The State of Environmental Justice Since In the United States Since Summit II: Timeline-Milestones 2002-2011

In preparation for the four-day Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, held in Washington, DC in October 2002, the Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) compiled the Environmental Justice Timeline/Milestones - 1964-2002 report, one of the first comprehensive documents to chronicle accomplishments of the EJ Movement. The milestones were later updated in the 2007 United Church of Christ Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty – 1987-2007 report and more recently in Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States: Strategies for Building Environmentally Just, Sustainable, and Livable Communities, a book published this month by the American Public Health Association. During its 40-year history, the U.S. EPA has not always recognized that many government and industry practices (whether intended or unintended) have adversely and disproportionately impacted poor people and people of color. It took an entire movement and decades for the government to acknowledge this fact and three decades to begin implementing equal protection and dismantling institutional racism. The EPA is mandated to enforce the nation‘s environmental laws and regulations equally across the board. It is required to protect all Americans—not just individuals or communities who have money to hire lawyers, lobbyists, scientists, and experts. The right to health and a clean environment is a basic human right.