GP Organizes on Shintech Env'l Racism Case

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE ORGANIZES NATIONALLY KNOWN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
LEADERS TO TESTIFY ON SHINTECH RACISM CASE IN LOUISIANA: 
Citizens Battle over Hearing Format 

CONVENT, LOUISIANA, January 21, 1998 -- The nation's most 
prominent experts in the field of environmental justice policy
and  identifying practices defined as " environmental racism"
will testify  at Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) hearings  January 23 and 24, on behalf of citizens
opposing a proposed vinyl  (PVC) production facility in the
predominantly African American and  impoverished community of
Convent. Greenpeace Southern Regional  Representative Damu
Smith, who organized the delegation, said the  testimony will
help probe charges of environmental racism made by the  St.
James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment, the local group 
opposing the $700 million facility proposed by Shintech
Corporation.  

The hearings stem from the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) objection  to Shintech permits last year in response to a
complaint filed by  Greenpeace and Tulane University
Environmental Law Clinic in New  Orleans, on behalf of local
citizens and several support groups. In  blocking the permits
EPA administrator Carol Browner ordered new  hearings and asked
the state to address environmental justice issues  as part of
the on-going permitting process. 

A battle is brewing with the state DEQ over the format of
Saturday's hearing  that will focus exclusively on environmental
justice issues.  Greenpeace and the anti-Shintech coalition
members have felt that  DEQ's refusal to meet over the format is
designed to silence the  national environmental justice leaders
who can educate citizens on  the racial aspect of this case as
well as the health dangers.  Greenpeace and the other opponents
met today with EPA officials via  conference call, asking them
to compel DEQ officials to meet with the  Coalition and to be
flexible on the format for Satu ay's hearing.   Smith said, "we
want DEQ to adopt a format that will ensure maximum  citizen
input and allow for a thorough and comprehensive review of  the
environmental justice issues raised by the Shintech case."

Members of the environmental justice delegation are: Dr. Robert
Bullard,  director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center
at Clark  Atlanta University and author of "Dumping in Dixie"
and several other  books; Charles Lee, research director for the
United Church of Christ  Commission for Racial Justice and
author of the landmark study "Toxic  Waste and Race"; Dr.
Beverly Wright, director, Deep South Center for  Environmental
Justice at Xavier University; Dr. Paul Mohai, professor  and
author, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources; 
Richard Moore, director of the Sou west Network for
Environmental and  Economic Justice and  former chair of the
EPA's National  Environmental Justice Advisory Council; Vernice
Miller, Environmental  Justice Coordinator, National Resources
Defense Council; and Ron  Daniels, director of the Center for
Constitutional Rights.

Also attending will be Bob Knox, head of the EPA's Office of
Environmental  Justice, and an Office of Civil Rights
investigative team looking  into possible civil rights
violations against African American  citizens living near the
proposed Shintech site.  Smith said, "the  community in and
around Convent is already overburdened by lluting  facilities. 
The production of PVC is know to cause emissions of  toxic
chemicals," he explained, "and the most insidious of these is 
dioxin, which has been linked to cancers, reproductive disorders
and  developmental problems."  The civil rights investigation
was prompted  by a separate complaint filed with the EPA's Civil
Rights office and  a decision is expected in early April.  

The case is being watched closely by national civil rights and
environmental  justice groups who see it as a critical,
precedent setting test of  the presidential Executive Order on
Environmental Justice issued  February 11, 1994.  (ends) 

For more information:
http://www.greenpeace.org