ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY AND

JUSTICE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT FLOOD

The Green-Collar Jobs Task Force of Nashville-Davidson County is a coalition of activists, advocates, and residents concerned with fighting environmental degradation and poverty.  We believe green economic solutions can enhance environmental quality and provide career-track jobs for residents from high poverty and moderate-income communities as well as people with barriers to employment.  The May 2010 flood was a natural disaster of major proportions.  In addition to causing injury and the loss of life, it caused major damage to Nashville’s infrastructure in the cost of billions of dollars. 

While it is essential to get disaster relief and assistance to the affected communities, it is also important for Nashville to consider short and long-term plans that prevent the Great Flood from becoming a social disaster.  Furthermore, additional safeguards should be implemented to protect the rights of affected residents who reside in communities already impacted by economic distress, environmental racism, and neglect.  This report offers recommendations for ensuring that the disaster-affected communities, especially moderate income and inner-city communities, receive equitable treatment in the aftermath of the Great Flood.

Recommendations

• Urban Watershed Management. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Green Ribbon Committee, and Water Services Storm Water Program should establish a watershed program that protects the natural environment as well as protects residents near creeks and rivers.  They should consult with local groups, such as EarthMatters Tennessee, which have expertise in permaculture and watershed management, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Urban Watershed program.  A watershed program should also create a 50-year flood plan for waterways near residential communities.
• Predatory Lending. Predatory lending is commonly used against low-income residents and racial minorities.  These practices may intensify considering the vulnerability of these communities in the aftermath of the flood. The Mayor and Metro Council should establish an official policy monitoring predatory lending practices targeting families affected by the flood.  
• Weatherization.  Moderate-income residents will have a difficult time recovering from the flood.  As residents seek to rebuild their homes, it is important to create a pathway for making their homes energy efficient.  There has been increased attention to weatherizing homes to help residents save energy and reduce pollution.  Yet this can be costly and unattainable to residents from economically distressed residents.  Metro Nashville should create pathways for weatherizing homes by taking advantage of existing federal programs, helping to reduce retrofitting costs through on-bill financing, and establishing a revolving loan fund that supports weatherization initiatives in economically distressed communities.
• Community Revitalization Analysis. Any development taking place in the most severely-affected communities should enlist the community in the assessment and design of revitalization projects.  To guard against displacement and similar practices, community development and revitalization should be locally controlled and shaped by neighborhoods most affected by the disaster.
• Service and Conservation Corps. Nashville does not have a service or conservation corps despite its vulnerability to flooding.  The Mayor’s Office on Sustainability should work with the Civic Corps Network (http://www.corpsnetwork.org/) to employ youth and young adults with barriers to employment who are from high-poverty communities to renovate creeks, waterways, and urban forestry.
• Environmental Evaluation.  Damages resulting from water leakages and flooding are most likely to create dangerous toxins, or they can accelerate the release of toxins such as industrial chemicals and petroleum.  Even months after the rebuilding has been completed, dangerous toxins may still be in the air, water, and soil.  Appropriate environmental evaluation and monitoring, with assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency, is critical to preventing a long-term public health crisis in the affected communities.
• Local and Equitable Hiring. As Nashville rebuilds, weatherizes, and renovates, contractors should hire local residents, including those from communities most affected by the flood.  These jobs must pay a living wage, comply with civil rights legislation, and must be extended to those with barriers to employment.
• Contracting/Procurement.  Disaster relief and rebuilding contracts must be equitable, hire locally-based (residents of Nashville-Davidson County) black, Latino and women contractors, and follow Best Value Contracting (BVC) practices.
• Affordable Housing. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many residents of New Orleans returned home to find excessively high rents and mortgages. For the disaster affected communities, especially moderate and low-income communities, affordable housing policies such as community land trusts must be followed to ensure the right of return. Also, the price Metro pays for a demolished house, as part of its buy-out program, should be at fair market value and in compliance with federal fair housing laws. 
• Legal Defense Fund.  The Mayor and Metro Council should support a legal defense fund that protects residents who may experience hardships and lawsuits in the aftermath of the flood.  The Fund should be established with consultation from civil rights groups and the Legal Aid Society.