Environmental Justice Cases

Why This Matters

Environmental justice sits at the intersection of several core concepts you'll encounter throughout Ethnic Studies: systemic racism, structural inequality, and community resistance. These cases aren't just about pollution—they reveal how race, class, and geography determine who breathes clean air, drinks safe water, and lives free from toxic exposure. When you study these examples, you're examining how environmental decision-making reflects and reinforces existing power hierarchies.

You're being tested on your ability to analyze how marginalized communities experience disproportionate environmental harm and how they've organized to fight back. Don't just memorize locations and dates—know what concept each case illustrates. Can you explain why a particular community was targeted? Can you connect grassroots activism to policy changes? Can you identify patterns across different cases? That's what will earn you points on exams and deepen your understanding of how environmental racism operates.

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Foundational Cases: Sparking the Movement

These cases established environmental justice as a recognized framework and demonstrated that environmental harm isn't randomly distributed—it follows patterns of racial and economic marginalization.

Warren County PCB Landfill (North Carolina, 1982)

• Birth of the environmental justice movement—this case coined the term "environmental racism" and catalyzed national organizing
• Targeted siting placed toxic PCB waste disposal in a predominantly Black, low-income community despite residents' objections
• Direct action tactics including civil disobedience and protests connected environmental issues to the broader civil rights tradition

Love Canal (New York, 1970s–1980s)

• Working-class community built on a toxic waste dump—residents experienced elevated rates of cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects
• Grassroots organizing by residents, particularly women like Lois Gibbs, forced government acknowledgment of corporate negligence
• Policy impact led directly to the creation of the federal Superfund program for hazardous waste cleanup

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Ongoing Crises: Infrastructure and Government Failure

These cases reveal how systemic neglect of marginalized communities creates slow-moving disasters that persist for years or decades. The harm isn't accidental—it reflects policy choices about whose health matters.

Flint Water Crisis (Michigan, 2014–ongoing)

• Cost-cutting decision switched the city's water source, exposing a majority-Black, low-income population to dangerous lead contamination
• Government failure at every level—officials ignored warnings, falsified data, and delayed response while residents suffered
• Ongoing health impacts include developmental delays in children, demonstrating how environmental injustice creates intergenerational harm

Cancer Alley (Louisiana, 1980s–ongoing)

• 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River concentrates over 150 petrochemical plants in predominantly Black communities
• Elevated cancer rates and respiratory illness reflect decades of pollution without adequate regulatory protection
• Environmental racism in zoning—industrial facilities were deliberately sited in communities with less political power to resist

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Indigenous Sovereignty and Environmental Protection

These cases highlight the specific ways Indigenous communities face environmental harm that intersects with colonialism, treaty violations, and struggles for self-determination. Environmental justice for Indigenous peoples cannot be separated from land rights and sovereignty.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe vs. Dakota Access Pipeline (North Dakota, 2016–2017)

• Pipeline route threatened sacred sites and water sources—the Missouri River supplies drinking water to the Standing Rock reservation
• #NoDAPL movement drew national attention, connecting environmental protection to Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights
• Intersectional coalition brought together Indigenous activists, environmental groups, and racial justice organizations

Navajo Nation Uranium Mining (1940s–1980s)

• Cold War extraction used Navajo land and labor for uranium mining with minimal safety protections or informed consent
• Intergenerational contamination—abandoned mines continue to poison land and water, causing elevated cancer rates decades later
• Environmental colonialism exemplifies how Indigenous lands have been treated as sacrifice zones for national interests

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Toxic Exposure in Communities of Color

These cases demonstrate how residential segregation and discriminatory siting practices concentrate environmental hazards in Black and Latino neighborhoods. Where you live shouldn't determine whether you're poisoned.

Kettleman City Toxic Waste Facility (California, 1980s–1990s)

• Latino farmworker community faced a hazardous waste incinerator sited without meaningful community input
• Health cluster including birth defects and respiratory illness prompted residents to organize despite language barriers
• Procedural injustice—environmental review documents weren't translated into Spanish, excluding affected residents from decision-making

West Dallas Lead Contamination (Texas, 1980s–1990s)

• Lead smelter operations contaminated soil in a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood for decades
• Children's health particularly affected—lead poisoning causes permanent developmental harm
• Delayed remediation despite documented contamination reflects how regulatory agencies deprioritize communities of color

Altgeld Gardens (Chicago, Illinois, 1970s–ongoing)

• Public housing surrounded by toxic sites—landfills, sewage treatment, and industrial facilities concentrate near residents
• Young organizers including Barack Obama worked with residents on environmental health campaigns in the 1980s
• Intersection of housing and environmental policy shows how segregation creates compounding vulnerabilities

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Corporate Accountability and Legal Battles

These cases show how legal action and public pressure can force corporate responsibility, though justice often comes slowly and incompletely.

Hinkley Groundwater Contamination (California, 1950s–1990s)

• Chromium-6 contamination from Pacific Gas & Electric poisoned groundwater, causing cancer and other illnesses
• Erin Brockovich case became a cultural touchstone, demonstrating how persistent investigation can expose corporate wrongdoing
• Landmark settlement of $333$ million established precedent for community compensation, though health impacts continue

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two cases are most often cited as founding moments for the environmental justice movement, and what different aspects of injustice did each highlight?

2. Compare the environmental justice issues facing Indigenous communities (Standing Rock, Navajo Nation) with those facing Black urban communities (Flint, West Dallas). What concepts do they share, and how do sovereignty concerns create distinct challenges?

3. If an FRQ asked you to explain how procedural injustice contributes to environmental racism, which case would you use and why?

4. Identify three cases where children's health was particularly affected. What does this pattern reveal about the long-term consequences of environmental injustice?

5. How do the Hinkley and Love Canal cases demonstrate different strategies for achieving environmental justice—and what are the limitations of each approach?