollutants while also controlling downwind transport by requiring plants to install pollution controls like scrubbers.

The Reverend Horace Strand from the Chester Environmental Partnership (CEP), a client of the Law Center's and a co-sponsor of the report, underscored the importance of the report’s findings for Chester and other similar disproportionately affected communities: “The transport of air pollution to the poorest downwind communities directly violates the principles of environmental justice,” said Reverend Strand. “It is essential to protect low-income and minority communities because we are the least able to cope with missed school and work, higher health insurance costs, and job loss when businesses and jobs shift to less affected areas.”

The report finds the following adverse impacts on business, government and jobs in downwind states, in a scenario of uncontrolled pollution between 2005 and 2012 (that is, absent the proposed Transport Rule or its predecessor, the Clean Air Interstate Rule):
• Businesses will suffer over $47 billion in costs;
• Over 360,000 jobs will be lost;
• State and local governments will lose $9.3 billion in tax revenue; and
• Families and businesses will pay $26 billion more for reformulated gasoline.

Ultimately, Cicchetti concludes that each dollar invested in pollution controls avoids $50-$100 in downwind costs annually, undercutting critics' claims that the new regulations would harm the economy.
Read the report


LAW CENTER COMMENTS ON EPA’S ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PLAN
The Law Center’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Clinic (EJ Clinic) took the opportunity to offer feedback on the draft of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Plan EJ 2014 released for public comment. The plan is intended to help the EPA more completely fulfill the mandate of Executive Order 12898, which calls on federal agencies to “make achieving environmental justice part of [their] mission.”

The plan, which pledges to incorporate environmental justice in all of the EPA’s operations, is an encouraging sign of the agency’s renewed commitment to environmental justice. Unfortunately, admirable intentions are as far as the plan goes: the plan offers few specific steps the EPA will take in each of the five focus areas it identifies, and it provides no concrete, measurable standards by which to assess the agency’s success in reaching its goals.

Along with calling for a more specific plan of action, the EJ Clinic calls on the EPA to consider aggregate environmental and health impacts on specific communities in its permitting process, rather than focusing on individual permit limitations – a small change that could make permitting a powerful tool for protecting disproportionately affected communities. The EJ Clinic also recommends that the EPA simplify its guidelines for incorporating environmental justice into its rulemaking process, which are so convoluted that they ultimately threaten to impede the creation of protections for environmental justice communities.

By making clear, specific, and results-based additions to its Plan EJ 2014, the EPA can make a real difference for the communities disproportionately affected by pollution and environmental degradation.
Read EPA’s Plan EJ 2014
Read the EJ Clinic’s comments on Plan EJ 2014


LAW CENTER PARTNERS WITH WHYY AND ITVS FOR MARCELLUS SHALE DEBATE AND PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE OF PBS DOCUMENTARY "DEEP DOWN"
November 17, 2010 - The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia was pleased to partner with WHYY for a Community Cinema presentation of the documentary "Deep Down" which shows a community’s reaction when a coal company proposes mountaintop removal. The film screening was followed by a panel discussion linking the film to the local Pennsylvania debate on the Marcellus Shale drilling and featured the Law Center's Adam H. Cutler as well as Tracy Carluccio (Delaware Riverkeepers), Christine Knapp (Penn Future), State Representative Tony Payton, Jr. and Secretary John Hanger (Department of Environmental Protection).  The discussion was moderated by WHYY FM reporter Susan Phillips.
Watch a video of the discussion here


LAW CENTER AWARDED EPA GRANT
The Law Center received a $25,000 Environmental Justice small grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and will use it to collaborate with residents of the Hunting Park neighborhood in Philadelphia to convert one or more vacant lot that have become dump sites into community gardens. These new green spaces will reduce the health hazards related to pollution runoff and will be used as outdoor classrooms to further promote stewardship of the environment. The EPA has awarded a total of $1.9 million to 76 non-profit organizations and local governments working on environmental justice programs nationwide.
Read more about the EPA's grants:
EPA Awards $1.9 Million in Environmental Justice Grants EPA, October 5
Environmental Justice Small Grants Program


DELAWARE VALLEY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING IS A STEP FORWARD FOR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES
On Thursday, October 21, 2010 the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) will be holding a public meeting in Chester, Pa., to discuss Environmental Justice and the Regional Planning Process. The DVRPC brings together elected officials and planning professionals to create a common vision for the future of the Delaware Valley, attempting to build consensus on development projects in the Greater Philadelphia Region. This meeting grew out of conversations between Dr. Horace Strand, Chairman of Law Center client organization the Chester Environmental Partnership (CEP), and Barry Seymour, Executive Director of the DVRPC. The DVRPC’s willingness to collaborate with the CEP and to address questions of Environmental Justice represents a huge step forward in the effort to address the disproportionate burden of environmental problems that Chester, an economically disadvantaged and primarily African American community, and numerous other communities of color and poverty, have faced over the past several decades. Too often, development plans are made at local or county planning levels without sufficient consideration for these marginalized communities. This meeting, which will be held at 6:00 p.m. at Widener University, is a great opportunity for concerned citizens of Chester and environmental justice communities throughout the entire Delaware Valley region to voice their concerns and exert their influence to determine the future of their community.
View event flyer for more details.


