"In response to growing public pressure, state legislators created the Stream Control Commission (SCC) in 1940. It advocated cooperation as a way to retain industries and protect their payrolls, and it relied in part on industrial expertise to set pollution thresholds. Touting its early accomplishments, the SCC claimed its policy resulted in an “almost 100% correction of that [pollution] from oil refineries.”13 Thus on the eve of the wartime industrial build up, the state admitted that refiners had created pollution but claimed that the SCC was an effective response and had pollution under control.” (Colten 2012, 96)
"By the early 1950s the SCC suggested that pollution was only noticeable during low-river stages and that “little remains to complain about regarding the effluent coming from this [Baton Rouge Esso] plant.” Such positions accommodated industry’s continuing reliance on the river as a waste disposal sink.14” (Colten 2012, 96-97)
“Escalating pollution problems, however, exposed the inadequacies of the system and prompted a series of water-quality investigations. Federal studies in the 1950s asserted that pollution was a pressing problem, but the prevailing view among state officials was that pollution was a limited, localized issue; their permitting and enforcement actions, which did little to impede uncontrolled discharges to the river, reflected this perception. The state’s lackluster response continued into the 1960s. Following an industrial spill that contaminated public water supplies in 1960, the state created a warning system that placed the burden on water-supply operators to close their intakes and imposed no penalties or new requirements on industries responsible for spills.15” (Colten 2012, 97)
“A major fish kill during the winter of 1963–1964 created a nationally significant event that served as the tipping point for a policy shift. Endrin, an agricultural chemical used in sugarcane fields in south Louisiana, was responsible for an estimated 5 million fish deaths that winter. Louisiana officials were unable to pinpoint the source and requested assistance from the U.S. Public Health Service. The federal investigation pointed toward an Endrin manufacturer far upriver in Memphis, Tennessee, not lower-river sugar planters or grinding mills. Occurring shortly after the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), this event captured public attention. Congress conducted hearings on the calamity, and the Public Health Service convened a public conference on interstate pollution of the lower Mississippi. This event transformed public and government opinions about the scale of pollution and recast lower–Mississippi River pollution as a regional problem that could harm people, not just fish.16” (Colten 2012, 97)
“Industrial pollution came under even more intense scrutiny in 1974 when a national exposé reported that the New Orleans water supply contained cancer-causing organic chemicals and that the city’s residents had a history of above-average cancer rates. The exposé sparked a debate among Louisiana officials and garnered considerable national attention as it cast the Mississippi River as a waterway sacrificed for industrial gain.” (Colten 2012, 97)
“By the 1990s the Baton Rouge–New Orleans industrial corridor stood out as one of the most prominent zones of chemical plant explosions. In addition to the threat from a deadly chlorine leak when a barge sank during Hurricane Betsy in 1965, major explosions at the Shell refinery at Norco (in 1979 and 1988) and at the Exxon (former Standard) refinery at Baton Rouge (in 1989) caused fatalities and inflicted damage on neighboring communities.7” (Colten 2012, 94)
Craig E. Colten. 2012. "An Incomplete Solution: Oil and Water in Louisiana." Journal of American History, Volume 99, Issue 1, June 2012, Pages 91–99, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas023.
During the early 2000s, an influx of Latino families moved to the Bay Area. With this growing influx of people, Nuesra Casa was founded to stand with the community and support them in navigating the institutions, build people power, and support the voices of local stakeholders to create a more equitable society. Nuestra Casa is engaged in the local economy, school district, and civic life.
The OCEJ is committed to developing grassroots leadership to advance a larger environmental justice agenda within the ancestral homelands of Acjachemen and Tongva Nations, now known as Orange County, California.
The Imperial County, where CCV was founded and continues to operate, has had a long history of environmental degradation, mainly due to the heavy presence of agricultural and military operations and the Salton Sea. The local community of Imperial County is predominantly Latinx and low-income and suffers from a range of environmental health problems, including respiratory illness, cancer, and congenital disabilities, which through research conducted by the CCV and other community partners, was linked to exposure to pollutants and toxins in the environment.
CCAEJ was founded on the growing concern about the impacts of pollution in low-income and working-class communities of color in Southern California. During the 1960s and 1970s, the region experienced a boom in industrial development and urbanization, bringing increased pollution and environmental hazards. As ecological justice gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s, the organization's founders were part of a more significant movement of social justice and activism that worked to address the unequal distribution of environmental hazards and awareness of protecting the health and well-being of all communities.
Riding the wave of Environmental legislation and activism movements taking off in the 1970s, there was a growing awareness of low-income communities of color being disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards such as toxic waste sites, air pollution, and pesticide drift. The EHC organizes a predominantly Latino community with the necessary resource and training to fight for environmental justice. The organization has mobilized to prevent new polluters from taking hold in their community and hold current polluters accountable for their industrial waste that harms the residents.
PODER was founded in San Francisco’s Mission District, a predominantly Latinx and Chicano neighborhood historically marginalized and disenfranchised by systemic racism and economic disinvestment. The community also became a point of high concentration for industrial and commercial businesses. These shifts also contributed to the community's environmental pollution and health hazards, leading PODER’s founders to unite and organize for their community’s right to clean air, water, healthy food, and sustainable jobs.
The 1980s and 1990s were a period of momentum for the Environmental Justice movement in the U.S. There was a wave of awareness that communities of color began to realize the disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards such as toxic waste sites, air pollution, and contaminated water in their neighborhoods. APENs founders recognized that AAPI communities were often overlooked or ignored within the discussions around environmental justice. APEN saw this as an opportunity to build power and bring attention to these issues by organizing within the AAPI community.
In the 1970s, California was experiencing a surge of industrial development and urbanization; building such infrastructure resulted in a significant increase in air and water pollution. Following political protests and victories such as the Civil Rights Movement, Feminist Movements, and other social justice initiatives, the awareness of systemic discrimination and inequality affecting people’s lives became more evident. CBE shaped its political content to reflect the broader conversation on more than conservation or preservation efforts and include more socially-oriented approaches to its campaigns.
Since its inception, the CEJA has worked to mobilize thousands of people to California’s Capitol to advocate for and against policy.
They have drastically increased the engagement of Black, Latino, Asian Pacific American, and immigrant stakeholders to fight for EJ policies. Collectively, they educate one another, strategize and build social power to better their communities.