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This handbook is a companion to a more extensive report, entitled, "Opportunities for Advancing Environmental Justice: An Analysis of U.S. EPA Statutory Authorities," which highlights the provisions in the environmental laws that could be used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promote environmental justice. This handbook is written to be a practical guide for community residents who want to know how the environmental laws can be used to promote environmental justice in their communities.
Environmental justice is the concept that minority and low-income individuals, communities and populations should not be disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards, and that they should share fully in making the decisions that affect their environment. This volume examines the sources of environmental justice law and how evolving regulations and court decisions impact projects around the country.
Written by two internationally respected authors, this unique primer distills the environmental law and policy of the United States into a practical guide for a nonlegal audience, as well as for lawyers trained in other regions. The first part of the book explains the basics of the American legal system: key actors, types of laws, and overarching legal strategies for environmental management. The second part delves into specific environmental issues (pollution, ecosystem management, and climate change) and how American law addresses each. Chapters include summaries of key concepts, discussion questions, and a glossary of terms, as well as informative "spotlights"—brief overviews of topics. With a highly accessible structure and useful illustrative features, A Guide to U.S. Environmental Law is a long-overdue synthetic reference on environmental law for students and for those who work in environmental policy or environmental science. Pairing this book with its companion, A Guide to EU Environmental Law, allows for a comparative look at how two of the most important jurisdictions in the world deal with key environmental problems.
The environmental justice movement is concerned with the disparate environmental harms and benefits experienced by low income communities and communities of color. The selections in the reader provide graduate and undergraduate students with an introduction to environmental justice, whether or not they have a gackground in environmental law.
The User's Guide is designed specifically for engineers and technicians who are routinely faced with federal environmental regulations; students at the graduate and undergraduate levels who study environmental science and technology; law students; and attorneys who are beginning their practice of environmental law. As a quick resource, The User's Guide provides citations to regulations, executive orders, court cases, and numerous law reviews, journal articles, and textbooks. This book should not be used as primary authority. It should, however, be used to help you understand and digest the basic tenets contained in the federal environmental statutes and regulations.
"This ... was based in concept and format on Citizens' Guide for Environmental Issues - A Handbook for Cultivating Dialogue by the National Institute for Chemical Studies and U.S. EPA, 1989 and 1990."
This article attempts to examine the special problems that community-based groups in low income and minority communities might encounter in prosecuting citizen suits under highly technical environmental statutes. To set the context for this inquiry, part II of this article describes the environmental justice movement and investigates the charge that communities of color are disproportionately and unjustly burdened with environmental hazards. Part II also explores the differences in perspective that underlie much of the conflict among environmental justice activists, mainstream environmental organizations, and EPA. Part II concludes with a look at social forces that have contributed to environmental inequities and that might influence environmental enforcement efforts. Part III examines the current scheme of private enforcement of selected, major federal environmental laws through citizen lawsuitprovisions. Existing citizen suit provisions contain limitations that create incentives for private citizens to prosecute certain types of actions and disincentives to prosecute other actions. Part III addresses the possibility that these incentives and disincentives result in an unequal playing field for enforcement by low income communities and communities of color, which in turn exacerbates the disparity in environmental protection of these communities. Common types of environmental citizen suits are examined to determine whether they have the potential to address environmental problems prevalent in low income and minority communities, and, if so, whether community-based groups might be at a disadvantage in prosecuting such lawsuits because of underfunding. In conclusion, part IV suggests amendments to environmental laws that might more directly address disparity in environmental protection. It also suggests alternative interpretations of federal citizen suit provisions that might facilitate the use of private enforcement to promote environmental justice.
There has not always been geographic equity in the protection of the environment and there are those who have concerns that those communities with the least have been disproportionately exposed to environmental hazard. This guide introduces users to resources containing information relevant to legal issues pertinent to the pursuit of environmental justice. Besides the routinely taught primary law, including statutes, regulations and case law, advanced research opportunities exist in the area because there are, for example: relevant executive orders; relevant legislative history for bills that have passed and those that did not; statistics underlying laws on the subject matter; and routinely proposed regulations that are open for comment available on the topic due to the inclusive goals of the environmental justice movement. Where interdisciplinary resources might be helpful to the research in this area, those will also be mentioned. In addition, select examples in each area of concentration will be listed with annotations.--Publisher.
Environmental risks and harms affect certain geographic areas and populations more than others. The environmental justice movement is aimed at having the public and private sectors address this disproportionate burden of risk and exposure to pollution in minority and/or low-income communities, and for those communities to be engaged in the decision-making processes. Environmental Justice provides an overview of this defining problem and explores the growth of the environmental justice movement. It analyzes the complex mixture of environmental laws and civil rights legal theories adopted in environmental justice litigation. Teachers will have online access to the more than 100 page Teachers Manual.