May 1996

Environmental Racism in Montgomery County

Demographics of Solid Waste Neighborhoods in Montgomery County

People in poverty are 230% more likely than people above the poverty line to live near a Solid Waste disposal site. African Americans are 64% more likely than whites to live near a Solid Waste disposal site.

Poverty Level Within One Mile Of Landfills

Race Within One Mile Of Landfills

The Research Committee of Leaders for Equality & Action in Dayton compared information from 1990 Census with a map of the licensed solid waste disposal facilities in Montgomery County to determine the relationship of race, poverty level and age to neighborhoods and communities mostly directly affected by solid waste disposal in the County. After plotting the landfill sites on the Census map, the Research Committee compiled the demographic information on all census tracts within one mile of landfill sites within the County.

U.S. EPA on Environmental Equity In a June 1992 report to the US EPA Administrator William K. Reilly on Environmental Equity, the Environmental Equity Work group of the US EPA noted:

"The relative risk burden borne by low-income and racial minority communities is a special concern. A low-income community surrounded by multiple sources of air pollution, waste treatment facilities and landfills and which has lead-based paint in the residences is clearly a community that faces higher than average potential environmental risks..

Finally the U.S. EPA Work group proposed eight recommendations to address this area of environmental equity. Among other things they recommended:

"EPA should selectively review and revise its permit, grant, monitoring and enforcement procedures to address high concentrations of risk in racial minority and low-income communities. Since state and local governments have primary authority for many environmental programs, EPA should emphasize its concerns about environmental equity to them."

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