Pollution control captures harm at one site only to relocate it onto minority communities

Evidence

The environmental justice movement taught the nation in the 1990s that, if left to the normal workings of political, economic, and social forces (including race discrimination), environmental laws could make society as a whole much better off, but still affect adversely racial minorities and the poor. Environmental protection laws can reduce air, water, and land pollution, but the residual waste captured by a scrubber or filter is ultimately redirected elsewhere, perhaps to an incinerator or a landfill placed in a minority community. Residual pollutants will invariably find the path of least regulatory resistance. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 623

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Geochemical cycles cause ecological harm at one place to spill over to others. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 53; Mainstream environmental groups legitimize pollution by litigating marginal measures; Some communities are treated as more expendable under global environmental racism — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 156 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Some communities are treated as more expendable under global environmental racism #corroborates (0.80) — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 156
• Geochemical cycles cause ecological harm at one place to spill over to others. #expands (0.75) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 53
• Detroit’s incinerator concentrates toxic harm on poor communities of color #exemplifies (0.75) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1237
• Mainstream environmental groups legitimize pollution by litigating marginal measures #corroborates (0.72)
• Environmental injustice includes both disproportionate risk and exclusion from decisions #expands (0.72) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 200