Environmental justice (EJ) is defined in state law as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, rules, and policies. Environmental justice includes addressing disproportionate environmental and health impacts in all laws, rules, and policies with environmental impacts by prioritizing vulnerable populations and overburdened communities, the equitable distribution of resources and benefits, and eliminating harm.”
EJ has its roots in the Civil Rights Movement. The EJ movement was started primarily by people of color publicly addressing the health dangers their communities were facing due to a lack of environmental protection. The movement, and concept, gained national attention in 1982 when the Black community staged a sit-in against the placement of a PCB landfill next to a predominately black neighborhood in Warren County, North Carolina.
To view a comprehensive timeline of EJ at the federal level, visit the EPA’s website at https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-timeline
Washington State has a rich history in Environmental Justice (EJ). The EJ movement in our state was started by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities bearing the burden of environmental harm. EJ activism gained public attention state-wide in the 1990s around various environmental harms, including: U.S. government mining activities on the Spokane Indian Reservation, nuclear production at the Hanford Site, lack of farm worker protections in Yakima Valley, and industrial contamination in the Lower Duwamish Waterway. Activism resulted in the formation of numerous community-led coalitions, as well as legislative and government actions.
Midnite Mines
In 1954, brothers Jim and John LeBret, members of the Spokane Tribe, discovered uranium on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the Selkirk Mountains of Eastern Washington. The LeBret brothers and other members of the Spokane Tribe came together to form Midnite Mines, Inc. and obtained mining leases from the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the U.S. Department of the Interior. Midnite Mines, Inc. partnered with Newmont USA Limited, a U.S. mining conglomerate, to form Dawn Mining Company (DMC), with Newmont as a 51% shareholder and Midnight Mines as a 49% shareholder. Uranium was mined on the reservation from a 350 acre open-pit mining site from 1955-1965 and 1968-1981. The mining site drained into Blue Creek, which flows into the Spokane Arm of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake. In 1982, the site was decommissioned and placed into care and maintenance mode, with DMC required to collect contaminated water flowing into the area.
In 1989, groundwater contamination was detected in wells and discharging into Chamokane Creek, causing the Department of Health to issue a groundwater remediation order and establish groundwater protection standards. DMC submitted two reclamation plans, one in 1991 and another in 1995, to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The federal government entered negotiations with DMC and Newmont for study and cleanup under federal laws in 1997. After interim agreements on some aspects and failed negotiations on others, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded and conducted a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study from 1999-2006.
The EPA’s study documented various pollutants and environmental effects in and around the site. Pollutants found include cadmium, chromium, nickel, zinc, radium 226, uranium 234, uranium 238, polonium 210, copper, lead, and lead 210. These substances are present in groundwater, surface water, and sediment in and around the site, and pose significant human health risks of contamination through residential land use, groundwater ingestion, and tribal subsistence land use. Some of these health risks include cancer, viruses, parasites, bacteria, weakened immune systems and internal organs, skin lesions and hyperpigmentation, possible neurological effects, and other non-cancerous effects of ingestion or exposure to toxic chemicals.
In 2005, the EPA solicited public comment on a proposed cleanup plan. The final cleanup plan, issued on September 29, 2006, calls for a cap over pits filled with mining waste, consolidation and containment of remaining mining waste in open pits, removal of water entering pits, and a treatment system to treat contaminated water. The site currently is in the remedial action stages of cleanup, with construction progressing to installing cleanup equipment and pump and treat contaminated water.
The local group Dawn Watch and the Spokane Tribe played a major role in holding DMC, Newmont, and the United States government accountable in their cleanup efforts. Dawn Watch fought to stop the shipment of additional radioactive waste to the Midnite Mines site for burial. The Spokane Tribe experienced firsthand the effects of exposure to radioactive materials, and has been vigilant and vocal about cleanup standards and operations. Deb Abrahamson, an Indigenous environmental activist and Spokane Tribal member, spent over 25 years of her life as an activist for various issues, including the cleanup of Midnite Mines. She established and led Community Uranium Radiation Education and the Sovereignty, Health, Air, Water, Land (SHAWL) Society, which both worked for accountability for dealing with the harms caused by uranium mining. Abrahamson passed away on January 1, 2021, from cancer that she attributed to the pollution from the Midnite Mines.
Hanford Site
From 1943-1987, the Hanford Site, located on the Columbia River in Benton County, operated as a nuclear production complex manufacturing plutonium for World War II and the Cold War. The site was originally inhabited by a number of Native American tribes, including the Wanapum Band and the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse Tribes.
The site was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. The United States government gave residents of the area between 28-90 days’ notice to evacuate their homes and abandon their farms before taking over approximately 600 square miles of land under the War Powers Act. About 2300 residents of the area were forced to leave, including Native Americans and farmers. While local farmers and residents received a small amount of money as compensation, Native American tribes and tribal members received no compensation. The Wanapum Band was displaced from their traditional home on the Columbia River. Access to their traditional fishing sites were restricted then revoked altogether.