LAW CENTER ATTORNEY TESTIFIES BEFORE THE EPA REGARDING POTENTIALLY HARMFUL EMISSIONS RULE CHANGE
August 27, 2010 - Law Center attorney Adam Cutler offered testimony to the EPA in connection with a proposed new rule requiring further reductions in the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. Adam points out that the provisions that allow companies to trade allowances--low emitting facilities can sell their allowances to higher emitting facilities--will likely result in continuing pollution in low income communities, whose members suffer the highest asthma rates and other negative health consequences from living near industrial facilities.
Read the testimony


CITY WILL GATHER DATA ON GAMBLING IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES THANKS TO CHINATOWN PRESERVATION ALLIANCE HEALTH COMMITTEE’S EFFORTS
In advance of the opening of casinos in Philadelphia, The Law Center’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Clinic has partnered with the Chinatown Preservation Alliance Health Committee on issues concerning the public health impacts of pathological and problem gambling on Philadelphia’s Asian communities. Thanks to the Law Center’s work with the Chinatown Preservation Alliance Health Committee, the Health Committee partnered with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health to persuade the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) to include crucial questions designed to screen for pathological gambling in the 2010 biannual household health survey of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Chinatown Preservation Alliance Health Committee arose from the Clinic’s work on behalf of the Chinatown Preservation Alliance to oppose the relocation of the proposed Foxwoods casino to a Center City site at the doorstep of Chinatown. The Health Committee is comprised of local medical professionals and researchers, members of Philadelphia’s Asian American community, and attorney Adam Cutler and interns of the Public Health and Environmental Justice Law Clinic.

We expect that the data collected from responses to these screening questions will help to determine the extent of pathological and problem gambling in the Philadelphia region and among Philadelphia’s minority populations, so that culturally appropriate treatment, prevention, and intervention measures can be designed and adequately funded. As a further testament to the effectiveness of our relationship with the City’s Department of Behavioral Health, Adam and other members of the Chinatown Preservation Alliance Health Committee were invited to serve on the City’s newly formed Pathological and Problem Gambling Task Force.


CONTROVERSIAL MINE FILLING PROJECT CHALLENGED BY HAZELTON, PA RESIDENTS
April 27, 2010 - S.U.F.F.E.R. (Save Us From Future Environmental Risks), a group of concerned Hazleton citizens, challenged Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s extraordinary decision to allow a developer to fill a local mine pit with over two million tons of a potentially hazardous mixture of waste materials. The group claims that the DEP misapplied a special research and development (R&D) permit process to allow the project to go forward. In an unprecedented departure, DEP has granted the developer approval to use 40,000 times the standard 50-ton quantity of waste materials usually allowed. The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Project, representing S.U.F.F.E.R., asked the state Environmental Hearing Board to overturn the decision and to stay any dumping activities until the appeal is decided on the merits.

In March 2010, DEP approved developer Hazleton Creek Properties, LLC’s (HCP) permit application, which would allow the Hazleton-area developer to fill a portion of an abandoned coal mine and former city landfill with approximately two million tons of a potentially harmful mixture of residual wastes including dredged materials, regulated fill materials, and crushed construction and demolition waste materials (also known as “C&D fines”). The permit at issue was originally designed to demonstrate new beneficial uses of certain wastes through 50-ton, one-year demonstration projects. S.U.F.F.E.R.’s appeal asserts that DEP’s decision to approve the two-million ton, five-year long project under the general R&D permit was an arbitrary and unreasonable exercise of its authority and an abuse of its discretion under the law. S.U.F.F.E.R. further alleges that the waste mixture that DEP has approved will not be subjected to rigorous enough testing or monitoring to ensure the safety of residents and avoid environmental harms.

Adam Cutler, Director of the Public Health and Environmental Justice Law Project at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, which is representing S.U.F.F.E.R. in the appeal, also pointed out, “the site chosen for these activities is an already contaminated and highly complex former mine site and former landfill. As a result, the opportunities for leaching of pollutants into local groundwater – particularly given the use of C&D fines, which can contain fairly high levels of potentially harmful substances like gypsum and a range of heavy metals like lead and mercury – are much more pronounced.”

