Environmental justice at the Savannah River Site
- Department of Energy, Aiken, SC (United States)
Environmental justice is the conscious commitment to ensure that poor and/or minority communities are not disproportionately bearing adverse human health and environmental effects from the production, processing, or disposal of hazardous or toxic waste. To focus federal attention on assessing the environmental and human health conditions in minority and/or low-income communities surrounding federal facilities, on February 11, 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order (EO) 12898. As part of the strategy to comply with EO 12898, the President required all federal agencies to develop localized strategies to ensure that their programs and policies are consistent with EO 12898. This would incorporate mechanisms for increasing public participation opportunities for involvement in the decision making, easier access to information, and the collection and analysis of economic, demographic, and food consumption data in surrounding communities. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) responded by issuing its Environmental Justice Strategy 2 (April 1995), although many of its field offices had been actively implementing activities in support of the executive order since its issuance. One DOE facility, the Savannah River Site (SRS), which is located in west central South Carolina, is making great strides toward implementing a successful public participation program, which includes environmental justice initiatives.
- OSTI ID:
- 411532
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951006--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 73; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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