Cost Barriers
One of the major initial barriers to minority participation in Environmental Justice are the initial costs of trying to change the system and prevent companies from dumping their toxic waste and other pollutants in areas with high numbers of minorities living in them. There are massive legal fees involved in fighting for environmental justice and trying to shed environmental racism. For example, in the United Kingdom, there is a rule that the claimant may have to cover the fees of their opponents, which further exacerbates any cost issues, especially with lower income minority groups; also, the only way for environmental justice groups to hold companies accountable for their pollution and breaking any licensing issues over waste disposal would be to sue the government for not enforcing rules. This would lead to the forbidding legal fees that most could not afford. This can be seen by that fact that out of 210 judicial review cases between 2005 and 2009, 56% did not proceed due to costs.
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Famous quotes containing the words cost and/or barriers:
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The majority of women, they have half-a-glass too much and let down their barriers a little. Then they wake up in the morning, riddled with guilt and think they can reclaim their virtue by saying, “I don’t remember.””
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)