Within a few months of establishing the Hanford site, more than 50,000 people moved into the area to work at Hanford. Many of those workers were Black, Hispanic, and Native American, and were segregated in housing and some work sites.
Production at the Hanford Site continuously released radioactive waste water, which contaminated the ground, groundwater, and the Columbia River. Hazardous materials and radioactive waste were stored in 117 underground tanks, dumped into unlined trenches, and buried underground. Contaminated equipment used in production were put on rail cars and buried underground. Activism to halt nuclear operations and begin cleaning up hazardous waste from in and around Hanford began in the 1980s. Russell Jim, an elder of the Yakama Nation and tribal environmental leader, testified to a U.S. Senate subcommittee on nuclear regulation in 1980 against the unsafe disposal of nuclear waste at Hanford. His advocacy contributed to legislation that recognized tribal sovereignty and blocked efforts to make Hanford a nuclear waste repository.
In 1987, a Westinghouse Nuclear inspector at Hanford reported concerns of safety violations, which were brushed aside by Hanford’s management. The inspector testified to Congress, resulting in the final decision to shut down production at Hanford.
Since 1989, the Washington Department of Ecology, the EPA, and the United States Department of Energy have been working together under the Tri-Party Agreement to clean up the site. The hazardous waste and radioactivity from Hanford’s operations contaminated water, soil and plants, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals, and both riparian and aquatic habitats. Native American communities have been particularly impacted due to pollution in the Columbia River and their reliance on the river and salmon fishing. Former workers are suffering health ramifications after being exposed to hazardous materials and radioactivity from Hanford. These health ramifications include respiratory diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders, as determined by a study done by students from the University of Washington School of Public Health.
Nonprofit organization Hanford Challenge was formed in 2007 to advocate for Hanford workers’ safety and health concerns. Washington has taken steps to protect Hanford workers and make compensation easier, notably House Bill 1732, which passed in 2018. The federal government has attempted to block implementation of this bill in court, and in January 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States granted a review of the case.
Yakima Valley Farmworkers
From the 1940s-1960s, Yakima Valley saw an influx of Mexican migrant workers with the Bracero Program and even more Mexican-American workers post-WWII, adding more diversity to the existing Filipino-American workforce. Filipino farm workers began unionizing against practices of withheld wages, dangerous working conditions, and other actions rooted in racism against Asians and Asian-Americans in the 1930s, and continued to organize through the following decades. Meanwhile, Mexican workers struggled to unionize to combat similar practices rooted in racism, including threats of deportation, lack of safety in the workplace, and low wages. On August 22, 1966, the Filipino-American group Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by Cesar Chavez, came together to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFW) in California and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
The 1960s saw the rise of the Chicano Movement, also known as El Movimiento, by Mexican-Americans to advocate for their social and political empowerment across the country. In Eastern Washington and the Yakima Valley, supporting the Chicano Movement was synonymous with supporting the work of UFW. In 1966, organizers from UFW met with Yakima Valley Council for Community organizers Guadalupe Gamboa and Tomas Villanueva. Sometime later, Villanueva established the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic and the United Farm Worker’s Co-operative (UFWC), modeled after the NFWA and with no UFW affiliation, and Gamboa helped initiate the urban Chicano youth movement in Western Washington.
In 1972, the UFW was chartered as an independent affiliate by the AFL-CIO and became the United Farm Workers of America (still known as UFW). In the late 1970s, farm workers and immigrant rights fused together to reshape what is now the current farmworker movement in Washington. The farm worker movement was further amplified with the creation of Radio KDNA, established as an activist radio station educating farm workers, advocating organizations, and providing Spanish language programming. Radio KDNA quickly established itself as a hub for the Central Washington immigrant farm worker community.
In the mid-1980s, Villanueva was approached by UFW to assist in forming a Washington branch. Villanueva became the first president of the United Farm Workers of Washington State on September 21, 1986. The organization was recognized as a union and regional branch of UFW by the AFL-CIO in 1994. In 1995, the United Farm Workers of Washington State and UFW secured a contract to unionize workers at Chateau St. Michelle Winery in Yakima Valley after an eight-year struggle, making this the first victory of farm worker organizing in Washington State. The farmworker movement today includes climate justice, especially amid heat waves and wildfires, and protection against chemicals and pesticides used in farming.
Visit A History of Farm Labor Organizing 1890-2009 for more details on the history of farm workers in Washington State.
Lower Duwamish Waterway
Before it was dredged and straightened, the Duwamish River was a wide river with large mudflats and marshes, and was used by Native Americans for fishing, shellfish harvesting, and transportation. The river is named for the Duwamish Tribe, whose members have lived along the river and surrounding areas since time immemorial. The Duwamish Tribe’s longhouse is located in West Seattle on the west side of West Marginal Way, across the street from where one of their largest villages stood before it was burned down in 1895 by settlers. In 1913, the lower, nine-mile estuary of the Duwamish River was dredged and straightened for industrial development, and by the 1940s, it was transformed into the engineered five-mile Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW).
