HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	24
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Expressing disapproval with federal enforcement of Executive Order 12898 concerning environmental justice.

     WHEREAS, many studies have found that businesses that generate toxic waste are disproportionately located in low-income and minority communities; and

     WHEREAS, studies have demonstrated that there is a correlation with race and income in the concentration of air pollution, location of municipal landfills and incinerators, number of abandoned toxic waste dumps, and incidence of lead poisoning in children; and

     WHEREAS, environmental clean-up efforts disproportionately benefit white Americans over people of color; and

     WHEREAS, in 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, requiring each federal agency to "make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the United States and its territories and possessions..."; and

     WHEREAS, in March 2004, the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the agency is not doing an effective job enforcing environmental justice; and

     WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency lacks plans, goals, and performance measures and has even proposed redefining "environmental justice" to exclude consideration of race and income level; and

     WHEREAS, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina has further revealed catastrophic inadequacies in environmental precautions for minority communities; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature expresses disapproval with the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bush Administration to enforce Executive Order 12898; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Environmental Protection Agency is strongly urged to develop plans, goals, and performance standards to carry out Executive Order 12898 and effect environmental justice in minority and low-income areas; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the President of the United States of America, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Hawaii's congressional delegation.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Expressing Disapproval with Federal Enforcement of Executive Order 12898