Environmental injustice in California

In 1999 Angelita C. a mother of a 10^th year old girl applied to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency about pesticide pollution that threatened  California  and especially a lot of public schools. The notable thing of this case was that pesticide records and demographics were showing Latinos exposed to disproportionately high levels.

After the EPA launched an investigation of the complaint, there was a decade of silence. But in 2011 EPA in cooperation with DPR(Department of Pesticide Regulation ) announced an agreement to protect civil rights.

DPR expanded air monitoring for pesticides in several locations and disagreed with the argument about pesticide pollution. They continue their efforts but without taking the situation seriously as their actions didn’t fix the ongoing problems. 

 As EPA and DPR was seemed weak  to recognize and solve the problem of pesticides pollution near school and a lot of children were in danger ,parents acted immediately assuming attorneys for this case. After an attorneys search at 21 public schools  within 1.5 miles of the state’s most heavily fumigated areas, eighty-two percent of their students were non-white and this means  that pesticides concentrations near schools violate the Civil Rights Act.

Then were no excuses that EPA would not add this case high in its agenda. The problem was it took the EPA 12 years to take seriously this case and realize that it was about environmental injustice.

N.G

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/article_5a8692bc-209d-11e3-8231-001a4bcf6878.html