Past research on environmental justice concerns has focused prkmarily on the siting of hazardous waste facilities. Less research has been done on other aspects on environmental policy in which concerns of racial or other injustices arise. This study shows that environmental injustice is not limited to the sitting of hazardous facilities or the ocurrence of pollution, but occurs also at the policy formation and implementation stages in other areas such as solid waste management. To study this issue, this study focuses on the implementation of the Illinois Solid Waste Management Act of 1988, in two counties in nmorth-eastern Illinois, Kankakee and Will.In neither of the two counties were minorities included in the planning process, and out of a total of 91 advisory commitee members, minority interest were represented by only one black male. At the same time racial minorities made up about 15 percent of the total population in the two conties. The study shows that the main reason for this lack of representation is not a lack of environmental concern among blaks. Nor can it be explained by a lack of interest in participation in environmewntal decision-making among blacks. Rather, the study shows that the process is led by misconceptions among planners and decision-makers who generally believe that blackjs are not interested in environmental issues and therefore not interdeste in participating in environmental decision-making. The conclusion of this stydy is that it is the belief held by local planners and decision-makers that there is a lack of interest in environmental issues among blacks, that produced a planning process in which the interest of minorities were not represented

Volume 25

Numbers 2-3