“The residents of Hazleton and the neighboring communities around this site don’t want to be the subjects of this risky experiment. Therefore, the DEP and HCP have given us no choice but to take action to protect our communities ourselves,” said William Lockwood, the President of S.U.F.F.E.R.

The Notice of Appeal was filed with the Environmental Hearing Board on April 26th and sets out several arguments supporting the revocation of DEP’s approval. The Petition for Supersedeas focuses on the allegation that DEP abused its discretion by approving the full scope of HCP’s project under the small-scale R&D Permit.

The HCP project under the R&D permit would take place at the Hazleton Mine Reclamation Project Site, a property bounded by Routes 924 and 309 and Broad Street in Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. HCP’s activities at the site have long been the focus of opposition from residents as well as county and state elected officials due to questions concerning the environmental and health effects of the mixture of waste materials proposed to fill the former mine.
Press release


PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONTMENTAL JUSTICE CLINIC STUDENTS FOCUS ON "FACES OF THE GRASSROOTS" FOR VIDEO CONTEST
Students from Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law participating in the Law Center's Public Health and Environmental Justice Legal Clinic have created a video highlighting the grassroots Environmental Justice movement in Philadelphia's Hunting Park community for an EPA video contest.  The Clinic represents the Hunting Park Stakeholders Group - a group of local residents and activists concerned with the environmental health of their community.  Last year, with the Clinic's assistance, the Stakeholders succeeded in preventing the expansion of a recycling processing facility that would have resulted in increased health risks for the community, including exhaust fumes from delivery trucks, and dust emissions from the currently permitted processing operations and stockpiles at the facility.  Watch the video, entitled "Reclaiming Hunting Park," below:




PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROJECT JOINS EFFORT TO STRENGTHEN EPA'S AIR MONITORING REGULATIONS
The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Project has teamed up with various organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Lung Association, to urge the EPA to take a tougher stance on the monitoring of lead in the air. Jointly signed comments by the groups were submitted to the EPA on February 16, 2010, in support of the EPA’s proposed revisions to its lead ambient air monitoring requirements.

The EPA, under the Clean Air Act, is required to set standards for lead emissions that are protective of public health. In conjunction with these standards, the EPA previously required local or state monitoring agencies to monitor the air near lead sources that emitted a threshold of 1.0 tons per year (tpy) of lead, to ensure that lead emissions did not exceed federal limits. In 2009, various petitioners petitioned the EPA to lower this threshold. After consideration, the EPA has proposed a lower threshold of 0.5 tpy.

The Public Health and Environmental Justice Project, along with its co-signers, believes that this lower threshold will better protect public health by giving crucial data to vulnerable populations about the air they breathe. In addition, the comments advocated for airports to be subject to the 0.5 tpy monitoring along with other lead sources, and asked the EPA to give more clarity about when the granting of waivers from the monitoring requirements is appropriate. Lastly, the comments raised concerns about the adequacy of the EPA’s proposed locations for population-based lead monitoring, which has historically tracked lead in heavily populated areas from non-inventoried sources, such as formerly operating industrial sites.

The Project hopes that the EPA will adopt the lower threshold, along with the suggestions raised in its comments, in order to ensure that our most vulnerable communities are protected from the effects of lead. The EPA’s proposed regulations can be found at 74 Fed. Reg. 69,050.
Joint comments to the EPA
Exhibits accompanying comments



LAW CENTER FILES RIGHT TO KNOW REQUESTS ON BEHALF OF CLIENTS OPPOSING PROPOSED FOXWOODS CASINO
November 16, 2009 -- The Law Center’s Adam Cutler is representing the Chinatown Preservation Alliance and working with Paul Boni, who represents Casino-Free Philadelphia, in an ongoing matter regarding plans and progress reports on the proposed Foxwoods Casino in South Philadelphia. The two have filed a request that would require the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to release certain progress updates that have been filed by Foxwoods Casino in response to a Gaming Control Board Order. The report in question is believed to describe Foxwoods’ efforts through October 1, 2009, to develop a gaming facility equipped with at least 1,500 slot machines on Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia. The Board ordered Foxwoods to provide information on its development progress, its design, its progress obtaining financing, and permit status. “We think these documents are of public importance, both in terms of determining whether Foxwoods is honoring the conditions that were imposed by the Gaming Board in its extension of time request, and in determining whether the Gaming Board is exercising its authority appropriately in determining whether those conditions are being adhered to,” Cutler said.

The Gaming Control Board’s position is that the reports are broadly protected from disclosure under exceptions to the state Right to Know Law, as documents relating to a noncriminal investigation and as documents deemed confidential by the Board. Cutler and Boni have argued that the Board has not sustained its burden under the Right to Know Law of proving that the documents at issue relate to a specific noncriminal investigation of Foxwoods that has been triggered by a complaint or similar event, or that the documents actually contain confidential information.