The LDW is a major shipping route and industrial corridor in Seattle. The Port of Seattle marine cargo terminals are located at the mouth of the Duwamish River. The banks of the river are bordered by two South Seattle neighborhoods, South Park and Georgetown. The Duwamish River is regularly used by BIPOC, including Duwamish tribal members and immigrants, as a fishing site.
The EPA investigated the LDW’s sediments in 1998 and found that they were contaminated with many types of harmful chemical compounds and toxic metals due to decades of industrial activity. In 2001, the LDW was listed as a federal Superfund site. Sediments of the LDW contain at least 41 different contaminants, including PCBs, cPAHs, dioxins and furans, and arsenics. These hazardous chemicals pose serious health risks to humans who consume the seafood living in the waterway and who come in direct contact with the contaminated sediment.
The EPA published a final cleanup plan in 2014, and made changes to the cleanup standards in 2021. Cleanup is expected to begin in the late 2024 or 2025.
Activism for the health and cleanup of the Duwamish River has been led by the Duwamish Tribe and the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC). The Duwamish Tribe regularly allies with DRCC and other organizations, including the Seattle Parks Department, EarthCorps, Duwamish Alive Coalition, and the King Conservation District, to advance environmental justice along the Duwamish River and LDW. DRCC, formerly the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, was established in 2001 to advocate for those impacted by the pollution of the Duwamish River and other environmental harms. DRCC works to ensure that the Duwamish Valley community can thrive in a healthy and just environment.
The Rise of Community Activism
With environmental harms impacting BIPOC communities across the state, community organizing and activism rose. In 1993, the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) was established. CCEJ was established and organized by BIPOC advocating for social, economic, environmental, and health justice in Washington. CCEJ advocated specifically for low income and BIPOC communities, and placed an emphasis on utilizing community power. It was the first environmental justice group in the Seattle area.
Advocacy for BIPOC communities in the environmental space continued to grow well into the 2000s. Some of the most prominent community organizations in this space include Puget Sound Sage, Got Green, and Front and Centered. Puget Sound Sage was founded in 2007, and is led by and advocates for BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA individuals and organizations on a variety of equitable policies and programs, including EJ. Got Green was founded in 2008, and is a grassroots organization led by BIPOC and low-income individuals organizing for environmental, racial, and economic justice. In 2015, CCEJ transferred their legacy and non-profit status to Got Green.
In 2014, the nonprofit organization Front and Centered, a coalition of various community groups led by BIPOC, formed to collectively organize and advocate for equity, climate justice, and EJ. Front and Centered was heavily involved in the Governor’s Environmental Justice Task Force in 2019 and 2020, the creation of the Washington State Environmental Health Disparities Map, and the HEAL Act.
Washington State Government Takes Action
In response to the growing activism against environmental harms, government agencies began to take action to acknowledge and incorporate EJ. In 1994, Washington State Senator Rosa Franklin, the first Black woman elected to the State Senate, introduced Senate Bill 6401, which funded research into environmental equity in Washington. The bill passed, and allocated funding for the Department of Ecology to undertake the study with help from the Department of Health. In 1995, the Department of Ecology published A Study on Environmental Equity in Washington State. The study found that, statewide, a greater proportion of waste facilities existed in low-income communities compared to non-minority and non-low-income communities.
Washington’s EJ movement continued to gain steam in the 2000s. The Washington State Board of Health identified EJ as a top priority for 2000-2001 in direct response to community activism. The Board of Health’s Environmental Justice Committee released an Environmental Justice Report in June 2001, outlining EJ issues that Washingtonians, particularly low-income and BIPOC communities, face, as well as declaring EJ to be a public health issue and recommending actions and guidelines that state agencies could adopt.
In 2006, the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities was established to identify and create ways to eliminate health disparities and create health equity. The Washington State Department of Health convened the Environmental Public Health Community Equity Workgroup to address environmental justice and health equity in Washington. In 2019, the Washington State Environmental Health Disparities Map (EHD) launched. Also in 2019, the Environmental Justice Task Force, staffed by the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities, convened with the directive to recommend strategies for incorporating EJ principles into state agency actions. The EJTF produced a final report in October 2020.
From 2019-2021, the Washington State Legislature passed three pieces of legislation to advance EJ in state government: the Clean Energy Transformation Act, the Climate Commitment Act, and the Healthy Environment for All Act. The Healthy Environment for All Act includes many of the recommendations provided in the October 2020 EJTF report and established the Environmental Justice Council.
Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) |
Climate Commitment Act (CCA) |
Healthy Environmental for All Act (HEAL) |
Codified at RCW 19.405, CETA requires Washington to transition the state's electricity supply to be 100% carbon-free by 2045. |
Codified at RCW 70A.65, CCA establishes a comprehensive program, incorporating EJ principles, to reduce carbon pollution and achieve greenhouse gas limits set by state law. |
Codified at RCW 70A.02, HEAL defines EJ and mandates state agency actions to incorporate EJ principles and prioritize overburden communities and vulnerable populations in state agency actions reducing environmental and health disparities across Washington. |