DOJ opens environmental justice investigation in Houston for dumping
Since his appointment last year as the nation’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Merrick Garland has sought to prioritize environmental justice issues, announcing the creation in May of a Department of Justice to help coordinate the federal government’s legal strategy. The Houston affair, officials said, was prompted by a 65-page complaint from Lone Star Legal Aidwhich alleged that the city had withheld services and failed to enforce municipal codes in certain neighborhoods.
“The complaint we received indicates that the issues go back years,” Clarke said. “It is deeply disturbing to see the reports of regularly discarded and abandoned items in Black and Latino communities.”
Justice officials said investigators requested data from the City of Houston’s 311 service center to determine if there had been a pattern of call neglect from certain sections of the city. The investigation will focus on the city’s Neighborhoods Department, Police Department and Solid Waste Management Division, all of which receive federal funding.
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, jurisdictions that receive federal funding cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
Huey German-Wilson, president of Super Neighborhood 48, a community group that represents affected areas, said she cried with relief upon learning of the Justice Department’s intervention. She said residents tried to work with city officials to fix issues they identified with the 311 system, to no avail.
“We have been working on it seriously for seven years. We considered illegal dumping to be one of our No. 1 nuisances,” German-Wilson said, citing a case in which residents reported more than 200 tires in a space the size of a football field.
Lone Star Legal Aid filed its complaint with several federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The organization understood a broader set of concerns, such as the lack of economic development, including grocery stores, and the need for more parks and recreational spaces. Justice officials held a conference call with representatives of these agencies and community leaders in April.
In a follow-up letter to the Justice Department this month, Lone Star Legal Aid attorney Amy Catherine Dinn cited ongoing issues with Houston’s service call line, despite the city’s efforts to implement a new system, writing that the 311 reporting system “remains broken.”
A spokeswoman for Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) said the office would issue a statement.
Clarke said illegal dumps can disadvantage neighborhoods in several ways, including attracting rodents and mosquitoes, lowering property values, causing disease, clogging sewer drainage and contaminating drinking water.
“In America, your ZIP code is often a key determinant of your cancer risk…and even your life expectancy,” said Todd S. Kim, assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division. of the Ministry of Justice. “It is true that each of us could be exposed to environmental contamination, but it is also true that communities of color, low-income communities and tribal communities bear these hardships disproportionately.”
Clarke said the Justice Department would seek to work with Houston officials to develop a voluntary compliance plan to address any violations uncovered in the investigation.