One of the key issues impacting North Carolinians these days is that of environmental justice. As opposed to water and air quality issues, environmental justice issues haven't seen as much publicity until rather recently. Just last year, however, the legislature decided to form a commission to study environmental justice issues in our state--a great step in the right direction to ensuring that all North Carolinians, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, are treated fairly and equally when it comes to environmental legislation. But just how far have we really come as a country in solving these issues? According to an article from United Press International, a recent study conducted by the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University:

...found more than 5.1 million people of color, including 2.5 million Hispanics or Latinos and 1.8 million blacks, live in neighborhoods with at least one hazardous-waste facility. Overall, more minorities reside near hazardous-waste sites than in 1987.

What's more is that in another study (not published yet), researchers

...found minorities are already present when hazardous waste sites are put in. Although the numbers of people of color and poor increase, these changes had already been set in motion before the facilities were sited.

While having this information can certainly help our states pass effective legislation on environmental justice, we still need legislative champions to support the legislation as well as a federal government that takes environmental justice seriously. And being that just last year the Environmental Protection Agency decided that federal facilities no longer have to report their toxic chemical releases to the Toxic Release Inventory, it's hard to believe environmental justice is an important issue to the administration.

To me--it's all about equal opportunity, fair legislation, and good, sound, environmental decisions based on science (shall I mention the Navy's OLF proposal and the mega-landfills proposed for our state?) Don't we all deserve the chance to live without fear of toxics, without putrid fumes, without declining property values? Don't we deserve to feel comfortable in our own homes--despite our racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds?