Northeastern Houston

In 1978 members of Houston’s Northwood Manor community launched a direct action campaign against the proposed Whispering Pines Landfill. The protests culminated in the Bean vs Southwestern Waste Management lawsuit, the first environmentally-based Civil Rights suit in American history. Lawyer Linda Mckeever Bullard represented the plaintiffs, and her husband Robert Bullard provided the research to make the case that the landfill placement was based on environmental racism. Although the plaintiffs lost the case, this is a premier study in early environmental justice activism.

From the Northwood Manor case, Bullard developed the environmental justice framework, which shows that there are discrepancies in the environment across communities that are driven by disparities in race and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, Bullard found that communities, such as Northwood Manor, which received environmentally hazardous LULUs (locally undesirable land uses) suffered from clustering of even more community-degrading facilities.

However, where there is further room for analysis regarding the question, How does race matter in regard to environmental disparities?” In order to address this question, I look to expand upon Bullard’s initial Northwood Manor case study to understand the reasons as to why residents of Northwood Manor fought against the landfill placement. Off of this question I look to further understand the historical background of the neighborhood, potential demographic shifts, and the health impacts of a potential landfill.

Moving forward, I would like to analyze the questions of “How” community members fought against the landfill through resident interviews.

Chester, PA Housing Analysis

The COVANTA incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania is the largest incinerator in the country. The pollutants from the incinerator cause a host of negative health outcomes from asthma to lead poisoning. The town, especially the area near the incinerator is predominantly Black and low-income. The placement and continued use of the facility is a textbook case of environmental racism.

For 30 years, CRCQL (Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living), an organization led by Zulene Mayfield, has fought to shut down the incinerator. As a member of Swarthmore’s chapter of C4 (Campus Coalition Concerning Chester), I have been a part of the student-run coalition aiding CRCQL in their efforts.

This semester, I have led the C4 research team in documenting the owners, property value, and property tax history of every property in the area most affected by the incinerator. From this analysis, we hope to better understand both the exact people negatively affected by the incinerator and the investors that have the most to gain from the continued underdevelopment of the community.