CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, NEJAC Chair Elizabeth Yeampierre, and South Carolina State Representative Harold Mitchell deliver opening remarks at the White House Forum on Environmental Justice, December 15, 2010 (Photo by Eric Vance, US EPA)
Rosemere has attended various meetings held by the Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force, and the Task Force has been supportive of Rosemere’s work. To date, Lisa Jackson, director of EPA, has refused to meet with Rosemere to discuss the 9th Circuit Case in Rosemere v. EPA, where the court found EPA had broken the law by failing to investigate Title VI complaints filed with EPA’s office of Civil Rights. Environmental Justice Communities around the nation have experienced the same failures by EPA, and have called for the Office of Civil Rights to be be revamped.
Professors Will Collin and Robin Collin of Willamette University attended the White House Forum on Environmental Justice in Washington DC as recipients of the national award to Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force. This was the first convening for the cause of Environmental Justice in a decade. Mrs. Collin was able to provide some important remarks on what is needed to support the Environmental Justice movement, as noted in Part 3 of the Youtube video clips noted below.
For more information on Rosemere v. EPA:
http://www.rosemerena.org/home/2009/09/18/press-release-rna-wins-landmark-environmental-justice-case-against-epa%e2%80%99s-office-of-civil-rights/
Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force Receives EPA Award
EPA recognizes Governor Kulongoski’s task force for addressing environmental justice concerns in Oregon to help improve health in disadvantaged communities.
Link to the press release that Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued on behalf of Governor Kulongoski’s office in celebration of the achievement award the task force received from EPA: http://www.deq.state.or.us/news/prDisplay.asp?docID=3517
Resources:
Youtube Videos:
White House Forum on Environmental Justice (Part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Al1CK7O1g
Lisa Jackson announces national Environmental Justice Award to Oregon EJ Task Force, Part 1, from 0:13:48 to 0:14:30/1:39:42
Specific mention of Oregon EJ Task Force at 0:14:06
White House Forum on Environmental Justice (Part 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi3UkTogvp4
White House Forum on Environmental Justice (Part 3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9u1Pq3bYA
Willamette University Professor of Law Robin Morris Collin’s remarks as attendee, Part 3, from 1:10:22/1:37:55 to 1:12:00/1:37:55
White House Forum on Environmental Justice (Part 4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMplNVWVyBo
New York Times coverage of Forum
Environmental Justice Activist Urges EPA Chief ‘to Roll Up Your Sleeves’ at Tense W.H. Forum. Activist tells Lisa Jackson that “the government has done nothing.”
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/12/16/16greenwire-environmental-justice-activist-urges-epa-chief-24157.html
