Houston agreed to tackle illegal dumping to settle a federal civil rights case. Neighbors alleged the city failed to respond quickly enough to dumping complaints in primarily Black and Latino areas.
The way the community succeeded in drawing the DOJ’s attention to what is both an environmental and civil rights issue was a good start and good model for other places, environmental justice expert and Texas Southern University professor Robert Bullard said. He hoped the approach might be applied to issues at the state level.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a written statement that the agreement “will ensure that Houston fully addresses chronic illegal dumpsites, provides access to adequate waste management services and improves quality of life in communities of color.”
“I have worked throughout my administration to fight environmental injustice, and to have an allegation like this, despite all we have done and are doing, it is unfair and disappointing,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in aTuesday. “With this voluntary resolution, we agree with the Department of Justice to move together as partners towards a solution.”
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