What does this have to do with us in Eureka and in communities around Humboldt Bay? We have been heavily impacted by pollution. Humboldt Bay is surrounded by brown fields, polluted areas left by companies that have since left town (for instance the Marina Center property and the Samoa Pulp Mill). Lumber companies have left a legacy of pollution from the chemicals used to treat lumber. Now Freshwater Tissue Co. wants to start up and won't meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act until 2014. Even then, we cannot be sure that they will be able to meet the standards.
If this was a more affluent community, this would not be allowed. Someone would have the money to take them to court or someone would call their old buddy Arnold and ask for help. Unfortunately, regulatory bodies listen to money. Sadly, Eureka, especially West Eureka does not have any. West Eureka is full of homeless shelters, treatment centers, mental health facilities and half way houses. People in these facilities are not permanent residents and are more concerned with daily survival than air quality. Most other residents are low income. They are also overwhelmed with issues of survival. When people do speak up as they did again Evergreen Pulp Inc, they are ignored. There is no money to be made on the concerns of low income people.
What we have experienced here in West Eureka is not environmental justice, but environmental injustice.