Published: Oct. 1, 2021
Colloquium Poster with title, time

Professor Jill Harrison
Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Colorado Boulder

Oct 1, 2021
GUGG 6, 3:30 PM

Abstract:

In this presentation, Harrison will present key findings from her book,From the Inside Out,whichlifts the veil on the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and other environmental regulatory agencies to offer new insights intowhy they fail to reduce harmful toxics and other hazards in our nation’s mostenvironmentally overburdened and vulnerable communities. It examines thedisappointing pace of environmental regulatory agencies’ “environmental justice”(EJ) programs and policies as a case through which to understand why, despitereducing air and water pollution for the nation overall, government has notprotected the communities who suffer themost. Other scholars have shown thatbudget cuts, industry pressure, and other factors outside the control of agencystaff constrain the possibilities for EJ reforms to regulatory practice. This bookshows that agencies’ EJ efforts are also undermined by elements ofregulatory workplace culture. Through extensive interviews with and observations of staff at numerous environmental regulatory agencies across the United States, Harrison shows that agencies’ EJ efforts are undermined by everyday ways inwhich well-meaning staff dedicated to environmental regulation reject EJ reformsas violating what they think their organization does and should do. A rare glimpse inside environmental regulatory agencies, these findings help explain theshortcomings of environmental regulation and policy implementation today. Italso shows how agencies’ EJ staff – those tasked with developing EJ reforms –endeavor to change both regulatory practice and regulatory culture fromthe inside out.