Executive Order 12898

“Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation” By Dan Fagin explores the economics, scientific, political, and personal tragedy of how a chemical giant known as Ciba-Geigy and entrepreneurs failed to properly dispose the industrial waste which eventually contaminated the ground water of a coastal town. The book delves deeply into the history of the dye industry and the lesson learned from the environmental disaster. Fagin takes on complex issues to address the history of industrial processes in both Europe and the United States. He then explores further about the long struggle that parents and public officials took in Toms River, N.J., to scientifically identify the cancer cluster in children and then to determine the best way to handle the discovery.

In the book, Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner takes readers through twelve separate stories of communities in the United States that have been unwillingly exposed to high levels of environmental toxicity. In each of these cases, citizens of those communities reacted to and pushed back against being exposed to toxic chemicals, sometimes successfully and sometimes less so. In every case, the people most heavily exposed to these health hazards were minorities and low-income citizens, which, Lerner argues, is why government officials and corporate decision-makers chose knowingly to risk exposing them. This paper will outline Lerner’s book and argue that despite a long history of protests, lawsuits, media attention and nationwide outrage, willing exposure of low-income and minority Americans to toxic chemicals in the pursuit of government and corporate interests is still a major problem today.

People hear about issues and events that happen in America every day. Unfortunately every issue or problem does not receive the necessary media attention. One of the roughest cities in the United States, Detroit, Michigan is being affected by pollution. Detroit Wastewater Treatment Facility is the largest source of discharge into the river with 47 billion gallons of diluted sewage water dump into the Detroit River. 10.1 millions of toxic substance was dumped in the great lakes (Matthews, 2013.para.7). Due to the unstable environment Asthma, Cancer, and birth defects are at its peak. This is because of the factories built in the city next to the lower class neighborhoods. There has been cases where a local neighborhoods has been affected by

In the constitution it states that the Presidents purpose is; to be chief of state, chief executive, chief administrator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislature, party chief, and chief citizen (The presidents job description). As the chief of legislature, one of the presidents duties is to not only review bills being proposed by congress, and occasionally say they must be revised but to also enact laws affecting the people of the United States immediately, rather than wait for them to move up through the many levels and debates of congress. For this, he can use the power of an executive order, a constitutional way to provide laws that relate to national welfare or the good of the citizens. A few good example of this would be executive order 13767, which moves for additional border security on the United States southern border, and executive

With the coming of World War II, African Americans were arguably elevated to a higher standing in society due to the total war effort. But what part would Presidential and Military action take in this advancement since their duty is to protect their citizens? And would the efforts from these offices triumph over the racial prejudice that ruled American society, and most importantly, would their legacy last for an improved quality of life for a good portion of the US population. With these questions in mind, Executive Orders No. 8802 and 9981 as well as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call for increased admission of African Americans in the Armed Forces alone did not create change in social perception of Black US citizens, at times highlighting barriers to social equality, but did sow the roots for economic opportunity and in turn gave

In World War 2 Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor causing a distrust with Japanese Americans thinking that they will defend their country and betray the US. Franklin D Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Secretary of War to clear out certain areas as military zones to deport of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans were rounded up and kicked out their homes to be sent on to trains, they were allowed to keep their valuables and stay together as a family. Camps were placed in desert where the Japanese were exspoded to the scorching heat. When walking into the camp they

Pezzullo investigates in this article the strategies of environmental justice advocates in Warren County, North Carolina. The rhetorical efforts shown by these advocates vigorously urged the state of North Carolina to clean up a local toxic landfill caused by a truck illegally dumping oil contaminated with PCBs in the middle of the night.

