Racism?

During the Mashpee Wampanoag casino process in Middleboro, the Convicted Felon Tribal Leader, Glenn Marshall freely and easily tossed out the label of "Racism" in a carefully scripted speech to avoid answering the difficult questions about the casino's potential impacts.

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Casino supporters, without considering the questions that were asked and the discussion that was stifled as a consequence, readily accepted the term to avoid questioning facts.

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For those who rally around the term and express concerns about the issue of racism in our great land, it would seem that they would be particularly concerned about Environmental Justice.

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What exactly is "environmental justice"? This is how the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice defines it:
Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.
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ISS reports --
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The Tennessee Valley Authority has begun shipping toxic coal ash from the massive spill that occurred last December at its Kingston power plant in east Tennessee's Roane County to landfills in the neighboring states of Georgia and Alabama as part of a test to determine a final resting place for the waste.The counties where the ash is going have large black populations and high poverty rates, raising questions about environmental justice.
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Located in western Georgia's Piedmont, Taylor County is an agricultural area where almost 41% of the population is African-American and more than 24% of residents live in poverty, according to census data. By comparison, the state is 30% black with 14.3% of its residents in poverty. In recent years, Taylor County gained notoriety as one of the last communities in the South to still hold racially segregated high-school proms.
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Part of the historic "Black Belt," Alabama's Perry County is 69% African-American with more than 32% of its residents living in poverty, making it one of the poorest counties in the state, which is 26.5% black with 16.6% of its residents in poverty.
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Researchers have found that solid waste landfills tend to be located disproportionately in communities of color and low-wealth communities. For example, a recent study in North Carolina found that the odds of a solid waste facility were 2.8 times greater for communities with where 50% or more residents are people of color compared to those where less than 10% of residents are people of color. It also found that communities with lower housing values were more likely to have landfills.
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Pennsylvania refused to accept TVA's waste.
TVA hasn't decided where it will send the rest of the ash. Limited dredging of some 3 million cubic yards in the river has just begun. The ash is 30 feet deep in some places.
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As part of our national ENERGY dialogue, should we consider the legacy of Mountaintop Removal, Coal Ash, and Dirty Coal ?
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One look at TVA's CEO Tom Kilgore just tells us we should trust him to do the right thing! [insert sarcasm emoticon]
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