Most of Alabama's dumps are in parts of the state
that are black or poor or both, according to a study by a group pushing
for changes in Alabama. Documenting the pattern of landfills
located in poor or minority parts of town is "almost down to a
science," says John Gaber, associate professor of community planning at
Auburn University. "It's an international phenomenon." The
Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Reform Coalition,
which claims to represent 35 groups and 20,000 people, is now armed
with a study that documents the frequency with which poor and black
communities are chosen as the sites of garbage dumps. The
Florida-based Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation spent months
completing the study for the Alabama African-American Environmental
Justice Action Network and the coalition. Of the 29 dumps across
the state the foundation analyzed, 20 were in areas with residents who
are mostly black, poor or both. [more ]
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