Envi vironmental Jus ustice ce 101 101 Agriculture & & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Envi vironmental Jus ustice ce 101 101

Agriculture & & Climate Change

Shannon Arata, Lecturing Fellow Duke Environmental Law & Policy Clinic https://law.duke.edu/envlawpolicy/

https://www.wired.com/2016/10/millions-farm-animals-fall-victim-hurricane-matthew/

The D Defin initio ition

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin,

• r income, with respect to the development, implementation, and

enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. 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.

Source: https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice

The he Phe Pheno nomen enon

• Low-wealth communities and/or

communities of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental burdens.

• Race is the key determinant of whether a

community will be disproportionately impacted.

• Low-wealth communities of color are

most impacted by NC’s industrial agriculture operations

• CAFO’s and Environmental Justice: The Case of

North Carolina

• Urban-rural exploitation: An underappreciated

dimension of environmental injustice

Rick Dove, Waterkeeper Alliance

EJ as as a M a Movem ement

• Warren County credited as the birth place of the

environmental justice movement

• 1973: Ward Transformer Company released 31,000 gallons of

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) along roadways in 14 counties

• State chose Shocco, Warren County, as the site for a new PCB

landfill

• Shocco was 75% African American, 97th in GDP among NC’s

100 counties, no mayor or city council

• 1982: After 3 lawsuits, multiple public hearings, protests, and

a few scientific studies, Warren County reached a settlement with the State, and Gov. Hunt promised not to expand the landfill.

• 1983: Discovery of landfill leakage and water contamination
• 2003: State began actively destroying PCBs
• 2016: $5.5 million EPA settlement for PCB cleanup of Ward

Transformer Superfund site in Raleigh, NC

Source: https://sites.duke.edu/docst110s_01_s2011_sb211/what-is- environmental-justice/history/

Animal A Agriculture e – Not

• t You
• ur F

r Father’s H s Hog

• g Far

arm

• 1968: Wendell Murphy developed vertical integration for hog production and the modern

factory hog farm (aka concentrated animal feeding operation or CAFO) was born.

• CAFO components: row houses, ventilation systems, lagoons, spray fields & dead bins
• Thousands of animals per row house, 2,300 facilities statewide, 10 million hogs total, 9.5

billion gallons of waste annually

Environ

• nmen

ental He Heal alth = Hu Human an He Heal alth

• Air pollution; odors; water pollution; nutrient pollution
• Human health impacts, including: respiratory disease, migraines, eye irritation, antibiotic

resistance, pathogen transfer (e.g., swine flu, pfisteria, MRSA)

• Mental health impacts

Rick Dove, Waterkeeper Alliance

From

• m t

the F Front L Lines es

Elsie Herring, Duplin County Eunice & Pick Robbins, Bladen County Julian Savage, Bladen County Violet Branch, Warsaw Renee Miller, Duplin County

Econom

• mic He

Heal alth

• $9 billion industry primarily located in economically-depressed counties
• Mostly low-wage, part-time employees
• Underwhelming grower contracts
• Depressed property values

Joseph Carter Swine Finishing Agreement with Murphy-Brown LLC, In re Swine Farm Nuisance Litigation, No. 5:15-cv-00013 (E.D.N.C. Jan. 9, 2015).

Ag’s O s Other I Impacts acts on

• n EJ Com
• mmuniti

ties

• Slaughterhouse siting
• Pesticide use and exposure
• Well water contamination
• Federal grant availability and allowed infrastructure
• Food labeling transparency and regulatory oversight
• Contributions to global climate change

https://www.wral.com/cumberland-nixes-deal-for-chicken-plant/14004947/ http://www.thestand.org/2015/04/health-dangers-of- pesticide-drift-warrants-action-experts-say/

Ag & Climate C e Change’ e’s R Relation

• nship
• Climate change = a broad range of global phenomena created by releasing greenhouse

gases (GHGs) that trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere. Phenomena include: sea level rise, ice mass loss, shifts in plant blooming and animal migration patterns, disease spread, and extreme weather events.

• Climate change ≠ global warming or weather (!!!)
• Methane (CH4) is the primary GHG from agriculture, 25 times more potent than carbon

dioxide

Hu Hurricane e Impac acts on A Ag & & E Environ

• nmen

ent

NASA imagery after Florence (2018) https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article218934685.html Hog lagoon breach after Matthew (2016) https://www.wired.com/2016/10/millions-farm-animals-fall- victim-hurricane-matthew/ Cleanup after Floyd (1999) https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-florence-flood- environment-20180913-story.html

Po Post-Disaster er R Resilien ence

Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/688786177/how-federal-disaster-money-favors-the-rich

Disaster er & & Land Us Use P e Policies es

• Federal funding is reactive, disincentivizes proactive measures
• Reauthorization of 1988 Stafford Act, which authorizes the President to

issue major disaster or emergency declarations to actual major disasters

• r emergencies that overwhelm state and local governments
• Fiscal Years 2012-2016 average annual FEMA investments:
• $37.1 billion in disaster relief
• $0.85 billion in disaster avoidance
• Local land use policies still allow for development in flood plains and other

areas vulnerable to natural disasters.

• Multi-family residential properties (apartments, low-income housing,

nursing and retirement homes, group homes, and mobile home parks) are more vulnerable to flooding than single-family residences.

Legal al Op Options

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI

• Title VI Settlement Agreement with NC Department of Environmental Quality

Executive Order 12898 (1994)

• U.S. Department of Transportation

Public hearing requirements (Permits & Rulemakings) Community involvement requirements (e.g., Superfund) Pending federal legislation (e.g., Environmental Justice Act of 2017) Local planning and zoning processes State Nuisance Law (see N.C. Session Law 2018-113)

What Ca Can I I Do?

• Transparency and community outreach—community members are

stakeholders

• Funding decisions: loans vs. grants vs. matching funds
• Purchasing decisions—vote with your wallet
• Make it a policy to consider (and implement) alternatives that address

environmental justice impacts; rational decisions still can be wrong

• Institutional education about factoring environmental justice into business

planning

• Internalizing costs is a great start
• Participate during public comment periods on proposed state and federal

regulatory actions—written and oral comments are given equal weight

• Contact decision makers

(Som Some) e) Resou

• urces

es

Federal EPA, Moving Towards Collaborative Problem-Solving: Business & Industry Perspectives and Practices on Environmental Justice (2003) EJ Screen (formerly EJ View) State Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Utilities Commission Environmental Justice & Equity Board; Environmental Management Commission Community Mapping Tool Sarah Rice, NCDEQ Title VI Coordinator, sarah.rice@ncdenr.gov Nonprofit North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, www.ncejn.org Clean Water for North Carolina, www.cwfnc.org Environmental Working Group, https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides Animal Welfare Institute, https://awionline.org/content/consumers-guide-food-labels-and- animal-welfare

Ques uestions? s?