EPA TO ADDRESS EQUITY IN DISASTER RESPONSES WITH NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR

EPA has decided to consider environmental justice issues in emergency response activities, after an advisory panel recommended that EPA improve how it addresses harm to low-income and minority populations following the Gulf Coast hurricanes, according to EPA's enforcement chief and other agency officials. Members of the panel are also pointing to Hurricane Katrina as an example of the disparate impact of environmental events on minority and low-income populations, amid controversy over whether race and income should be factors in how...