In defense of some EPA EJ approaches.

[Jack Scannell <jack@ecoss.org>]

I've read the postings about the outreach problems in EJ communities, and early on noted the issues our outreach educators have to deal with in contacting the various ethnic minority  populations located in south King County.  For those forum participants unfamiliar with this area, it is the most heavily industrialized area in the State of WA, consisting of over 12,000 residents, many being minority and low income, located in neighborhoods that are intermingled with approximately 2000 businesses.  

As previously mentioned, in addition to trying to reach as many of these residents as possible through the King County funded Household Hazardous Waste program, we also have a Region 10 EPA EJ grant to perform P2 with as many businesses as possible in this same general area for the benefit of everyone in the community.  While I can't speak for how other EPA regions operate in this regard, I can speak very highly about the fact that Region 10 has allowed our organization complete freedom and flexibility to perform our mission to ultimately help the populations most impacted from the environmental justice perspective.

Fortunately, our organization is also a true non-aligned, non-profit and, to date, have never had to bow to political pressures.