Comments on: Chertoff’s Great Divide http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=965 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:17:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: stormkite http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=965#comment-79324 stormkite Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:18:31 +0000 http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=965#comment-79324 And DHS is distinguished from the general run of the Republican party and the Conservative movement since, roughly, Eisenhower, in what fashion? It seems to me that "prepared to perpetrate a terrible injustice against the very U.S. citizens that they are supposed to protect" is pretty much a minimum job qualification to run on a GOP ticket or be accepted for party membership. Who would expect otherwise? And DHS is distinguished from the general run of the Republican party and the Conservative movement since, roughly, Eisenhower, in what fashion?

It seems to me that “prepared to perpetrate a terrible injustice against the very U.S. citizens that they are supposed to protect” is pretty much a minimum job qualification to run on a GOP ticket or be accepted for party membership. Who would expect otherwise?

]]> By: No Border Wall http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=965#comment-79218 No Border Wall Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:58:41 +0000 http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=965#comment-79218 Environmental justice is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency to mean that “no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal environmental programs and policies” (EPA Fact Sheet). This sentiment was codified by President Clinton in executive order 12898 (Federal Action to Address Environmental Justice [EJ] in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations), which provides that “each Federal agency must identify and address, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the U.S.” In 2004, the Operation Rio Grande Environmental Impact Statement found that environmental justice was indeed an issue for projects in the Rio Grande Valley: "Approximately 85% of the population in the area can be classified as minority (well above the state average of 39.4%). The median annual household incomes for the counties in the project area (Starr, $10,182; Hidalgo, $16,703; and Cameron, $17,336) are well below the state average of $27,016 and, in the case of Starr County, below the $15,000 established by the EPA for defining the economic status risk group. Therefore, many of the households in the project area doubtless have a high potential EJ index." (Operation Rio Grande EIS, Section 3.12.6) Hard-working people who may not have the money to hire lawyers are going to have their homes bulldozed or family farms sliced in two for a wall that won’t stop anyone. DHS is prepared to perpetrate a terrible injustice against the very U.S. citizens that they are supposed to protect. Environmental justice is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency to mean that “no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal environmental programs and policies” (EPA Fact Sheet). This sentiment was codified by President Clinton in executive order 12898 (Federal Action to Address Environmental Justice [EJ] in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations), which provides that “each Federal agency must identify and address, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the U.S.”

In 2004, the Operation Rio Grande Environmental Impact Statement found that environmental justice was indeed an issue for projects in the Rio Grande Valley:

“Approximately 85% of the population in the area can be classified as minority (well above the state average of 39.4%). The median annual household incomes for the counties in the project area (Starr, $10,182; Hidalgo, $16,703; and Cameron, $17,336) are well below the state average of $27,016 and, in the case of Starr County, below the $15,000 established by the EPA for defining the economic status risk group. Therefore, many of the households in the project area doubtless have a high potential EJ index.” (Operation Rio Grande EIS, Section 3.12.6)

Hard-working people who may not have the money to hire lawyers are going to have their homes bulldozed or family farms sliced in two for a wall that won’t stop anyone. DHS is prepared to perpetrate a terrible injustice against the very U.S. citizens that they are supposed to protect.

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