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22 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 281 (2019)
No More Excuses: Building a New Vision of Civil Rights Enforcement in the Context of Environmental Justice

handle is hein.journals/hybrid22 and id is 305 raw text is: NO MORE EXCUSES: BUILDING A NEW VISION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MARIANNE ENGELMAN LADO* INTRODUCTION ........................................ ......... 282 I. RACIAL INEQUALITY IN EXPOSURE TO HEALTH HAZARDS... .......... 286 II. THE APPLICABILITY OF CIVIL RIGHTS LAW TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONTEXT .............................................. 288 A. Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .......... .......... 288 B. Why Environmental Laws Are Inadequate to Address Racial Disparities......... 291 III. A GAPING HOLE: EPA'S POOR RECORD OF CIVIL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT295 A. Poor Performance by Any Measure: EPA's Failure to Enforce Title VI........... 295 B. Measured Steps Forward During the Obama Administration: Too Little, Too Late ....................... ............................ 301 IV. EPA'S EXCEPTIONALISM THEORY AND THE LACK OF POLITICAL WILL.. 306 A. History, Leadership, and Culture .......................... ...... 307 B. Federalism ......................................... ...... 311 C. Personnel, Race & Culture .................................... 313 D. Structure ........................................ ......... 315 V. THE ROAD TO ENFORCEMENT ................................... 318 A. In the Short Run: Other Avenues for Redress .................. ..... 319 B. Meaningful Reform at EPA.................................... 322 1. Finalizing Clear Guidance ........................... ....... 323 2. Decoupling Civil Rights from Standards Developed Under Environmental Laws .............................. ................. 323 3. Creating Incentives to Comply.. .............................. 324 4. Exercising Affirmative Authority.. ..................... ....... 325 C. The Long Game: Shifting the Paradigm. ........................... 326 1. Restoring Access to the Courts ...................................... 326 2. Centralizing Civil Rights Enforcement ................... ...... 327 a. The Department of Justice ............................... 328 b. A New Civil Rights Enforcement Agency: A Centralized OCR .......... 329 VI. CONCLUSION.................. ...................... ........ 331 * Marianne Engelman Lado, Lecturer, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Yale School of Public Health. Heartfelt thanks to Rebekah Doyle, Faculty Support Specialist at Yale Law School; extraordinary research assistants Helen Li, Quentin Karpilow, Jorge DeVicente, and Trevor Dolan; Melissa Legge, and all of the students in the Yale Law School Environmental Justice Clinic and the Environmental Justice Capstone, each of whom contributed insight through practice; our many environmental justice partners at the local, regional, and national level who fight against the odds for their right to be treated equally; and colleagues at Yale, especially Doug Kysar, who provided feedback and encouragement. Of course, all errors are my own.