The Environmental Justice Initiative

Many families in California live next to sources of pollution that pose significant health and safety risks.  In response, local governments are forced to reconsider traditional approaches to environmental enforcement.

One such example is the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Environmental Justice Initiative (EJ Initiative) which combines multi-agency inspections, criminal prosecution, civil remedies and public participation to improve environmental quality in Los Angeles’ urban communities. The EJ Initiative is the first proactive neighborhood based task force that focuses on compliance, enforcement, and prosecution by combining the work of multiple local agencies.

Since January 2003, the City Attorney’s office coordinated over 780 inspections of facilities and has filed more than 130 criminal cases relating to environmental violations resulting in over $3,200,000 in fines, penalties and upgrades. The initiative leads proactive focused response in communities bearing a disproportionate burden of exposure to industry pollutants and coordinates multi-agency inspections in communities impacted by environmental crime with locations in Sun Valley, Wilmington, Boyle Heights, and South LA.

EJ Paradigm

• Identify neighborhood bearing disproportionate burden of exposure to industry
• Create a pro-active Environmental Task Force in EJ targeted neighborhood
• Coordinate multi-agency rollouts to investigate facilities suspected of soil, air and water contamination
• Review compliance history: NOVs, NTCs
• Re-inspect problem facilities and/or recalcitrant facilities
• LA Chemical: need for inspection / search warrant
• Conduct street sweeps addressing visual blight
• Coordinate communication and collaboration efforts amongst agencies responsible for environmental regulation
• Interact with neighborhood councils, local council members, City Attorney Neighborhood Prosecutors, town hall meetings
• Conduct public outreach and education efforts
• Planning/Zoning: Building and Safety zoning regulations and land use conditions
• Analyze local, state and federal laws, regulations, statutes including public nuisance statutes
• Evaluate referrals of NOVs for potential criminal and/or civil enforcement action
• File cases, reach dispositions, collect fines, investigative costs, require cleanup, remediation, SEPs

All efforts are geared towards improving quality of life in the EJ neighborhood at issue.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTS AFFECTING THE COMMUNITY

• African Americans are 50% more likely and Latinos are two times more likely to live in close proximity to hazardous waste treatment storage, transfer  and disposal facilities
• In LAUSD, African American and Latino children face a respiratory risk associated with air toxics near their schools that is 25% higher than other children.
• Risks posed by environmental toxins such as lead are affecting academic performance.
• Low-income and nonwhite residents of Southern California breathe higher levels of toxic pollutants.
• Studies show locations of hazardous waste sites strongly correlated to race/ethnicity of residents.
• Minorities in Los Angeles County are three times as likely as whites to live within half a mile of toxic sites. Source:  L.A. Times
• Asthma rates for African Americans are 31% higher than for whites. Source: Congressional Black Caucus
• African American children are up to six times more likely to die of asthma than white children. Source: Congressional Black Caucus

FAST FACTS:

Environmental justice means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations.

EJ INITIATIVE AWARDS

• Environmental Justice Award, 2004 from the Regional Water Quality Control Board
• Collaborative Synergy Award, 2004 from the City’s Quality and Productivity Commission

CONTRIBUTING EJ AGENCIES

• South Coast Air Quality Management District
• California Regional Water Quality Control Board
• California Air Resource Board
• California Department of Toxic Substances Control
• California Department of Fish and Game
• Los Angeles City Fire Department
• Los Angeles County Fire Department
• Los Angeles County Public Works Department
• Los Angeles City Department of Building and Safety
• Los Angeles City Bureau of Sanitation