Abstract |
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is a Federal Advisory Committee established in 1993 to provide independent advice, consultation, and recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on matters related to environmental justice. NEJAC has established six subcommittees which address various issues corresponding to EPA's areas of authority, responsibility, and structure. Among the subcommittees is the Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee. NEJAC and its subcommittees meet semiannually to plan their activities and address pressing issues raised by the public. During the December 1997 NEJAC meeting in Durham, North Carolina, the closing of New York City's Fresh Kills Landfill and the proliferation of waste transfer stations (WTSs) in low-income communities and communities of color in Brooklyn and the Bronx were raised to the Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee. WTSs are facilities where municipal waste is unloaded from collection vehicles and subsequently re-loaded onto larger transport vehicles to be taken to a disposal site. Most of the waste comes from outside the communities that are home to the WTSs and, in part, from outside the local municipality. WTSs are part of regional waste streams and serve the economic needs of the region and the waste industry. |