ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses race, class, and political mobilization explanations for 1993 toxic-release measures in 79–84- percent of United States (US) cities with populations in excess of 50,000 people. The sample used for this section of analysis is cities in the United States with populations in excess of 50,000 people according to the 1990 US Census. Missing data on the state level public opinion and political culture variables eliminated cities in Alaska and Hawaii—but this condition only resulted in dropping two cities from the analysis. In the state-level analysis, found a strong positive relationship between the percent black population in a state and the level of toxic waste in a state. State-level environmental interests and partisanship are related to environmental harms in negative and positive fashion, respectively. Cities are governing units and, as such, do have sub state responsibilities for many issues of societal concern.
