Minutes - 20080415 - Transfer Station

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7 From: Orange County Human Relations Commission (HRC) Re: Environmental Justice in the Transfer Station Siting Process Meeting: Work Session, 4/15/2008, 5:30 PM, Southern Human Services Center The following items were unanimously adopted by the HRC at the April 14, 2008 monthly meeting. Definition of Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes and educational levels with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, policies, and decisions. Fair treatment means that no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or policies. Making Environmentally Just Decisions: The BOCC should ask the following questions about each decision it makes: 1. What are the environmental justice implications of this decision? 2. If this decision has environmental justice implications, have all Orange County residents been given adequate notice of the issue, relevant information, and opportunities to give meaningful input before the final decision is made? 3. Does a proposed solution have a potentially cumulative environmental impact on a specific community or neighborhood? 4. If a proposed solution may be environmentally unjust, is there an alternative resolution that would have a less disparate impact while still accomplishing our core purpose? Siting Criteria: Due to social justice considerations, the HRC voted to support the highest possible weighting against the following siting criteria: Technical Criteria: • Zoning Designations and Requirements—Overburdening or clustering of industrial facilities adjacent to low income or minority areas. Community-Specific Criteria: • Environmental Justice Considerations • Proximity to Schools, Churches, Recreation Sites, and Residences • Adjacent Land Uses • Impact on Non-Protected Neighborhood Character Commissioner Nelson asked what was meant by "impact on non—protected neighborhood character." Bob Sallach said that they want to make sure that the character of existing neighborhoods is not significantly impacted. Commissioner Nelson asked how this would be applied in a justice sense, since anyone can say that their neighborhood has a specific character, and anyone will be able to argue that siting any facility next to their neighborhood is going to harm the character of their neighborhood. He does not understand how this gets applied. Shoshannah Smith said that an example would be a historically Latino and Hispanic community, and putting this facility in the middle of that neighborhood would ghettoize or disperse the population. Commissioner Nelson said that this item is too abstract for it to be of real use.