Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment

Logo of CRPE

CRPE's logo

The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) is a California-based environmental justice organization founded in 1989 dedicated to providing legal aid to grassroots organizations in environmental justice communities. CRPE helps communities dealing with problems related to the disproportionate burden of pollution placed upon poor people and people of color. Its mission is “to achieve environmental justice and healthy, sustainable communities through collective action and the law”. As part of this mission, CRPE provides organizational, technical, and legal assistance to help underserved communities stop immediate environmental threats. With their main offices located in San Francisco and Delano, California, they conduct most of their efforts in Central California, especially the San Joaquin Valley, which includes Delano and Kern County, but they also work across the United States.

History of CRPE

A map of California highlighting Kern County, which is part of the San Joaquin Valley and home to the cities of Delano, Bakersfield, and Shafter, places where CRPE has conducted a lot of their work. Delano is also home to one of CRPE's headquarters.

The founders of CRPE, Luke Cole and Ralph Abascal, created the organization in 1989. In order to help the environmental justice movement, Cole continued to push the philosophy of a “from the ground up” framework. This ultimately means that the CRPE works to establish a foundation that is community based in which it focuses on organizing directly through the members of society that are impacted by environmental justice issues. It focuses on three objectives; "(1) to build individual capacity; (2) increase community power vis-a-vis decision-makers; and (3) address environmental hazards facing the community."

Abascal was an attorney for over 29 years. He was dedicated to helping clients of various environmental justice topics and also worked to educate others on civil rights advocacy.

There are numerous locations on which CRPE focuses their work, but most of their efforts are rooted in California, specifically in the San Joaquin Valley and Kern County, which includes the city of Delano, home to many CRPE efforts. CRPE has offices in San Francisco and Delano, California. It has also conducted work in Alaska.

Notable people

The Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment operates with the help of environmental justice attorneys and lawyers. Co-founder Luke Cole provided legal and technical assistance to attorneys and community groups involved in environmental justice struggles nationwide. Berkeley’s Ecology Law Quarterly gave him the Environmental Leadership Award in 1997.

Ingrid Brostrom and Caroline Farrell are associated with CRPE and the legal side of environmental justice. Brostrom is an attorney and Assistant Director at CRPE who focuses on helping low-income communities that are disproportionately faced with environmental injustices. Farrell is the Executive Director at CRPE, based out of the Delano office. She advocates for communities of color as well as low-income communities by leading many different environmental justice groups. She is a major leader in environmental advocacy in the Valley.

Work

CRPE participates in many campaigns and legal disputes to support the health and rights of underrepresented communities and communities of color who struggle under the burdens of environmental injustices. This organization works to provide solutions for the communities for both environmental and health issues. CRPE uses integrated legal techniques to work towards the goals of environmental justice groups with which they are working.

Climate change and energy

Romo v. Brown is one of CRPE’s major open legal cases that surrounds climate change and energy issues. This case involves Governor Jerry Brown’s decision to sign Senate Bill No. 4, ending regulation on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Fracking is a process that extracts natural gas from reservoirs beneath the surface by spraying large amounts of water mixed with sand and chemicals into the rock to break it. On November 9, 2015 the Kern County Board of Supervisors passed an amendment which allowed oil & gas zoning permits to be obtained quickly and without the public’s knowledge through public hearings.

These two issues caused Rodrigo Romo to sue the Governor and the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources due to various health issues his daughters face. Other community members were also upset, and went on a four-day fast (known as the Cruz Fasts) to protest the amendment and Senate Bill. These actions from the community members attempted to end fracking and other oil extraction methods. All the chemicals produced throughout the fracking process releases high amounts of pollutants into the air, including methane, benzene, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrogen sulfide. These pollutants destroy the ozone layer, leaving Kern County third in most ozone pollution. This could potentially lead to many negative health effects from high level of particulate matter.

CRPE also represented the residents of Kettleman City, another area in the San Joaquin Valley that is exposed to environmental hazards due to growing industrial demands. Oil and gas production have exposed this small town and its community members to various chemical hazards. One of the largest waste facilities in the region is only three miles from the city.

In another legal battle, CRPE represented the Inupiat town of Kivalina as they sued Exxonmobil in the case of Kivalina vs Exxonmobil Corp. for contributing to climate change. Kivalina is located on an island which was protected from erosion by winter freezing; however, as the Arctic gets warmer, the ice is no longer protecting the island’s shores from erosion. With the help of CRPE, they took this case to federal court, demanding that these companies pay for their relocation as their island shrunk. This was a historic case that set the tone for the use of common law in the fight against large corporations in the battle against climate change. They ultimately lost the suit.

Sustainable agriculture

CRPE sued multiple dairies in the San Joaquin valley over their noncompliance with US Environmental Protection Agency regulations. They allied with other groups to address harmful methane emissions produced by these farms. One farm was building a facility that would house more cows than was allowed under the EPA regulations. The dairy asserted that they would only house the number of cows allowed under EPA regulations, and that they would never use the facility to its full capacity. CRPE sued under the Clean Air Act, arguing that the dairy's claims differed from their actions.

