I have spent most of my adult life in New Jersey. While there are many beautiful parts of our state, we also have a disproportionate share of environmental hazards. Here is an EPA listing of the Superfund sites that are located within the state of New Jersey. Dirty Jersey, a study carried out at Columbia University, shows that most of New Jersey has more that 400 times the rate of air pollution that is allowed by the EPA. The impact on poor and minority communities is even greater. Residents of the South Camden Waterfront community are exposed to particularly high levels of dioxin, lead, manganese, nickel, cadmium, and arsenic in their air and drinking water. Not surprisingly, the members of that community suffer from particularly high levels of asthma and other respiratory diseases. A major source for the manganese pollution is the St. Lawrence cement plant. This diary will tell the story of the construction of the St. Lawrence cement facility in the South Camden Waterfront neighborhood, and how South Camden became ground zero for the environmental justice movement.
Although New Jersey is one of the wealthiest states in the nation, Camden, NJ remains one of the poorest cities in the country. Camden is also one of the most polluted cities in our state and our nation. It is home to two Superfund sites and more than 100 contaminated sites. The residents of Camden were supplied with contaminated drinking water from wells for over 20 years, and the water in the Camden public schools was contaminated with high levels of lead. During that time, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection failed to enforce water quality standards in Camden. In addition to the lead, some of the environmental hazards that South Camden residents face on a daily basis include contaminated soils which are a legacy from Camden's industrial past, polluted air, poisoned water, and the "dumping" of polluting facilities, such as sewage and waste disposal plants, that other surrounding communities do not want. Over 91% of the residents of the South Camden Waterfront neighborhood are people of color, and a majority of them are African American.

Map of Camden showing the location of the industrial facilities that are responsible for much of the pollution (source)
Waterfront South neighborhood in Camden (source)
The story of the St. Lawrence cement plant begins in 1999 when the Canadian St. Lawrence Cement Company leased 12 acres from the South Jersey Port Corporation, a state agency, to erect a cement grinding plant.
St. Lawrence cement plant (source)
The cement company’s operations would generate more than 77,000 diesel truck trips and emit 100 tons of pollutants per year. ~source
The St. Lawrence Cement Company hired lobbyists and PR consultants in both Trenton and Washington, and it was given a permit by the New Jersey DEP to construct the $50 million facility in the South Camden Waterfront neighborhood. In a classic battle of David vs. Goliath, a local community group, the South Camden Citizens in Action (SCCIA) filed suit in 2001 to prevent the cement plant from starting operations.
Unlike many other environmental justice cases, SCCIA’s lawsuit did not include environmental claims.
SCCIA’s primary claim was racial discrimination in violation of the regulations enacted under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits any entity that receives federal funds from discriminating. SCCIA also alleged violation of the Fair Housing Act and intentional discrimination in violation of Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. ~source
The local Camden residents won a Pyrrhic victory in 2001. Judge Stephen Orlofsky ruled that the DEP failed to make a disparate impact analysis before issuing the permit and ordered the DEP to conduct such a study within 30 days. He stopped the opening of the plant. Five days later, the SCOTUS ruled in Sandoval v. Alexander that private citizens cannot enforce federal regulations (only the agency issuing the regulations can do so), and Judge Orlofsky modified his ruling to allow the SCCIA to use a different portion of the Civil Rights Act in their claims. Unfortunately, the judge's ruling was overturned on appeal, and the cement plant opened in 2002.
The story does not end there. The plant only employs about 15 people, so it is not bringing jobs to this community where the median income of residents in 2001 was just $15,000. Environmental studies carried out for the DEP by the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute under the Corzine administration showed that the cement plant was, in fact, polluting the air in the South Camden Waterfront neighborhood. Unfortunately, local community activists and environmental groups had to fight to make this report public in 2008:
A coalition of local, regional and statewide environmental advocates came together today to publicly unveil a state report that confirms that the St. Lawrence Cement Plant (Holcim) in Camden, New Jersey - located within just blocks of the Waterfront South community - does indeed contribute significant pollution to this poor and working class neighborhood.
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Jane Nogaki of the NJ Environmental Federation said "Waterfront South residents have been literally plagued by breathing dust from St. Lawrence Cement since the facility opened in 2002. Community and environmental groups have repeatedly asked DEP to monitor the site for dust and other pollutants. Now we find out DEP has finally conducted the work that confirms even as it underestimates the problem but witheld it from the community!"
"Trying to cover-up even its admittedly weak conclusions demonstrates DEP's and Governor Corzine's failure to address a very basic need - the right to breathe clean air," Nogaki added. "It's time for Governor Corzine to stop reneging on his commitment to alleviate environmental racism and make good on his promise to 'just say no' to more pollution in Camden and other places that suffer a disproportionate amount of pollution." ~source
The failure of the Corzine administration to address the environmental problems of our state, including those caused by the St. Lawrence cement facility in Camden, has serious political implications. As many of you know, in the recent election for governor in New Jersey. the Sierra Club endorsed independent Chris Daggett over incumbent Democrat Corzine. The statements made about Corzine by the head of the Sierra Club were used very effectively in negative ads by governor-elect Christie. It should not surprise us that many Democrats, and particularly Democrats of color, were not enthusiastic about the re-election of Corzine. If we want to elect more and better Democrats, we need to address the the issues of environmental justice in our state and in the nation.
EcoJustice series discuss environmental justice, or the disproportionate impacts on human health and environmental effects on minority communities. All people have a human right to clean, healthy and sustainable communities.
Almost 4 decades ago, the EPA was created partially in response to the public health problems caused in our country by environmental conditions, which included unhealthy air, polluted rivers, unsafe drinking water and waste disposal. Oftentimes, the answer has been to locate factories and other pollution-emitting facilities in poor, culturally diverse, or minority communities.
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