Superfund sites are districts in communities that have abandoned hazardous wastes on territories that need immediate removal.In the early 70’s the Comprehensive Environmental Response and Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 encouraged Superfund statues in Washington and these statues handle issues associated with land pollution and abandoned hazardous waste on territories .Superfund acts aid Washington and environmental agencies with removing hazardous waste and it also, allows them to pursue people and corporations that own hazardous waste territories. The principles for the Superfund acts include the quick removal of hazardous materials when environmental regulations demand it, bringing legal disputes against owners of hazardous waste territories, initiating communities and states in waste removal processes and developing extended programs that protect citizens from hazardous waste territories .In the late 70's environmental advocates discovered the contamination at the Superfund site called the Love Canal in Niagara Falls ,NY and they also discovered the surrounding territories contained pollutants and abandoned hazardous waste .The Love Canal is New York states first case of environmental neglect by a corporation and this community and facilities contained hazardous polluted water and dirt that resulted from years of accidental spills ,leaks and irresponsible business recycling

In 1953, Hooker Chemical sold this dump site, which it attempted to fix by covering with layers of red impermeable clay, to the Niagra Falls School Board for the amount of $1, due to the knowledge of the harmful toxins within the ground, against their better judgement. In fact, a deed was drawn up and included in the sale documents, which detailed the extremely dangerous chemicals that were present in the ground, and not one cent of profit was gained from the sale. Many lawsuits later ensued, thanks in part to one woman who went on a crusade to save the neighborhood residents, and their children by exposing all of the harmful details to the public.

Donald Trump has a new plan for the immigration executive order. The original order was not as successful as it caused a lot of confusion. However, his new order will achieve some of the same goals.

In the early 1980s, Environment Justice activist prioritized their efforts to focus on the unequal amounts of waste dumps in minority communities. The increased awareness of these situations led to the development of EJ from the civil rights movement that happened around the same time. Environmental Justice is defined by its recognition that, “disparate and disproportionate environmental impacts occur among different communities across racial and socio-economic lines, affected communities should be appraised of environmental issues affecting them, and these communities should be incorporated in any decision-making process.” (Middendorf, 2007)

They have increased attention to the problem through media outlets and policy makers, and the number of organizations have increased to fight environmental injustices (9) One of the first major environmental justice events that sparked the attention of the environmental justice movement was the 1982 PCB landfill in Warren county North Carolina located in a predominantly African American community. The landfill ignited protests and over 500 people were arrested (2). Patterns of environmental injustices were studied and results concluded that “race was the single most important factor in predicting the location of hazardous facilities” (9). The studies showed that 3 out of 4 hazardous waste landfills were placed in predominantly African American communities and it took nearly two decades to get the landfill cleaned up. It took 1.8 million dollars to detoxify the contaminated soil and dig up and burn the soil at over 800 degrees F to remove the PCBs contaminating it (2). The soil was then put in a pit the size of a football field and seeded to grow grass over it (2). The federal government under President Clinton in 1994, who issued an executive order, required federal agencies to include environmental justice considerations in policy issues and assessments when

Cleveland and other cities Factories dumped pollutants into the lake and the waterways and fertilizer and pesticides from agricultural runoff without much government oversight. Waste from city

By the late 1920’s the canal was being used as a dumpsite by municipal and commercial entities. 82 different chemicals 11 of them known carcinogens had been dumped by the Hooker Chemical Company for over twenty five years. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, then the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold it to the city for one dollar. This was definitely a bad buy for the city of Niagara, unfortunately it would take over 20 years to realize it. During that time more than 100 homes and one elementary school had been built over the landfill, this was definitely not the city that Love had envisioned.

A beautiful city, Niagara Falls in the state of New York, ruined by careless decisions of the city of Niagara Falls and The Hooker Chemical Company. Families suffered and died from several of diseases cause by toxic waste that was place underground near homes and schools. A mother, Louis Gibbs who lived near the Love Canal said, “ When I brought this American dream home my son was one and very healthy. Then he started to get very ill and experiences some liver problems, asthma, and then epilepsy. I could not understand, they came one after another, until I read a series written by Mr. Michael Brown, who explained that the Love Canal has toxic waste underneath the neighborhood school and it leaches in resident homes.” She continued on by