The InBox: Ed Garren and Jeri Williams blast CRC's Environmental Justice Working Group
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Sentinel News Service
on
Feb 24, 2009
~ Rebecca Robinson
This one's been kickin' 'round my Inbox since the weekend (sorry, it's Production Week around here, which is a lot like this), but I found it worth sharing because it's a knockout nPod activist one-two punch pertaining to the ever-controversial Columbia River Crossing project.
First, environmental justice activist and Office of Neighborhood Involvement Program Coordinator Jeri Williams doles out her two cents about being "bamboozled" by the CRC Environmental Justice Working Group. In her words,
"In the CRC process they first dismantled the EJWG. They then hand-picked folks with no experience in Environmental Justice and alienated all those who did care about it. There was NO EJ lens built to see these issues any differently!"
Then, Hayden Island resident and activist extraordinaire Ed Garren jumps in:"I found it curious that people who lived as far away as St. Johns and NE 48th Ave. were being given equal decision making power with people from Hayden Island and Vancouver who lived less than 400 yards from the project."
Read more below the break...
FROM JERI WILLIAMS:
Dear Commissioner
I’m sending you this article because as we come nearer to the vote on the Columbia River Crossing this picture describes how I feel.
I feel like most people of color have felt when sitting on large decision making committee, generally as the only one pushing a very different and important agenda for the people I represented, that being low income folks and communities of color in North and Northeast Portland which is an environmental Justice community.
I feel alone , unheard, bamboozled!
A few weeks ago you heard testimony from the DOT’s handpicked committee called the Community and Environmental Justice Group. They are lovely group of people whom many I know personally and have a lot of respect for. They dedicated a lot of time to this process and I am glad they came to testify.
BUT None of them testified about Environmental Justice issues!
They testified about getting a good price for their homes, about good ideas to improve their livability and some other great stuff.
Do you want to know why none of them testified about EJ issues?
None of them were ever trained on EJ issues!
Why do I care?
Over the last10 years members of the Environmental Justice Action Group (EJAG)have dedicated hundreds of hours to a process that ended up being co-opted by the Washington and Oregon State Departments of Transportation. I was the Executive Director f the EJAG from 2000 until I came to work for the City of Portland until November of 2006. I also sat on ALL 3 Task Forces regarding I-5 for the last 10 years.
In 1999-2002 EJAG with many other CBO’s pushed for and achieved the first ever Environmental Justice Workgroup(EJWG) that started a process of incorporating EJ principles into the work done by State Agencies.Hundreds of people of color, neighbors and low income folks turned out in support of protecting their neighborhoods and defeating the expansion of the I-5 freeway. Way back them they were pushing for more green jobs, less air pollution and more equity!
From 2002-2005 EJAG members sat on committees and turned out for meetings in record numbers to create the 1 million dollar community enhancement fund and the EJWG work. We had built a strong relationship and were feeling that ODOT was listening to our reasonable requests and we were getting closer to creating a plan that benefitted more Portlanders.
So then what happened?
In the CRC process they first dismantled the EJWG. They then hand-picked folks with no experience in EJ and alienated all those who did care about it. From 2006-now these folks were spoon fed in heavily DOT staffed meetings the very same information that the CRC Task Force members were. There was NO EJ lens built to see these issues any differently!
In an early face to face meeting with project manager John Osborne we were told that in the previous 2 processes the residents of North and Northeast Portland should have the same expectations of this process.
We were told to not expect “ANYTHING ABOVE AND BEYOND WAS WAS FEDERALLY MANDATED.” In other words we we told that EJ was no longer important. And they proved that through their sloppy attempt to co-opt a beautiful relationship that took years to develop. A relationship that was bulit on breaking down the walls of historical mistrust between Government and community and to us back to a pre-civil rights era in race relations in these two Pacific Northwest States.
“ I refuse to believe there is no justice in Portland Oregon for people who care about livablity, health, the environment and green jobs and vitality for the whole community. We are too smart , too caring and too intelligent to accept the fear based tactics of folks demanding that 12 lanes is the only answer for us.”
So what are we asking for from you?
Do not support the Washdot/ ODOT fear inducing belief that the only way you can save the world is through giving us a 12- lane answer instead of a Smart lane solution.
Thank you for all that you do to make this region great!
Jeri Sundvall-Williams
FROM ED GARREN:
I want to second Jeri Sundvall-Williams comments (contents below), and add a few of my own regarding the "Environmental Justice" component of the Columbia River Crossings project (CRC) Community and Environmental Justice Group (CEJG). For those of you who don't know, Jeri is one of the most highly respected Environmental Justice Advocates in the United States, and I am honored to be her friend.
