ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the environmental injustice thesis within the context of United States (US) counties. A large amount of the existing research established positive relationships between race and increasing levels of a variety of environmental harms. This may be the result of a conscious effort to place these hazards in minority communities or may simply be the unintentional consequences of industrial development and existing demographic patterns. Environmental interests are also related to all three measures of toxic releases in the hypothesized direction. State-level environmental interests are concerned with maximizing environmental quality, and the size of these interests throughout the state appears to lower the level of toxic releases in the sub state regions. The chapter has assesses the environmental racism hypothesis with regard to three measures of toxic pollutants within roughly 70 percent of US counties as of 1995.
