Robin Saha, Assistant Professor
PhD: University of Michigan, Natural Resources & Environment
Interests
Environmental Justice; Environmental Health; Tribal Environmental Issues; Environmental Policy; Community Based Participatory Research
Courses
Environmental Politics & Policies (EVST 367); Environmental Justice Issues and Solutions (EVST 477); Environmental Leadership (EVST 495); Community Responses to Toxic Contamination (EVST 594); Local Land Use Policy (EVST 594); Local Solutions to Global Climate Change (EVST 594)
Current Projects
Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle Environmental Racism
Dr. Saha is a co-author of this new recently-released report, which updates the 1987 landmark environmental justice report of United Church of Christ (UCC), Toxic Waste and Race in the United States. Dr. Saha collaborated with Dr. Robert Bullard of Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Paul Mohai of the University of Michigan, and Dr. Beverly Wright of Dillard University. The new report, also commissioned by the UCC, is the first to use 2000 census data, a current national database of commercial hazardous waste facilities, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to count persons living nearby and assess nationally the extent of racial and socioeconomic disparities in facility locations. The report includes numerous environmental policy recommendations and was recently featured during an unprecedented hearing before the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health. For a copy of the report, media coverage and related advocacy efforts, see http://news.umt.edu/index.asp?sec=1&too=100&eve=1000&id=1614 and links at: http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/TWARTFinal.htm .
A Community Responds to Living Adjacent to a Mining Waste Repository
Opportunity, Montana is a small, rural community located near the nation’s largest Superfund site and immediately adjacent to a major mining waste repository owned by ARCO (British Petroleum - BP). Superfund clean-up wastes continue to be deposited here. Faced with potential threats to human health, a recently formed community organization is currently working with Dr. Saha, his students, and with other non-profit organizations, environmental consultants, government officials, and BP-ARCO to ensure safe water and air quality for the community.
Environmental Health on Montana Indian Reservations / Blackfeet Community College Bio-contaminant Sampling and Identification Project
In the United States, the quality of health and health care for Indians is consistently lower than that of other Americans. Environmental threats, such as solid and hazardous waste, mining, and substandard housing contribute to poor health among Montana’s Indian population. Dr. Saha is working on collaboration with Blackfeet Community College (BCC) on an indoor bio-contaminant research project supported through an outreach grant by UM-EPSCoR (http://www.umt.edu/epscor/). University of Montana and BCC students are testing homes on the reservation for toxic mold and conducting a health survey. Using a community based participatory research approach, this project will identify environmental health risks associated with reservation housing and recommend ways to address them through, for example, community organizing and education.
Tribal Environmental Management
Dr. Saha is on the Core Planning Team implementing and evaluating an U.S. EPA grant to host the8th National Conference on Tribal Environmental Management (NCTEM) to be held in Billings, MT, in June 2008. The planning involves outreach to tribal environmental managers, environmental professionals, activists, academics, and others. Dr. Saha also speaks and consults on a various tribal environmental issues throughout Montana.
Selected Publications & Reports
Saha, Robin. 2007. “A Current Appraisal of Toxic Waste in the United States.” In Toxic Race and Waste At Twenty 1987-2007: Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle Environmental Racism in the United States, Robert Bullard, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha, and Beverly Wright. Cleveland, OH: United Church of Christ.
Mohai, Paul and Robin Saha. 2007. “Racial Inequality in the Distribution of Hazardous Waste: A National-Level Reassessment.” Social Problems 54(3): 343-370.
Mohai, Paul and Robin Saha. 2006. "Reassessing Race and Socioeconomic Disparities in Environmental Justice Research." Demography 43(2): 383-389.
Saha, Robin and Paul Mohai. 2005. "Historical Context and Hazardous Waste Facility Siting: Understanding Temporal Patterns in Michigan." Social Problems, 52(4): 618-348.
Mohai, Robin and Robin Saha. 2005. “Reassessing Race and Class Disparities in the Distribution of Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities. In Conference Proceedings: Waste - The Social Context. Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta, May 11-14.
Saha, Robin and Paul Mohai. 2002. “Explaining Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Location of Locally Unwanted Land Uses: A Conceptual Framework.” In Clifford Rechtschaffen and Eileen Gauna, Durham, eds., Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, and Regulation, Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Estrada, Torri, Karen DeGannes, and Robin Saha. 2001. “POWER Against the PEOPLE? Moving Beyond Crisis Planning in California Energy.” San Francisco, CA: Latino Issues Forum.
Saha, Robin. 2001. “An Analysis of Environmental Justice Concerns in Downwind Areas Near the Hamtramck Medical Waste Incinerator.” Report commissioned by the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC), Hamtramck Environmental Action Team (HEAT), and Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS).
Saha, Robin and Paul Mohai. 1999 (May and October). “Disparate Impact Analysis of Gilbraltar Wells #186 Deep Well Injection Site, Smith County, TX.” Report for counsel for Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sins (M.O.S.E.S.), Winona, TX, regarding U.S. EPA Title VI Civil Rights Complaint No. 03R-97-R9.
Saha, Robin. 1998. "Accessing and Using Demographic Data to Support Grassroots Environmental Justice Struggles." Detroit, MI: Environmental Justice Community Training Program the Maurice and Sugar Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice.
Mohai, Paul and Robin Saha. 1997. “Public Policy, Social Welfare, and the Incidence of Airborne Pollution in Genesee County Revisited: An Assessment of Methodological Rigor.” Exhibit to Circuit Court of the County of Genesee, Michigan, for NAACP and Flint-Genesee United for Action, Justice, and Environmental Safety vs. Governor John Engler and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Ongoing & Recent Graduate Student Research
Improving Superfund public participation; dental mercury regulation in Missoula, MT; addressing contamination in traditional foods in Alaska; addressing non-compliance with federal asbestos building inspection requirements in Missoula, MT; achieving environmental justice for the community of Opportunity, MT; policy analysis of Montana Senate Bill 415, The Montana Renewable Power Production and Rural Economic Development Act; advancing environmental education at the U.S. EPA.
Opportunities for Graduate Students
Please contact Dr. Saha if you are interested in assisting with a community based participatory research project investigating environmental health issues or tribal environmental management on Montana’s Indian reservations.