Mr. Boni and Mr. Cutler say the ultimate ruling could set precedent for future requests for similar records, and could help define the scope of the noncriminal investigation exception to the Right to Know Law. The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records is expected to rule by December 21.
“Anti-casino advocates file with state office of open records”  PlanPhilly.com


LAW CENTER ADVISES HAZELTON, PA RESIDENTS CONCERNED ABOUT POTENTIAL HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH MINE RECLAMATION PROJECT
The Law Center is advising SUFFER (Save Us From Future Environmental Risks), a community group of concerned citizens from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where low-income residents may soon find a controversial environmental demonstration project in their backyard.

Abutting residential and commercial properties in Hazleton is a 277-acre abandoned mine site, which has also been used as a municipal waste site and was subject to years of illegal dumping. A private developer, Hazleton Creek Properties, LLC, is proposing a mine reclamation project that would fill the mine pit with 1.4 million cubic yards (over 2 million tons) of construction and demolition waste mixed with dredged material from river dredging projects in the Northeast.

Hazleton Creek Properties is requesting a permit from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to undertake a demonstration project, which would allow the company to combine materials that have not been tested rigorously enough to qualify for “general permit” status. Typically, these experimental demonstration projects involve up to 50 tons of material and are one year in duration. In contrast, the Hazleton site would involve over 1 million tons of material and would last five years. The company asserts that it needs the larger volume of waste to demonstrate that this combination of materials is feasible at large mine sites.

However, local residents expressed concerns at a public informational meeting, held on November 16, 2009, about the potential hazardous materials being brought to the site, the effect on groundwater, the sampling and testing protocols for the project, and the rationale for permitting such a large demonstration project so near vulnerable residences, among other things. The Public Health and Environmental Justice Project continues to work with SUFFER during the public comment period to ensure that residents’ concerns about their public health and safety are given a voice, and that any permit awarded by DEP is truly protective of human health and the environment.

 

LAW CENTER CLIENT CLEAN AIR COUNCIL SEEKS GREEN COLLAR JOB CREATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN PGW ENERGY CONSERVATION PLAN
October 23, 2009 -- The Law Center’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Project filed intervention papers on behalf of our client, the Clean Air Council, in a Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) proceeding. In the underlying PUC proceeding, the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), which supplies natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the City of Philadelphia, has petitioned for the PUC’s approval of a voluntary Energy Conservation and Demand-Side Management Plan (the Plan). The Plan seeks, among other things, to reduce the carbon footprint of PGW customers through retrofitting of homes and businesses with more efficient technologies. By the end of the Plan’s five-year implementation period, PGW projects that the Plan will have cut consumption of natural gas by a total of 1300 billion BTUs, and will have realized over $100 million in cost savings. PGW also projects that over the life of the proposed efficiency measures, its plan will cut CO2 emissions across its Philadelphia customer base by over 1 million short tons, and will create between 600 and 1000 net additional “green-collar” jobs.

Clean Air Council seeks to intervene as a party in the PUC proceedings to represent the public’s interest in clean air and in attainable green-collar jobs that pay a living wage, and to demand greater detail and coordination in the implementation of PGW’s proposed Plan.



LAW CENTER CLIENTS REACH SETTLEMENT WITH DEP ON SUGARHOUSE CASINO SEWAGE PLAN
September 24, 2009 -- Advocates for the Delaware River and the Northern Liberties neighborhood announced that they have reached a settlement agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the City of Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), and HSP Gaming, L.P. (HSP), over sewage and stormwater plans for the SugarHouse casino development. The legal action, an appeal filed on November 3, 2008 by the Delaware Riverkeeper, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (NLNA) and neighbor Herbert Shallcross challenged the DEP’s approval of a sewage facilities planning module for the facility. Specifically, the appeal challenged the lack of public notification and participation in the submission of the module, as well as the approval processes and the level of transparency provided by the agencies involved. (Read more about the appeal.)

Adam H. Cutler, Director of the Public Health and Environmental Justice Law Clinic at the Law Center, who represented the NLNA and Herbert Shallcross, called the resolution of the appeal “a step in the right direction for open and responsive government, and an opportunity for a renewed focus on smart wastewater and stormwater management in Philadelphia – particularly in the Delaware Riverfront neighborhoods around and down-sewer of the SugarHouse project.”

According to Delaware Riverkeeper Network Attorney Elizabeth Koniers Brown, “this settlement raises the profile of the River as a consideration in environmentally sensitive projects.”

