The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) is a California-based environmental justice organization founded in 1989 dedicated to providing legal aid to grassroots organizations in environmental justice communities. CRPE helps communities dealing with problems related to the disproportionate burden of pollution placed upon poor people and people of color. CRPE's mission is "to achieve environmental justice and healthy, sustainable communities through collective action and the law". As part of this mission, CRPE provides organizational, technical, and legal assistance to help underserved communities stop immediate environmental threats. With their main offices located in San Francisco and Delano, CA, they conduct most of their efforts in Central California, especially the San Joaquin Valley, which includes Delano and Kern County, but they work across the United States.
Video Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
History of CRPE
The two founders of CRPE, Luke Cole and Ralph Abascal, created the organization in 1989. To help the environmental justice movement, Cole assisted other members of the movement and continued to push the philosophy of "from the ground up" framework. This ultimately means that the CRPE works to establish a foundation that is community based in which it focuses on organizing directly through the members of society that are impacted by environmental justice issues. Abascal was an attorney for over 29 years dedicated to helping numerous clients of various environmental justice topics to educate others on civil rights advocacy. There are various locations that CRPE focuses their work, but most of their efforts are rooted in California, specifically in the San Joaquin Valley and Kern County, which includes the city of Delano, home to many CRPE efforts. CRPE has offices in San Francisco and Delano, CA. CRPE has also conducted work in Alaska.
Maps Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Notable People of CRPE
The Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment operates with the help of environmental justice attorneys and lawyers. Co-founder Luke Cole provided legal and technical assistance to attorneys and community groups involved in environmental justice struggles nationwide. Berkeley's Ecology Law Quarterly awarded him with the Environmental Leadership Award in 1997. Ingrid Brostrom and Caroline Farrell are also noteworthy people associated with CRPE and the legal side of environmental justice. Brostrom is an attorney and Assistant Director at CRPE who focuses on helping low-income communities that are disproportionately faced with environmental injustices. Farrell is the Executive Director at CRPE and based out of the Delano office. She advocates for communities of color as well as low-income communities by participating in the steering committees of many different environmental justice groups. Cole, Brostrom, and Farrell of CRPE have impacted the lives of many environmentally disadvantaged people.
CRPE's Work
CRPE participates in many campaigns and legal disputes to support the health and rights of underrepresented communities and communities of color that struggle under the burdens of environmental injustices. This organization works to provide solutions to both environmental and health issues. CRPE uses organizational integration to utilize their legal knowledge to work towards the goals of the environmental justice group that they are working with.
Climate Change and Energy
The Romo v. Brown case is one of CRPE's major open legal cases that surrounds climate change and energy issues. This case involves Governor Jerry Brown's decision to sign the Senate Bill No. 4, ending regulation on hydraulic fracturing ,also known as fracking. Fracking is a process to extract natural gas from reservoirs that are beneath the surface by spraying large amounts of water mixed with sand and chemicals into the rock to break it. On Nov 9th 2015 the Kern County Board of Supervisors passed an amendment, which allowed oil & gas zoning permits to be obtained quickly and without the public's knowledge through public hearings. These two issues caused Rodrigo Romo to sue the Governor and the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources due to various health issues his daughters face. Other community members were also upset, and they went on a 4-day fast (known as the Cruz Fasts) to protest the amendment and Senate Bill. These actions from the community members attempted to end fracking and other oil extraction methods. All the chemicals produced throughout the fracking process releases high amounts of pollutants into the air, including methane, benzene, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrogen sulfide. These pollutants destroy the ozone layer leaving Kern County third in most ozone pollution which could lead to many negative health effects from high level of particulate matter. CRPE also represented the residents of Kettleman City, another area in the San Joaquin Valley that is exposed to environmental hazards due to growing industrial demands. Oil and gas production have exposed this small town and its community members to various chemical hazards. One of the largest waste facilities in the region is only 3 miles from the city.
In another legal battle, CRPE represented the Inupiat town of Kivalina as they sued Exxonmobil in the case of Kivalina vs Exxonmobil Corp. for contributing to climate change. Kivalina is located on an island which was protected from erosion by winter freezing however, as the arctic gets warmer, this ice is no longer protecting the island's shores from erosion. With the help of CRPE, they took this case to federal court, demanding that these companies pay for their relocation as their island shrunk. This was a historic case that set the tone for the use of common law in the fight against large corporations in the battle against climate change. They ultimately lost the suit.
Sustainable Agriculture
CRPE sued multiple dairies in the San Joaquin valley over their noncompliance with US Environmental Protection Agency regulations. They allied with other groups to address harmful methane emissions from these farms. One farm was building a facility that could contain more cows than allowed under the EPA regulations. This dairy asserted that they would only house the number of cows allowed, and never use the facility to its full capacity. CRPE sued under the clean air act, arguing that the dairy's claimed intents seemed to differ from their actions.
CRPE wrote a report about the institutional failures of the EPA, specifically with cases concerning agricultural justice in California. In the report, CRPE states that the EPA denied socioeconomically underserved communities in California's agricultural centers protection from pesticide exposure, including in areas where schoolchildren are most affected.
