Does everyone deserve clean air?

[Pat Coyle]

Wikipedia - Environmental justice (EJ) refers to inequitable environmental burdens borne by groups such as racial minorities, women, residents of economically disadvantaged areas, or residents of developing nations. In other words, in our society, poor people are forced to live in the dirtiest places.

Questions about Environmental Justice:

Does everyone have an equal right to a clean environment?

Are minority communities and individuals burdened with more than their share of environmental risks in this country, while enjoying fewer of the benefits of environmental regulation than others?

Is environmental justice policy no different from education, criminal and civil justice, and a host of other socioeconomic institutions in this country in being tainted by the broad brush of race and class discrimination?

If not, what besides race and class discrimination could possibly explain these differences in environmental burdens and benefits?

What explains the apparent lack of concern for the uneven impact of environmental policies and activities in most of the original federal environmental legislation? (From the book, "Environmental Justice in America, by Edwardo Lao Rhodes).