But these observations hardly add up to a compelling rationale for racialized clean air politics and policies. By the same token, New Jersey is renowned for having more hazardous waste than any other state. Recent and careful studies do not bear out the claim of regular or systematic ethnic bias either in facility siting or in cleanup decision making. Though activists have a hard time accepting it, racism simply doesn't appear to be a significant factor in our national environmental decision making. Anyone who has closely watched the environmental justice movement over the years has heard two phrases repeated with an almost mantra-like regularity.
Trouble is, careful research refutes the allegation.
But the plea is disingenuous because activists have no intention whatsoever of using risk assessment, however careful, to guide their advocacy priorities. Some residents have been convinced for years that living in the area carries with it significant additional cancer risk. Despite denials of the petro-chemical industry financed studies, we know that cancer incidence in this corridor is higher than the national average. Cancer is so commonplace in Cancer Alley' that almost every family is touched. This is genocide at its finest, and it is a national disgrace.