Toxics in Our Environment
Air pollution is a large source of environmental distress in the San Joaquin Valley, a central point of most work done by CRPE. Air pollution has been connected to public health problems, such as asthma and cancer. In one study, researchers determined that air quality in the very polluted San Joaquin Valley, a socioeconomically underserved region, may contribute to the development of congenital conditions in marginalized communities. This air pollution affects many communities that CRPE represents as part of their work called "Toxics in our Environment".
One case taken on by CRPE, the California Portland Cement Company was burning tires in Kern County, releasing highly toxic chemicals into the surrounding atmosphere. The public protested against this pollution, but California Portland and the Kern County Air Pollution Control District did not respond to concerns and challenged any presented lawsuits. CRPE represented the Kern County community members in opposition of California Portland and the Air District to help reduce toxins in the environment of this central California community.
In another case, CRPE vs. San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, CRPE sued the Air District, a government organization committed to protecting air quality in San Joaquin, for failing to meet air quality standards for ozone set by the Clean Air Act for three consecutive years. The ozone problem has prevented the San Joaquin Valley, a region home to many Hispanic/Latinx farmworkers, from having healthy air since the 1970s, mostly due to the Air District's inability to implement ozone pollution control measures that would reduce ozone emissions by regulating emissions of VOCs and NOx, ozone creating chemicals. Eventually, the Air District settled the lawsuit, promising to implement the measures. Since the case was settled, the amount of ozone in the community has been reduced.
In a more remote case, CRPE joined with other groups to represent the town of Kivalina in Alaska, as they fought to hold Red Dog mine accountable for illegal pollution of waterways with mining waste and debris. The EPA listed the Red Dog mine as the top source of toxic emissions in the country, and it is the largest zinc mine in the world. Kivalina is a small Inupiat town, where the nearby mine's pollution contaminated fish and other animals needed for Kivalina's subsistence. Kivalina claims that Red Dog has violated its permit over 4,000 times. Represented by CRPE, Kivalina sued Teck Cominco, the mine's parent company. Teck Cominco claimed that the rivers have been made cleaner by the mining, along with the removal of zinc. They also asserted that their failure to meet permit requirements is due to Kivalina blocking their efforts to renew their permit.
Community Investment and Infrastructure
For members of the Kern County Community, the Delano Guardians represent them in the decision making processes within the city council. In a lawsuit between the city of Delano and the Delano Guardians Committee, the Delano Guardians sued Delano over utility rates that have steadily increased since 2009. The lawsuit claims by facilitating these increases, the city has violated policies that state a majority of voters must approve property-related fees. CRPE has helped the Delano Guardians and people of Delano fight the city by providing them with legal aid and representation. Community leaders had a vision of how members should be able to live their lives. They should be able to live in a healthy community with the ability to be free of threats from environmental harm. The access to resources which allows clean drinking water and clean air. From this vision, The Power to the People Campaign merged with CRPE's traditional approaches to fighting environmental injustices along with adding the idea to train community members to define a picture of a health community to them. In order to develop the visions community members defined, three principles were created as guidelines:
- Promotion of Environmental Health and Justice
- Economic Opportunity for All People
- Green Jobs Must Support Equity and Justice
These principles were created with the hope that they could be implemented in the counties that comprised the San Joaquin Valley. Since the San Joaquin Valley is such a crucial aspect of the economy both the state level and national level with a population of 3.8 million residents can be an example for other areas to fight environmental injustices. In just Kern County alone 850,000 live there and 50% are Hispanic, 5% are African Americans, the unemployment rate is 9.9%, and ranks 52nd out of 57 on health outcomes.
Movement Building
CRPE supports the missions of many grassroots organizations in the San Joaquin Valley and will often partner with one or many groups at a time to help improve a community's wellbeing and environment. In doing so, the CRPE demonstrates organizational integration, which involves lawyers emerging their work with the goals of environmental justice group or organization they are working with. Some of CRPE's partners include Committee for a Better Arvin, Committee for a Better Shafter, Delano Guardians, Greenfield Walking Group, and Comite Progreso de Lamont. Committee for a better Arvin, with the help of CRPE, strives to obtain better water and air quality for marginalized communities. Committee for a Better Shafter currently receives help from CRPE in the Romo Case concerning fracking and energy issues in their low income town. CRPE helped Delano Guardians sue the city of Delano over unfair spikes in utility costs that highly impacted the low income community. Greenfield Walking Group and CRPE teamed up to create a walkability assessment that led to the clean up of Greenfield, CA parks with the goal of making the mainly Latinx/Hispanic community safer and healthier by picking up litter, refurbishing paths, and implementing measures aimed at reducing gang presence in parks. CRPE and the Comite Progreso de Lamont work to promote a clean environment and better community for health and education in Lamont, CA, a low income community of color burdened by environmental burdens, especially air pollution. All of these partnerships involve CRPE providing legal aid and support to grassroots organizations in order to improve underserved communities.
References
External links
- CRPE website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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