In theory, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination of any kind in relation to federal financial assistance. Its creation was seen as a monumental step forward toward achieving greater environmental justice. However, in practice, it all too often fails to protect against environmental inequality.

Ten years ago, Aggie Lane presented at the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office, detailing why constructing a sewage plant in her low-income, largely African-American Southside Syracuse neighborhood directly contradicted Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an Aug. 31 article from Truthout detailed. The EPA rejected Lane’s case, approving the construction of the sewage plant.

Title VI, a law created to prevent discrimination based on race, was created to avoid situations exactly like this. However, when push comes to shove, history has shown it to lack teeth and fail to uphold basic principles of environmental justice. Ten years removed, this case still sheds light onto the uphill battle being waged by marginalized communities fighting for their supposed rightful justice.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term environmental justice, the basic idea is this: all people should receive equal treatment in relation to their environment. In this particular case, a sewage plant certain to pollute the adjacent creek and afflict the overall health of the community was built in a poor, predominantly African-American neighborhood.

“It just so happens that we live in a place where race and class are beyond correlated,” said Charisse L’Pree, an assistant communications professor at Syracuse University.

Lane and fellow community members filed an appeal to the EPA, citing a similar plant planned to be built in a predominantly white neighborhood in the north side of Syracuse. Here, the traditional sewage plant was not built, instead replaced by an alternative, less-polluting facility.

After an initial denial by the EPA, Lane and her community members’ appeal was rejected and their additional 650-page addendum ignored. Completely ignored.

“If no one in this community has any communication with their officials, that’s another problem layered onto this. When you’re not represented, that’s systemic social injustice, and because you are not represented, you are not being listened to,” said L’Pree.

Environmental injustice is an ugly, recurring reality. According to the Center For Public Integrity, since 1996, 264 complaints have been filed with the EPA on behalf of communities of color arguing that they are being subject to environmental injustice.

Of those 264 complaints, 64 cases were opened for investigation. Out of the 64 cases opened for investigation, only 16 concluded with EPA intervention. It is unlikely that all 264 cases merited an acknowledgement of discrimination, but 16/264 seems awfully minute for a recurring problem so clearly present in the definition of Title VI.

This Southside Syracuse neighborhood is “one of the most organized, effective and politically aggressive communities I’ve ever worked with,” said Alma Lowry, an environmental lawyer who represented the Syracuse residents, in an article from Truthout.

Even still, it lost the battle to prevent the construction of the Midland Avenue sewage plant. With a subsequent appeal all but impossible, the EPA is to blame. “If that kind of community can’t make Title VI work for them,” Lowry said, “I don’t know who could.”

This particular case had all of the components to be accepted by the EPA and its appeal did not even merit a response. Moving forward, the lessons learned must not be lost. They indicate a foundational inadequacy in the way the EPA enforces Title VI, and must be changed.

Azor Cole is a senior public relations major and geography minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at azcole@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @azor_cole.

Published on September 10, 2015 at 12:24 am