About two dozen federal, state and local leaders met at Norfolk State University Wednesday to discuss how to address disproportionate environmental impacts experienced by marginalized local communities.
The roundtable was organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to jumpstart more work in Hampton Roads on what’s known as environmental justice.
The federal government defines the term as “the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, tribal affiliation, or disability, in agency decision-making and other federal activities that affect human health and the environment.”
Garry Harris, president of the nonprofit Center for Sustainable Communities based in Portsmouth, said at the meeting that environmental justice “is not a project.
“EJ is fixing what’s broken in communities which is causing a disproportionate impact.”
Nationwide, people of color face a roughly 28% higher health burden – the impact of health problems as measured by mortality, cost and other factors – compared to the general population, in part because they often live near facilities that emit air pollution, according to a 2018 EPA study.
In Hampton Roads, for example, the historically Black communities of Lambert’s Point in Norfolk and Southeast Newport News have long complained of coal dust from nearby terminals pervading the area and causing high rates of asthma.
Leslie Gillespie-Marthaler, director for environmental justice in EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region, said the agency has been working with Lambert’s Point. That spurred their interest in other areas of Norfolk facing issues.
“There are a lot of challenges here, with flooding, with legacy industrial sites, and of course, with environmental justice marginalized communities,” she said. “We’re trying to fix some of these issues — not just put a Band-Aid on it, but trying to go back and really understand, how do we make these communities stronger?”
Another thing that drew the EPA’s interest was the activism of the Southside Coalition, a group of residents from communities on Norfolk’s Southside including Campostella, Berkley, Campostella Heights, Oakleaf and Diggs Town.
The coalition has been fighting to be included in Norfolk’s floodwall project with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Their exclusion stemmed from the way the Corps evaluates a project’s worth, known as a cost-benefit analysis, which prioritizes protecting the dollar value of real estate.
That leaves lower-income areas at a disadvantage, especially because of historic discrimination in urban planning that suppressed property values.
Kim Sudderth, a Berkley resident who serves on Norfolk’s Planning Commission, represented the Southside Coalition at this week’s meeting with the EPA. She said it feels like leaders are finally listening.
“It’s usually those of us who are on the end of environmental injustice having these conversations, trying to convince decision makers to participate,” Sudderth said. “This was the opposite, where it was the decision makers reaching out, saying, ‘We want to bring you to the table, listen and learn and then work together on solutions.’”
She pleaded with leaders at the table this week: “Please, do not use environmental justice as a buzzword.”
The environment is more than just natural elements like land and rivers, Sudderth said.
“At the center of environmental justice is people, and I'd like everyone to remember that.”
Ru Williams, environmental justice coordinator with the nonprofit Elizabeth River Project, said it can be hard for residents of disadvantaged communities to focus on environmental concerns when they’re already facing pressing issues like access to healthy, affordable food.
“I think in order for things to be most beneficial, you have to address those concerns first,” Williams said.
The group plans to meet with the EPA again soon, with a list of specific projects or initiatives they’d like to see in Norfolk – such as cleaning up Steamboat Creek in Campostella Heights after an oil spill a few years ago.