CRPE wrote a report about the institutional failures of the EPA, with regard to specific cases concerning agricultural justice in California. In the report, CRPE states that the EPA denied socioeconomically underserved communities in California’s agricultural centers appropriate protection from pesticide exposure, including areas where schoolchildren were affected. This reported include claims regarding improper administration of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

CRPE in conjunction with the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) worked on a lawsuit against Dow Chemical Company for the use of Telone, a pesticide that they have found often impacts Latino communities. CRPE and CEH base their case on the findings by the California Department of Public Health that Latino school-aged children are significantly more likely to be exposed to the highest levels of toxic pesticides such as Telone. CRPE stated claims that the state had ignored the threats that their chemicals posed to the health of local schools and communities. In their legal action, CRPE called for an end of fumigation and high levels of pesticide use in these California communities.

Toxins in the environment

Air pollution is a major source of environmental distress in the San Joaquin Valley, a central point of most work done by CRPE. Air pollution has been connected to public health problems, such as asthma and cancer. In one study, researchers determined that air quality in the very polluted San Joaquin Valley, a socioeconomically underserved region, may contribute to the development of congenital conditions in marginalized communities. This pollution affects many communities that CRPE represents as part of their work called “Toxics in our Environment”.

In one case taken on by CRPE, the California Portland Cement Company was burning tires in Kern County, and releasing highly toxic chemicals into the surrounding atmosphere. The public protested against this, but California Portland and the Kern County Air Pollution Control District did not respond to concerns and challenged any presented lawsuits. CRPE represented the Kern County community members in opposition of California Portland and the Air District to help reduce toxins in the environment of this central California community.

In CRPE vs. San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, CRPE sued the Air District, a government organization committed to protecting air quality in San Joaquin, for failing to meet air quality standards for ozone set by the Clean Air Act for three consecutive years. The ozone problem has prevented the San Joaquin Valley, a region home to many Hispanic and Latino farmworkers, from having healthy air since the 1970s, mostly due to the Air District's inability to implement ozone pollution control measures that would reduce ozone emissions by regulating emissions of VOCs and NOx, ozone creating chemicals. Eventually, the Air District settled the lawsuit, promising to implement the measures. Since the case was settled, the amount of ozone in the community has been reduced.

In a more remote case, CRPE joined with other groups to represent the town of Kivalina in Alaska, as they fought to hold Red Dog mine accountable for illegal pollution of waterways with mining waste and debris. The EPA listed the Red Dog mine as the top source of toxic emissions in the country, and it is the largest zinc mine in the world. Kivalina is a small Inupiat town, where the nearby mine’s pollution contaminated fish and other animals needed for subsistence. Kivalina claims that Red Dog has violated its permit over 4,000 times. Represented by CRPE, Kivalina sued Teck Cominco, the mine’s parent company. Teck Cominco claimed that the rivers have been made cleaner by the mining, along with the removal of zinc. They also asserted that their failure to meet permit requirements is due to Kivalina blocking their efforts to renew their permit.

Community investment and infrastructure

The Delano Guardians Committee represents members of Kern County in the decision-making processes within the city council. In a lawsuit between the city of Delano and the Delano Guardians Committee, the Delano Guardians sued the city over rising utility rates. The lawsuit claimed that by facilitating these increases the city violated policies that state a majority of voters must approve property-related fees. CRPE helped the Delano Guardians and people of Delano fight the city by providing them with legal aid and representation.

CRPE has also worked with the Comite Progreso de Lamont, a group of community members working towards improving the lives of the citizens of Lamont in Kern County. Through their joint efforts they succeeded in their east side sidewalks project. This project will create sidewalks in an area where numerous accidents have occurred.

CRPE, along with the Power to the People Campaign, has worked with Kern County community members to help define and establish guidelines for a healthy community. The guidelines are as follows:

• Promotion of Environmental Health and Justice
• Economic Opportunity for All People
• Equity and Justice in Green Jobs

Through these guidelines, and their community investments, CRPE aims to build and protect the communities of Kern County. Citizens face many issues, including unemployment rates as high as 9.9%, which often disproportionately affect the large Hispanic population in the county. While these guidelines were created to help the citizens of Kern County, it is hoped that they can also be implemented in the other counties that comprise the San Joaquin Valley.

Movement building

CRPE supports the missions of many grassroots organizations in the San Joaquin Valley, and often partners with one or more groups at a time to help improve a community’s well-being and environment. In doing so, the CRPE demonstrates organizational integration, which involves lawyers merging their work with the goals of environmental justice groups or organizations they work with. Some of CRPE’s partners include the Committee for a Better Arvin, the Committee for a Better Shafter, Delano Guardians, Greenfield Walking Group, and Comite Progreso de Lamont. The Committee for a Better Arvin, with the help of CRPE, strives to obtain better water and air quality for marginalized communities. The Committee for a Better Shafter currently receives help from CRPE in the Romo Case concerning fracking and energy issues in their low-income town. CRPE helped Delano Guardians sue the city of Delano over unfair spikes in utility costs that highly impacted the low income community. The Greenfield Walking Group and CRPE teamed up to create a walkability assessment that led to the cleanup of Greenfield parks, with the goal of making the mainly Latino/Hispanic community safer and healthier by picking up litter, refurbishing paths, and implementing measures aimed at reducing gang presence in the parks. CRPE and the Comite Progreso de Lamont work to promote a clean environment and better community for health and education in Lamont, a low-income community of color burdened by many environmental issues, especially air pollution. All of these partnerships involve CRPE providing legal aid and support to grassroots organizations in order to improve underserved communities.

External links

• CRPE website

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