A fenceline community or frontline community is a neighborhood that is immediately adjacent to a company, military base, industrial or service center and is directly affected by the noise, odors, chemical emissions, traffic, parking, or operations of the company.
These communities are exposed to hazardous chemicals, high pollution levels, and
environmental degradation
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
along with the threat of chemical explosions.
Many fenceline communities are situated in
sacrifice zones that are disproportionately inhabited by people of color, Indigenous communities, and the
working poor
The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...
.
Background
As a result of exposure to hazardous materials and emissions, fenceline communities experience higher rates and risk of cancer and respiratory challenges.
Fenceline communities also face additional health and socioeconomic issues such as poor housing infrastructure, lack of access to nutritious and non-toxic food, and higher rates of diseases, along with the increase stress and challenges that result from unemployment, poverty, crime, and racism.
Climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
-induced extreme weather events and natural disasters place fenceline communities at risk of a high level of exposure to toxic emissions from facility explosions and chemical leaks.
Fenceline communities "fear that it may jeopardize jobs and economic survival" to organize to reduce their exposure to hazardous waste." Additionally, residents in fenceline communities are often unable to relocate. This is because the large industries adjacent to residential communities often produce effects that dramatically lower the property value of these homes. Therefore, residents are unable to sell their homes for a value that would be high enough for them to purchase property elsewhere.
An example of a fenceline community is the African American Diamond community in
Norco, Louisiana. This community lived on the fenceline of a
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
plant.
Solutions
Examples of actions that can minimize the negative impact a nearby company has on a fenceline community include, greater education and information sharing between companies and communities, improved safety regulations, health-impact assessments, and increased monitoring, reporting, and reduction of toxic emissions.
Communities also organize against adjacent company's and advocate for their standard of living. However, fenceline communities can face barriers in doing so as they often "do not have the social or financial resources to mitigate their exposures."
See also
*
Cancer Alley
*
Environmental dumping
*
Environmental justice
Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...
*
Environmental racism
Environmental racism, ecological racism, or ecological apartheid is a form of racism leading to negative environmental outcomes such as landfills, Incineration, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal disproportionately impacting Community ...
*
Environmental racism in the United States
*
Line source
A line source, as opposed to a point source, area source, or volume source, is a source of air, noise, water contamination or electromagnetic radiation that emanates from a linear (one-dimensional) geometry. The most prominent linear sources ...
*
Locally unwanted land use
*
Low-emission zone
A low-emission zone (LEZ) is a defined area where access by some polluting vehicles is restricted or deterred with the aim of improving air quality. This may favour vehicles such as bicycles, micromobility vehicles, (certain) alternative fuel v ...
*
**
*
NIMBY
NIMBY (, or nimby), an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed real estate development and infrastructure developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land us ...
*
Sacrifice zone
*
References
External links
*
''Voices from the Fenceline''{deadlink, date=February 2025
Economic geography
Environmental justice
Environmental racism