After the involvement of the Law Center's clients and the Riverkeepker, HSP Gaming redesigned the casino facility to pull it back from the River’s edge, and decreased both the project scope and projected sewage flows for the interim casino. According to the organizations, the agreement accomplishes the petitioners’ key objectives, including greater public participation in the submission and approval processes.

Key elements of the settlement include:
    * Public notification of future changes in the sewage plan, giving communities an opportunity to be heard;
    * Notice to the organizations of any meaningful events or changes in casino construction that affects sewage
        planning;
    * Public notification of any proposed expansion to the casino beyond Phase I at least 30 days prior to
        construction, giving communities an opportunity to comment and be heard;
    * A commitment by HSP to install and maintain a permanent vegetative cover (green roof) on the first phase of
        the SugarHouse project to help manage stormwater impacts;
    * Public informational meetings by PWD regarding its Storm Flood Relief Project;
    * Publicizing stormwater inspection reports and making them available for public review.

According to Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum, “With its heightened public access to information, community participation, and installation of an environmentally beneficial green roof, the settlement addresses the needs of neighborhoods concerned with increased growth and development of the city, and illustrates to developers that Philadelphia’s citizens are not willing to compromise the health, safety and environmental quality of the Delaware River and Philadelphia’s communities.”

 

 

GAMING CONTROL BOARD DASHES FOXWOODS CASINO'S HOPES OF RELOCATION; LAW CENTER CLIENTS HAIL DECISION

August 28, 2009 - The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board told the developers of the Foxwoods Philadelphia Casino, in no uncertain terms, to stay out of Philadelphia Chinatown. Board Chairman Gregory C. Fajt sternly admonished Foxwoods’ top executives and lawyers that any attempt to relocate the proposed slots casino to 8th and Market Streets would be a “fool’s errand,” adding later that the Board does not want to hear that Foxwoods is evaluating any alternative locations to the site the Board previously approved for Foxwoods in South Philadelphia. “I cannot be any more emphatic,” said the Chairman.

The Chinatown Preservation Alliance and Liberty Resources, Inc., who are represented by the Law Center’s Public Health and Environmental Justice Clinic in their opposition to the Casino’s proposed move to their neighborhood, are both pleased that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has finally told Foxwoods that enough is enough, that no casino will be sited next to Philadelphia Chinatown. In response to the Board’s ruling, Mary Yee, President of the Chinatown Preservation Alliance, said, “The cynical games that pit neighborhood against neighborhood are over. The Chinatown Preservation Alliance, along with so many other community organizations in Philadelphia, will continue to support the residents of South Philadelphia in their fight against the current Foxwoods casino location. Our position is that no casinos should be located close to any residential neighborhood. And we will continue our efforts to ensure that any casino company entering Philadelphia will pay in full for the costs of gambling addiction prevention and treatment services, any decline in neighborhood quality of life, and increased crime, so that the financially strapped City of Philadelphia and its many citizens who suffer the negative impacts of casino gambling are not left to foot the bill of this predatory industry alone.”  

The Chinatown Preservation Alliance (“CPA”) is a not-for-profit corporation organized to preserve, protect and promote the general welfare of and quality of life in the area of the City of Philadelphia commonly known as Chinatown and of the residents, community organizations and institutions, and businesses located there.  CPA’s members include individuals, business owners, and non-profit organizations that, among other things, reside in, provide social services in, own property, conduct business, and/or work in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Chinatown.  Philadelphia Chinatown has, for approximately 140 years, been a cultural center for ethnic Chinese and other Asian populations in the Philadelphia community.  It is a vibrant residential and commercial area that faces geographic constraints, as it tries to grow, due to past and ongoing City development and redevelopment projects, including the Vine Street Expressway and the Convention Center and its subsequent expansion projects.

Press coverage of the Gaming Board's decision

HUNTING PARK STAKEHOLDERS HALT EXPANSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RISK IN THEIR COMMUNITY WITH ASSISTANCE FROM CLINIC 

June 18, 2009  - At their annual awards banquet, the Hunting Park Stakeholders Group, a coalition of residents in the Hunting Park neighborhood of Philadelphia concerned about school-aged children and environmental risks in their community, honored Law Center attorney Adam Cutler and Public Health and Environmental Justice Law Clinic Interns Barbara Mallory Sampat, Mara Jackel, TJ Rafferty, and Michelle Payne for their efforts to help prevent the expansion of a construction and demolition materials recycling plant located close to residential areas and schools in the Hunting Park neighborhood.

