Envirionmental Justice: It's In The Air!
the link: www.whatsinourair.org/
At a public meeting tonight at Chapman Elementary School Northwest Portland neighbors are holding what might be the quintessential ‘historic’ meeting. Community leaders, parents, activists and you…will face off with long-time environmental hazard,, ESCO. Officials from the company will be there to discuss the freshly-minted ‘Good Neighbor Agreement’ that requires the company to install new pollution controls, allow neighborhood representatives to audit emissions data and hire a neighborhood-approved emissions testing firm to verify the effectiveness of the controls.
After years spent gasping, gagging and protesting the pollution roiling forth from Northwest Portland's industrial belt, neighborhood organizations have cobbled together a deal with ESCO.
The "good neighbor" agreement is intended to reduce pollution from the company's foundries by an estimated 20 percent.
It's a victory for the neighborhood. For 16 years volunteers have been working to reduce pollution and odors from the 100 year-old company. The agreement may be the most significant of its kind in Oregon for an existing industry. But it falls short of what some neighborhood leaders wanted. And it raises concerns about the huge effort required to have ESCO voluntarily go beyond what activists see as lax state regulations on industrial pollution.
A new 5-year draft permit from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality incorporates the terms of the deal.
ESCO made the front page of USA Today in 2009, after an analysis ranked Chapman Elementary and other Portland-area schools among U.S. schools most at risk from industrial pollution.
Right.
So ESCO went farther than necessary under existing Oregon DEQ law. That says more about our state DEQ than it does about ESCO. And it is the harbinger of the coming onslaught of environmental deregulation Congress has in store…not o mention Republican presidential hopefuls.
Then there is the matter of ‘Location Location Location’: Chapman Elementary is in the cross-hairs here. But many schools in less affluent areas of Portland are right in the invisible pathways of industrial pollutants. Community members themselves may be unaware or feel disempowered given the magnitude of the problem…but Corporate America is well aware and thoroughly empowered when it comes to siting operations likely to poison people in places where those affected are least likely to fight back.
And that, Friends, is the nut of Environmental Injustice, which is the real result of environmental deregulation – not jobs, not the deficit, and ‘It’s not the Economy, Stupid’: It’s a stupid economy that is willing to trade the future of the nation for short-term gain.
The link to look at: www.prwatch.org/
Earlier this month the Ag Committee leaders completed their recommendations to the Super Committee for the Farm Bill. These recommendations were never submitted, as it became clear that the Super Committee process was unraveling. However, a summary document was leaked and is now in the public domain. These recommendations could be a starting point for debate on the next Farm Bill.Notable parts of the proposal were:
* More than $4 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
* Approximately $6.5 billion in cuts to conservation programs.
* Commodity reform, including elimination of direct payments (for an estimated savings of $15 billion) and changes in crop insurance.
* Increased funding for Community Food Projects (CFP) and the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP).
* New funding for grants to provide incentives for SNAP participants to purchase fruit and vegetables.
- KBOO