Community response to environmental injustice in Puerto Rico.

Abstract

Most research done in Puerto Rico on "citizen participation" focuses on participation as implemented by the government, which is referred to in the literature as formal, institutionalized, or official participation. For the most part, researchers have concluded that participation has not been effective, that citizens have not influenced the decisionmaking process, or that their role has been severely restricted to that of observers. The emphasis on official participation has led some commentators to argue that there is no culture of participation in Puerto Rico. This dissertation rebuts that view. The issue is not a lack of this culture, but rather a lack of research and attention to it. Although largely overlooked or mentioned only in passing, this culture has always played a role in the history of Puerto Rico. This is precisely the history of "participation" that must be rescued in order to have a complete analysis of participation and its impact on the decisionmaking process in Puerto Rico. Based on documentary and field research, this dissertation examines three community environmental struggles as examples of this culture: the proposed location of a Monsanto plant in Salinas and Guayama, of a CECOS industrial dump in Ponce, and of the San Juan city dump in Toa Baja. These communities felt threatened because of the risk to their lives posed by the location of these sources of contamination in their backyards, which prompted them to oppose, organize, and intervene. Their struggles and success stories in stopping the location of these sources of pollution not only illustrate that a community organization can make a difference, but also help fill the gap in research on the culture of participation in Puerto Rico.