 

The facility had sought a major permit modification from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that would have allowed it to increase its daily processing operations from a maximum of 1500 tons per day to a maximum of 2500 tons per day. The community around the facility already suffers from significant environmental burdens that may have adverse impacts upon the health of residents, including exhaust fumes from trucks entering and exiting this and other industrial facilities and dust emissions from the currently permitted processing operations and stockpiles at this recycling facility.  With technical assistance and legal advice from the Clinic, the Stakeholders organized residents in opposition to the proposed expansion of operations and convinced the facility owner not only to abandon plans for increasing the plant's processing volume, but also to re-route its truck traffic away from residential streets.

 

The community hopes to continue discussions with this facility, and to open up discussions with other facilities in the neighborhood, aimed at improving environmental conditions in Hunting Park.  

 

LAW CENTER ENVIRONMENTAL ATTORNEY PARTICIPATES IN PA-DEP's FIRST STATEWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE

April 27-28, 2009 -- The Law Center's Adam Cutler presented in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's First Environmental Justice conference.  The program was geared toward Environmental Justice Community residents, grassroots and community organizations, government officials, academics and anyone interested in learning more about Environmental Justice.  Mr. Cutler was a panelist in the program "Legal and Mediation Resources" held on Monday, April 27th.    

 

Conference information:

“Building Healthy & Improved Communities for All”

April 26-28, 2009 at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel

Visit the Conference website

Read the conference program 

 

LAW CENTER APPEALS SUGARHOUSE CASINO SEWAGE PERMIT
November 5, 2008 – The Law Center, representing a Philadelphia neighborhood association and a resident of Fishtown, has filed an appeal asking Pennsylvania's Environmental Hearing Board to overturn a sewer permit in connection with the proposed development of the SugarHouse Casino. The permit was issued to the City by the Department of Environmental Protection last month - the casino developer sought to hook its sanitary sewer system to the city's waste treatment collection infrastructure in an area that already experiences significant flooding and basement backups in wet weather. The Law Center’s clients argue, among other things, that they were deprived of the opportunity to comment on significant changes to the permit application, that Philadelphia is already out of compliance with federal Environmental Protection Agency guidelines because of the amount of untreated sewage that goes into the Delaware River during heavy rains, and that the data presented in the City's permit application is not sufficient to support the issuance of a permit that would create more capacity for outflow of untreated waste into the river.   The Law Center is co-counsel on the appeal with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, which represents itself and the Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum.
PlanPhilly.com, “Sugarhouse Sewage Permit Appealed”
Read the Appeal

 

LAW CENTER CO-SPONSORS FILM SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION OF LAID TO WASTE - AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DOCUMENTARY
On February 9, 2008, The Law Center joined the Delaware County Alliance for Environmental Justice and other grassroots organizations to present an Environmental Justice advocacy event at Widener University. The film "Laid to Waste" was screened, followed by a panel discussion featuring Mike Ewall of ActionPA and Energy Justice Network, Delores Shelton and Francis Whittington, Chester residents and activists, Diane Sicotte of Drexel University Law School, and David Gibson of the Coalition for Peace Action.

"Laid to Waste," made by Drexel students Robert Bahar and George McCollough in the late 1990's, centers on the struggles of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) an organization led by the indomitable Zulene Mayfield, as they protest the companies that place a disproportionate and severely harmful burden on the low-income and predominantly minority community of Chester by bringing in health-threatening waste and pollution. This film is considered, "the best case study of environmental injustice and racism available on video." The Law Center's retired environmental justice attorney Jerry Balter is featured prominently in the film, as he worked closely with CRCQL during his career, representing the organization in law suits against the companies that polluted their neighborhoods. Mr. Balter was in attendance and helped fuel the discussion after the screening.

Read more about the film

Jerome Balter Retires

The Law Center announced that its distinguished environmental and civil rights attorney Jerome Balter is retiring from active practice. Balter, 84 years old, joined the Law Center in 1979, shortly after graduating from Rutgers Law School following a first career as a civil engineer and civil rights activist in Rochester, N.Y.

At the Law Center Balter shaped its urban environmental health and justice project. He was responsible for drafting and then negotiating the passage of the first "Community Right to Know" law, which was adopted by the City of Philadelphia. The law gave communities the right to know what toxic and hazardous chemicals were being stored and used in their community. The ordinance was passed with the strong assistance of PHILAPOSH, at that time led by Jim Moran and Rick Engler.

Shortly thereafter Balter shepherded a similar bill through the New Jersey legislature. Those enactments proved to be the model for approximately 20 other city and state laws. The Law Center successfully defended the New Jersey legislation in the federal courts against claims that it was pre-empted by federal OSHA laws which did not give notice to the community. Because of the impact of differing local provisions, companies which had vigorously opposed local ordinances then endorsed national legislation which provided uniform disclosure rules.

