The Environmental Debate, Third Edition

172 The Environmental Debate

DOCUMENT 136: United Church of Christ Commission for

Racial Justice’s Report on Toxic Waste and Race (1987)

The United Church of Christ’s report on the siting of hazardous waste facilities was the first comprehensive

analysis of the relationship between hazardous waste sites and the racial, socioeconomic, and ethnic makeup

of the communities in which they were located. The report was based on two studies, one an analysis of the

location of commercial hazardous waste facilities and the other a descriptive study of the racial composition of

communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites. By providing verifiable statistical evidence of the inequitable

distribution of hazardous waste sites, it raised awareness of environmental injustice.

Annex A Controlled substances

Group Substance Ozone-Depleting Potential*

Group I

CFCl 3 (CFC–11) 1.0

CF 2 Cl 2 (CFC–12) 1.0

C 2 F 3 Cl 3 (CFC–113) 0.8

C 2 F 4 Cl 2 (CFC–114) 1.0

C 2 F 5 Cl (CFC–115) 0.6

Group II
CF 2 BrCl (halon–1211) 3.0
CF 3 Br (halon–1301) 10.0
C 2 F 4 Br 2 (halon–2402) 6.0

• These ozone depleting potentials are estimates based on existing knowledge and will be reviewed and revised periodically.

Source: unep.org/ozone secretariat/Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Nairobi: UNEP, September 1987).

Until the late 1970’s, most hazardous wastes
were discarded without consideration of the dan-
gers they posed. Moreover, proper care was lacking
when hazardous chemicals were produced, stored
and transported. The glaring lack of hazardous
waste management regulations created a permis-
sive atmosphere for discarding wastes in the cheap-
est possible ways. The EPA recognized that, up to
this time, 80 to 90 percent of hazardous wastes
were disposed of without adequate safeguards for
human health and the environment.

The descriptive study... found that more
than half of the population in the United States
lived in residential ZIP code areas with one or

more uncontrolled toxic waste sites. The study

also found that three out of every five Black and

Hispanic Americans lived in communities with

uncontrolled toxic waste sites.

* * *

The results of the study suggest that the

disproportionate numbers of racial and ethnic

persons residing in communities with commer-

cial hazardous waste facilities is not a random

occurrence, but rather a consistent pattern. Sta-

tistical associations between race and the loca-

tion of these facilities were stronger than any

other association tested. The probability that

this association occurred purely by chance is less

than 1 in 10,000.