RAAP & Environmental Justice

Recent decades have witnessed some friction between the Arsenal and the local community. A 2016 news report stated that the Arsenal has been the state’s largest polluter since 2004 and described thyroid cancer as “a community concern” (Lucas). Citizens and students founded watchdog groups to request greater transparency regarding pollutants, including Hold Radford Arsenal Accountable in 2015 and Citizens for Arsenal Accountability in 2017. Considering this, our group of researchers worked in the tradition of environmental justice research when looking at these community concerns.

Environmental justice is the equitable distribution of environmental risks and benefits; fair and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making; and the capability of communities and individuals to function and flourish in society (Schlosberg). Environmental movements and health social movements encourage citizen participation and increase awareness about the contributions–and the limitations–of science with regard to persistent health problems (Brown et al).

In the 1980’s, for example, citizens expressed concern when the Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky began incinerating chemical weapons. Citizens successfully challenged the depot’s claim that average people could not understand the highly complex nature of weapons disposal. Working with elected representatives and private engineers, a coalition of local groups proposed a system that dramatically reduced emissions (Zurick).

As this example suggests, the inclusion of community members in scientific discovery and problem-solving allows citizens to grapple with the issues that they previously criticized, and to become productive partners in addressing inequitable exposures (Brown et al). An environmental justice framework requires that community experiences, concerns, and knowledge remain central and valued.

Sources

• Brown, Phil, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski, and The Contested Illnesses Research Group, “Introduction: Environmental Justice and Contested Illnesses.” In Brown, Morello-Frosch, Zavestoski, eds.Contested Illnesses: Citizens, Science, and Health Social Movements. University of California Press, 2011.
• Lucas, Rachel. “WSLS 10 Investigates Pollution at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.” NBC – 10 WSLS (Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA), May 17, 2016.
• Schlosberg, David. Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Zurick, David. “Grassroots Environmental Opposition to Chemical Weapons Incineration in Central Kentucky: A Success Story.” In Pradyumna Karan and Unryu Suganuma, eds. Local Environmental Movements: A Comparative Study of the United States and Japan. University Press of Kentucky, 111-127.