Protecting human health has always been a race between action and disaster. Consider how long society waited to remove lead from gasoline and paint, and the disaster that inaction inflicted upon generations of children and their brain development. As our technologies race ahead of our prudence, we’ve learned that local actions can have universal ramifications, for better or worse.
What’s Up with Brownfields and Environmental Justice?
The City of Eugene, the City of Springfield, and Lane County are looking for public input in the process of finding, cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields. Brownfields are abandoned properties that are not being re-purposed because of the likely presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. Brownfield result in neighborhood “blight;” they make people feel unsafe and they drag down property values.
