"Wrong on the Facts, Wrong on the Law": Civil Rights Advocates Excoriate EPA's Most Recent Title VI Misstep

December 1999
Citation:
29
ELR 10775
Issue
12
Author
Luke W. Cole

Editors' Summary: The Select Steel decision marked the first administrative Title VI complaint that EPA decided on the merits. The complaint challenged the state of Michigan's decision to grant a permit to the Select Steel Corporation for a steel mini-mill in Flint, Michigan. EPA ruled that Michigan did not violate Title VI because the permit decision would have no adverse impact and, thus, no disproportionate impact, on the surrounding community. This Dialogue examines the background and context for the Select Steel decision. It then analyzes the decision itself as well as EPA's approach in deciding the Select Steel case. The Dialogue ends with a critique of EPA's decision and rationale, arguing that the Agency's decision was both factually and legally incorrect.

Luke W. Cole is the Director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation's Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment in San Francisco, California. The author thanks Quita Sullivan, Julie Hurwitz, and Ross Richard Crow for input on an earlier version of this Dialogue.

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