Toxic Colonialism in the Territorial Isles: A Geospatial Analysis of Environmental Crime Across U.S. Territorial Islands 2013–2017

• Author: Tameka Samuels-Jones,Ryan Thomson
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20975161
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20975161

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(4) 470 –491

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20975161

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Article

Toxic Colonialism in the

Territorial Isles: A Geospatial

Analysis of Environmental

Crime Across U.S. Territorial

Islands 2013–2017

Ryan Thomson1 and Tameka Samuels-Jones2

Abstract

The following study explores the geographic distribution of EPA environmental

violations across the unincorporated territories within a criminological framework.

Using data obtained from the EPA ECHO database, we conduct a geospatial legal

analysis to identify island areas bearing a disproportionate number of green criminal

activity between 2013 and 2017. Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Mariana

Islands, and American Samoa reflect a combination of green criminal patterns tied to

tourism, commercial production, militarism, and nuclear testing. These remote and

relatively biodiverse isles are consistently found to be bearing the burden of toxic

waste which originated on the other side of the sea.

Keywords

green crime, environmental justice, interest-convergence, GIS, US territories

“The education of the Samoan people at present is sufficient to take care of their own

affairs. The Navy rule must cease.” —The Mau Committee, American Samoa 1930

Introduction

The following study explores the geographic distribution of EPA environmental viola-

tions across fourteen territorial islands within a criminological framework. The sub-

discipline of green criminology has made significant contributions regarding

1Auburn University, AL, USA

2York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Ryan Thomson, Auburn University, 306 Comer Hall, Auburn, AL 36830, USA.

Email: rwt0012@auburn.edu

975161IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20975161International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyThomson and Thomson

research-article2020

Thomson and Thomson 471

environmental justice issues in Native American and Black communities (Lynch et al.,

2018; Samuels-Jones et al., 2020). However, it has failed to expand this research to

examine issues affecting peoples in U.S. territories and their history of green victim-

ization. In short, the environmental injustices faced by Natives of these outlying

islands have largely been ignored in existing criminological research. This study

addresses this research gap and specifically it confronts the historic struggles faced by

these residents because of nuclear testing on these islands by the United States mili-

tary. These insular grey geographies, constituting relatively closed eco-systems, are

consistently found to be bearing the burden of waste which originated on the other side

of the sea.

Relevance of the Study

The power asymmetry which guides the unequal distribution of environmental harm

has been explored in green criminological research from the perspective of the politi-

cal economy, environmental sociology, and environmental justice (Perz et al., 2018;

Thomson et al., 2020). However, absent from the discourse and crucial to the under-

standing the relationship between history and the environment is the impact of toxic

colonialism. Toxic colonialism refers to the exportation of hazardous industries and

toxic waste from core countries to periphery countries (Pratt, 2010). The concept

emphasizes the way environmental harms are overshadowed by the foreign political

and economic interests. The term was coined by Jim Puckett, a Greenpeace activist, to

describe the dumping of hazardous waste on communities which lack the resources,

political representation, or capital to resist exposure (Reed, 2009). Masco’s (2006)

popular work employed the concept to describe the ecological sacrifice and prolonged

effects associated with nuclear testing in New Mexico. The concept is a fitting descrip-

tion for green crime in the unincorporated territories given their lack of political auton-

omy or legal capacity to prevent environmental harms. Where environmental racism

and environmental justice research emphasizes the uneven macro-distribution of envi-

ronmental hazards based on race (United Church of Christ, 1987), toxic colonialism

focuses on the explicit targeting of a specific group of people for waste disposal, or

experimentation of risky technologies (Cunningham et al., 2001). The toxic colonial-

ism framework also highlights the need for cognitive justice as presented within

Southern epistemologies of harm emerging from the work of de Sousa Santos (2014)

and more broadly within Southern Green Criminology (Goyes, 2019). This overlap

illustrates the need for anti-hegemonic knowledges and ways of being while under-

scoring the limits of western-centric understandings of domination.

An analysis of the role of colonialism on the distribution of environmental hazards

in U.S. territories is particularly important for several reasons. Firstly, it facilitates a

more holistic understanding of how the legacies of colonialism have shaped current

environmental challenges. It also sheds light on current imperialist policies which

adversely impact the environment in the territories today. These policies often facili-

tate the military use and commercial disposal of toxic chemicals and materials in less

powerful and protected U.S. territories, a practice illustrative of toxic colonialism. As