Jon Niermann, the chairman of the state agency charged with enforcing environmental laws, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), appears not to understand how environmental racism works, nor if the phenomenon even exists.
Senator Borris Miles, a Democrat who represents parts of Houston and Harris County, recently had to explain that term at a meeting of the Sunset Advisory Commission, a rotating group of 10 legislators and two laypeople which reviews the performance of state agencies every 12 years. TCEQ is up for review this year, and Miles criticized the agency for permitting too many concrete batch plants in his district.
“They are largely located in poor, minority communities,” he said. “This is the definition of environmental racism.”