In the early 19070's Balter was involved in a legal shoot out with the state over the implementation of automobile exhaust inspection and maintenance to reduce the pollution in Pennsylvania's air. Although the state had agreed to settle a suit brought by the Law Center to enforce the clean air act by establishing automobile exhaust inspection and maintenance as part of the registration process, the Thornburg administration and the state legislature refused to go forward with the system. Balter sued to enforce the agreement, and asked District Court Judge Bechtle to cut off million in federal highway funds in order to coerce compliance. Judge Bechtle did so, in an opinion which was upheld by the Third Circuit and which the Supreme Court declined to review. The legislative leaders then obtained a ruling from the state Commonwealth Court enjoining adoption of any implementing regulations, which the federal court struck down. Finally, the state vigorously fought payment of any fees, and was successful in getting the Supreme Court to restrict the payment, despite the District Court's finding that the efficient and tenacious legal work of Balter to vindicate the public interest warranted a multiplier for the quality of work.

Balter brought more private Clean Air Act citizen enforcement proceedings than any other lawyer in the country, successfully forcing the City to clean up and then close its incinerators. He also brought successful actions to stop hazardous air pollution from the City's sewage treatment plant, from the Delcora incinerator in Chester, from Philadelphia Coke, Franklin Smelting, and numerous other polluters. In the course of this work, Balter came to realize that communities would be willing to allow industrial operations if they could monitor the emissions and control the enforcement process to assure they were in compliance with best available technology, but would oppose enforcement left in the hands of bureaucrats and politicians.

Ironically, the opposition of Balter and many community groups to a huge new Philadelphia trash incinerator, which was supposed to have been needed in order to cut landfill costs, eventually saved the city millions of dollars as the price of landfill disposal dropped lower than incinerator prices throughout the 1990s. As a member of the City's Sewage and Waste Treatment Advisory Committee Balter was influential in getting the Department of Streets to take advantage of the declining prices.

In the mid 1990s Balter became a national leader in Environmental Justice as he sought to remedy the common industrial practice of locating polluting facilities in minority neighborhoods which had less political clout to keep them from getting the necessary permits than more affluent and whiter communities. Working with Zulene Mayfield and the Chester Residents he quickly learned that state courts would not halt environmental polluters at the request of citizens when Justice Castile told him in open court that the law was whatever the Justices said it was and overturned a stay of a permit which Balter had won in the lower court. He then found out that even EPA analysis would not be enough to stop permits when he instigated the first ever EPA analysis of the cumulative impact of air pollution which they undertook for the City of Chester. The report found that given the poor health of the City's residents and the high level of polluting facilities already there, no further permits ought to be given. Nevertheless, the state DER continued to grant permits in Chester, including one for a facility licensed to be the largest infectious waste treatment facility in the country, able to handle more infectious waste than produced in the entire state and designed to serve the entire east coast.

He then turned to federal courts to enforce the regulations developed by the Robert Kennedy Justice Department to implement Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited recipients of federal funds from operating their programs in a manner which would have a disproportionate racial impact. Balter first brought suit against the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources for granting an incinerator permit in the predominately minority City of Chester, where the state had granted permits for handling two million tons of waste compared to the rest of the county which was predominately white and which had permits for only 1,400 tons of waste. The District Court held that claims of disparate impact were not enforceable. On appeal, with the assistance of Professor Gilbert Carrasco, then of Villanova Law School, Balter convinced the Third Circuit that the Title VI regulations were enforceable. While an appeal was pending in the Supreme Court the applicant withdrew its permit request and the case was vacated as moot.

The next opportunity to assist a minority community arose in Camden, where Balter had successfully worked to reduce odor violations of the Camden Municipal Utility Authority sewage treatment plant. St. Lawrence Cement wanted to put a slag grinding plant right in the middle of the minority community, releasing very small and dangerous particulate matter in an area already overburdened with significant pollution and dangerous air quality. When New Jersey considered granting a permit, Jerry persuaded Camden Legal Services which had not been willing to sue on the sewage treatment plant, to request the state and EPA to deny the permit on the grounds of disproportionate impact on minorities. When the permit was granted, PILCOP, New Jersey Legal Services and the Center for Poverty, Race and the Environment sued to halt operation of the plant. Judge Orlofsky found that New Jersey had never investigated whether there was a Title VI disparate impact violation and enjoined operation of the plant until they did. Unfortunately the victory was short lived because the Supreme Court ruled that the regulations could not be enforced by private parties. The plant began operation; the case continues on the issue, inter alia, of whether the state had intentionally discriminated in granting the permit.

