Neoliberal environmental justice: rural well water in Sussex County, Delaware
Date
2024
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
In 2021, the town of Millsboro, Delaware successfully sued poultry processing giant Mountaire Farms for $65 million in a class-action lawsuit as a result of well water contamination in the community. This lawsuit is part of a larger $205 million agreement between Mountaire and the state of Delaware to update its wastewater management infrastructure. Millsboro residents were exposed to high levels of Nitrate (NO3-) resulting in cancer, birth defects, chronic illness, and other long-term health concerns. From a legal perspective, the Mountaire settlement is environmental justice. However, without adequate enforcement of environmental policy, the future of Millsboro's drinking water quality – and health – remains unforeseen. I conducted water quality testing of residents' tap water in addition to interviews about their perceptions of justice, water quality, and the contamination event. Three years after the largest environmental fine in Delaware history, nitrate contamination persists in groundwater, but drinking water quality improved with the installation of treatment systems. Residents, however, remain distrustful of state agencies due to consistent permit approval of non-compliant industrial facilities. I argue the concept of neoliberal environmental justice to describe the process in which environmental justice is decoupled from its history in social justice. Neoliberal EJ gives the appearance of “justice” – often taking the form of a post-disaster settlement – while allowing industries to continue polluting, facilitated by neoliberal economic policies and a failure to enforce environmental regulation.
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Keywords
Neoliberalism, Political ecology, Well water