I want to make it clear that I am not necessarily opposed to the 12 lane option for the bridge, because I do believe that building to an expanded capacity is the only way we can have a bridge that will actually move traffic, rather than have it sitting and idling in stop and go, which makes far more pollution than if it is moving at even 30 MPH. Also, whatever transportation options may evolve over the next 80 to 100 years, one thing is certain, we will have more people and more commerce to move, and we will need expanded capacity on that new bridge in order to move it.
AND, the Environmental Justice process was throughly co-opted by the the leadership of the CRC.
The very first manipulation was to pad the group with people who had little to no actual impact from the project. When I arrived, Michelle Tworoger (who lives next to the bridge) and I (who lives 250 yards from it ) were the only two people on the group who lived on Hayden Island. I found it curious that people who lived as far away as St. Johns and NE 48th Ave. were being given equal decision making power with people from Hayden Island and Vancouver who lived less than 400 yards from the project.
There were really two groups, one small one, about 4 people, who either lived next to or immediately next to the project, and the rest of the participants sort of floated in and out, having some interest, but not much passion about any outcome.
So those of us who actually had direct environmental impact were outnumbered three to one by others who sat on the group because they lived in or represented interests in the much larger "Impact Area."
The most significant environmental justice element that the CEJG was able to accomplish was having the issue of "clean diesel" fuel and retrofit utilization on all of the off road construction equipment in order to eliminate significant particulate and sulfur emissions during construction. This would not have been required under the federal standards, but was lobbied heavily by myself such that it was actually mentioned in the Environmental Impact statement.
The "Community and Environmental Justice Group" was initially facilitated by a professional facilitator for almost a year. At the end of the year, when it was time to elect co-chairs from each state, Three persons expressed interest in the process. Dave Frei, who had already participated on the CRC Task Force was the only Washington co-chair candidate, and myself and Michelle Tworoger for the Oregon co-chair. At the election meeting, Walter Valenta made his one and only appearance at any CEJG meeting, and as a part of the pre election statements dropped a load of innuendo based character assassination with regard to my leadership skills. So, Michelle was elected Oregon co-chair, by one vote, by a group of people, half of whom never returned to a CEJG meeting to participate.
Later, when Michelle had a falling out with the group and resigned, she was lobbied heavily by staff to return for over two months, presumably because no one else in Oregon wanted the job (including myself), though no one ever brought the issue to the group for discussion.
On repeated occasions, a few of us, including me, asked about specific environmental issues, things like emissions output, testing for particulate matter, both before, during and after the project, we asked about noise, construction vibrations, and on and on. Each time we were told that those issues would be dealt with later.
"Later" never came.
At the last meeting I attended, when we again brought these issues to the floor, and specifically tried to ask about the Federal Mandate for an Environmental Justice group to sign off on the project, we were told that there was no mandate, and that the CEJG was "owned" by the CRC and that what CRC wants to do is what is going to happen. I found it amazing that Dave Frei would actually say that the group is "owned" by CRC, and that is what he said, it is even reflected in the minutes.
Around that time, my work demanded that I be in Gresham on Thursday nights, so I stopped attending. But I also had to ask myself, "Why have I been doing this for two years?"
As one of the few members of the CEJG who actually attended an Environmental Justice training, I have serious reservations about the process which the CRC followed. Those questions extend to the actual legality of the "Community and Environmental Justice Group" which in fact only provided community input, but was not allowed to provide any meaningful Environmental Justice work (except for my relentless badgering about the use of "Clean Diesel" for the construction equipment). I also found it interesting that by the time I left, there was no one left on the group who had any Environmental Justice Training, even though we had repeatedly asked for a training for the new members of the group.
I again want to repeat, it is not the outcome that offends me per se, it is the process that was utilized to manipulate the outcome that violated at least the spirit of Environmental Justice. I am beginning to believe the manipulation of the CEJG may be a violation of the actual Environmental Justice Federal Mandates as well.
Because the CEJG was completely manipulated by the CRC project, I do not think it could pass any reasonable legal test as actually functioning as a community based group articulating Environmental Justice Issues to the CRC project.
If any legal challenge is made, the entire project could be held in a legal mess for a long time.
It didn't have to be this way. I do believe that if the actual Environmental Justice issues had been addressed we might have come to a similar, if not identical outcome. But it is very disappointing that a valid process was never allowed to occur.
It was Karl Marx who said "The end justifies the means", not Thomas Jefferson. Whose example are we following here?
So, while I am not opposed to a big bridge (I am after all from Florida, which has most of the largest and longest bridges in the United States), I do need to make it clear that any Environmental Justice issues were railroaded through with no meaningful research, discussion, or conclusion.
So, virtually all of the Oregon construction will occur within 75 yards of a community filled with low income, elderly persons and children, many of whom have respiratory problems already. We have no specific mitigations to deal with construction emissions, noise, vibrations, or other issues, and virtually no discussion of those issues in any meaningful way.
Isn't participatory Democracy wonderful?
Regards, Edward "Ed" Garren, MA, LMFT
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