Balter found a similar situation in connection with the permit granted by Pennsylvania for an incinerator bringing the trash from predominately white Cumberland and Dauphin counties into a minority community in Harrisburg. Again the state agency refused to conduct any investigation, either of the disparate impact or of the steps necessary to ameliorate the impact of the dangerous ambient levels of very small particulate matter. Balter asked the Environmental Hearing Board to declare that the state had wrongly failed to investigate the impact of locating the facility in a minority neighborhood and to investigate the impact of dangerous particulate matter. Instead the Board dismissed the case on procedural grounds, failing to rule on the issues presented.

Balter is the drafter of the "Vulnerable Communities Protection" protocol which would limit new air pollution permits in communities with the greatest existing health problems. The protocol is designed to avoid the enforcement problems of the Title VI regulations. Developed by Balter with the research assistance of Lionel Dyson, the protocol is under consideration by the Advisory Committee on Environmental Justice of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

History of the Environmental Health and Justice Project

The Law Center has represented successfully community groups seeking to reduce pollution from numerous facilities throughout the region including the Philadelphia Waste Treatment Plant, Northwest Philadelphia Incinerator, Franklin Smelting, Philadelphia Coke, Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, Sun Refinery and the Delcora Waste Treatment Facility. With a neighborhood group, the Law Center forced a demolition waste grinding facility to cease operating in a North Philadelphia neighborhood. In the City of Chester, Pennsylvania, the Law Center stopped a soil remediation plant from opening, ended the operations of an infectious waste treatment facility, and most recently, worked with Local 413 of the Laborers International Union successfully to oppose the use of tire derived fuel in the boilers of a large paper manufacturer. In another recent case in Philadelphia, the Law Center successfully took action against a local chemical plant with a history of air emission violations.

While the Law Center earned its reputation in the field of environmental health and justice through its successful representation and advocacy work on behalf of the residents of countless neighborhoods and grass roots organizations, it has also played a critical role in effectuating change at the policy level by drafting new laws and recommending practices that have improved dramatically urban environments.

In the last ten years, the Law Center innovatively has sought to translate President Clinton's Executive Order on Environmental Justice into concrete reality by challenging the proliferation of polluting facilities in low-income and minority neighborhoods. In Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living v. the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Law Center brought the first civil rights lawsuit in the country charging a state with discriminatory permitting policies. Chester, Pennsylvania is comprised of 40,000 residents, the majority of whom are minorities. Mortality rates in Chester are 40% higher than in the white suburbs and infant mortality rates and low birth rates 100% higher. The case was set to be argued before the Supreme Court when the polluting facility withdrew its permit application.

In 2000, the Law Center filed South Camden Citizens in Action v. the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, a case that received national attention when a District Court judge ruled that the state had violated the civil rights of the residents by failing to investigate the impact of the facility in accordance with EPA regulations. The city, already home to a regional incinerator, a regional sewage treatment plant and two Superfund sites, is comprised of a 91 percent minority population whose residents suffer from some of the worst health problems in the state. This decision was overturned on appeal, however, when the Supreme Court, ruling in a separate matter, eliminated citizen lawsuits to enforce civil rights regulations of this kind. The case continues as we try to show that the failure to investigate was a form of intentional discrimination.

In addition to the Camden case, the Law Center presently is working with minority residents in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to stop a new incinerator in their community. Over 500 persons signed a petition declaring their willingness to intervene in the proceeding, now pending before a state Environmental Hearing Board. The complaint alleges a failure to investigate any environmental justice impact before granting the permit, as well as a failure to consider the impact of very fine (PM-2.5) particulate emissions.

In response to the EPA's historical, lax enforcement of civil rights laws and regulations intended to advance environmental justice by preventing low-income and minority areas from being overburdened with waste and industrial facilities, the Law Center just last year conducted the very first survey of Environmental Justice activities among the 50 State Departments of Environmental Protection. Of the 31 states that responded, only three states had Environmental Justice (EJ) programs and 28 states had none. Under federal civil rights laws, each state annually assures the EPA that its permits do not have a discriminatory impact but the survey reveals that 90 percent of the states have no basis for their assurances.

On a long-term basis, the Law Center seeks to combat the problem of environmental injustice through a public engagement campaign that explores and focuses on the concept of creating health zoning districts based on existing census tract public health data in an effort to protect communities with existing poor health from additional polluting facilities. The Law Center has spent considerable time developing a protocol to identify and protect vulnerable communities with the poorest health in each state. There is an increasing literature that supports the need for protecting these communities, including a recent EPA publication, that speaks to the heightened vulnerability of persons with poor health to pollution assault. The Law Center is continuing to explore public discussion and local legislative adoption where circumstances seem favorable.

With regard to the educational component of this project, the Law Center participates in environmental justice work as a member of the PADEP's Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, as a participant in local, regional and national meetings on environmental justice and as speakers before law schools, high schools and community groups.

PROJECTS