Introduction

• Author: Barry E. Hill
• Pages: 1-12

Page 1

Introduction to the Fourth Edition

Environmental Justice: Legal Theor y and Practice

e fourth edition of this textbook/handbook is similar in intention and content to the third edition. e

goal is still to provide a thought-provoking exposition of the essential principles of the concept of envi-

ronmental justice, which is an environmental, racial, economic, political, social justice, public health, civil

rights, human rights, and moral issue. As in the third edition, the goal is also to provide a comprehensive

review of the hard law of environmental justice in a manner to ground law students, practitioners, scholars,

researchers, and anyone else who is new to or interested in the subject matter.

ere have been noteworthy additions to federal and state government environmental justice policy

since the publication of the third edition in 2014. e fourth edition incorporates the innovations of the

Barack Obama Administration reg arding government administration, implementation, and leadership in

seeking ways to address the issues/concerns of disadvantaged communities across the country. Addition-

ally, no area of law remains static, of course, and t he fourth edition includes al l of the signicant cases

and developments in the hard law of environmental justice since the third edition. New sections have

been added, where appropriate, to organize and ex amine the still-e volving case law. Just as the courts and

government decision makers have continued to twea k the hard law of environmental justice, this fourth

edition is intended to improve the readers’ understanding of the dynamics of the issue of environmental

justice, and to learn a lot about what it takes to bring out the best in people to address the issue, through

enlightened leadership in communities, in corporations, in state bar associations, in law oces, in lega l

services providers, in law school clinics, in government agencies, and in academic institutions.

A new Chapter 8 has been added to this fourth edition as an epilogue. e epilogue is a Sharon Lerner

article entitled, e Plant Next Door— A Louisiana Town Plagued by Pollution Shows Why Cuts to the EPA

Will Be Measured in Illnesses and Deaths. e March 2017 article captures so vividly and succinctly in real

life the essence of the str uggle for environmental justice by a beleag uered cancer-ridden community in St.

John the Baptist Parish, Louisia na, who have “suered more than their share of illnesses.” Only when the

environmental and public health problems in that community are addressed by industry, as well as federal

and state government regulators, will environmental justice for all similarly situated communities be made

a reality in the United States. Hopefully, that day wil l come sooner rather than later because, as the Rev.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “e arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”